March 6, 2013

LOS ANGELES - The third-ranked UCLA women's tennis team (9-1) has just one match on tap this week and it's a big one, as the Bruins play host to cross-town rival No. 12 USC (9-2) this Friday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center beginning at 1:30 p.m. Free pizza, a trivia contest, give-a-ways and music by the UCLA Marching Band will be provided. There is no charge for admission to the match. Fans unable to attend can follow the results live online by going here: UCLA vs. USC LIVE STATS

UCLA and USC met four times last season, with the Bruins winning three of those contests. UCLA defeated USC, 4-0 in the semifinals of the USTA/ITA National Team Indoors in February. The Bruins followed that up with a 4-3 victory at USC in early March. The Trojans, however, returned the favor at the LATC in the final match of the regular season for both teams on April 20, winning 6-1. UCLA bounced back from that defeat to notch a 4-3 win over USC in the semifinals of the NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga.

The Bruins are coming off a 4-3 victory over Pepperdine last week in Malibu. With the match tied at 3-3, freshman Catherine Harrison picked up the clinching victory for the Bruins at court No. 5, downing Megan Moore, 6-1, 7-5. In addition to winning the doubles point, UCLA also had singles wins from Chanelle Van Nguyen and Courtney Dolehide. A full recap is located HERE.

UCLA remained at No. 3 nationally in the latest ITA Rankings released on Tuesday. North Carolina remains the nation's No. 1 team followed by No. 2 Duke. Texas A&M and Florida round out the top 5 at Nos. 4 and 5, respectively. Individual rankings will not be released again until March 12.

ITA Rankings
Team (March 5) | Singles (Feb. 26) | Doubles (Feb. 26)

Junior Courtney Dolehide issued her latest video blog, Court's Side, on Wednesday. In this week's blog, Dolehide talks about the Pepperdine win and looks ahead to this week's big showdown with USC. In addition, tennis professional Asia Muhammad serves as this week's special guest. Check out the blog here: Court's Side: Episode 2