With the ITA National Women’s Team Indoor Championship under its belt, the No. 4 UCLA women’s tennis will travel to Waco, Texas to take on No. 5 Baylor.

This won’t be the first time the two teams have seen each other this season; Baylor competed in last week’s ITA Team Indoors, falling to Tennessee in the first round.

Baylor may not have played well in Virginia, but the Bears have gained momentum after winning two tough matches against No. 8 North Carolina and No. 9 Virginia in consolation matches.

Coach Stella Sampras Webster is aware of this and believes that the Bruins will have to be at their best.

“We’re going to find out how good our team is going to be because it does take a lot of mental and physical strength to play well throughout the whole season and we’re going to do our best to prepare (the players) to get ready for Baylor, because … they’re going to have home court,” Sampras Webster said.

Last year the Bruins split wins with the Bears, losing 4-2 in Texas and winning at Los Angeles Tennis Center 6-1. Senior McCall Jones stressed the importance of a strong start, especially with the Bruins on the road.

“I think (Baylor is) going to come out strong. I think they’re really excited to play us because last year we were 1-1 with them, we lost to them at Indoors but when they came to play us at our home court we killed them,” Jones said.

“I think they’re going to be excited for us to come and play them at their home courts. I think they have an advantage, but I still think that we’re going to do really well against them, we have more momentum since we won the tournament.”

Sampras Webster is aware that early season tournament wins develop confidence among the players, but the veteran coach also knows that building an elite team is a process.

If the Bruins want to win against teams like the Bears and in the NCAA Tournament, a lot of work needs to be done first.

“We need to stay healthy; we need to continue to develop our players because every other team is going to get better throughout the season. (We) just don’t want to be complacent; we want to continue to get better and keep working (and) doing the things that we need to do to continue to get better,” Sampras Webster said.

Compiled by Susana Vasquez, Bruin Sports contributor.