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by Juan Villa / The Collegian

Fresno State women’s tennis will face the No. 2 ranked UCLA Bruins Friday in Los Angeles at 1:30 p.m.

Coming off solid performances at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Team Indoor Championship against many ranked teams, Fresno State is expecting another solid performance against UCLA.

Fresno State played some of the top 16 ranked teams, winning 5-1 against No. 16 Clemson and 4-3 against Arkansas.

Coach Simon Thibodeau believes the team is well prepared and feels strongly about winning their doubles matches against UCLA.

“We played three good matches last week in the tournament so we are ready,” he said.

In the team’s first outdoor competition, Thibodeau is expecting a close match.

Sophomore Anastasia Petukhova also believes that winning doubles is a strong possibility and that the match will be intense.

“Today we had a two-hour practice and it went well,” she said. “I think we are ready,”

Sophomore Renata Kucekova said that last week’s performance definitely has their confidence up.

“We are really ready to take our chances tomorrow and take the win,” she said.

Fresno State, which is ranked No. 15, will also play UC Irvine in Bakersfield on Saturday.

The Bulldogs lead the series 5-3 and have won the last four meetings.

“It should be a good game,” Thibodeau said. “But we are definitely the underdogs.”