The tournament divided the universities' teams into four pools, each containing three to four competitors. Teams within each pool played each other in a round-robin World Team Tennis format: men's and women's doubles took to the court first, followed by men's and women's singles, and concluded with mixed doubles in a 6-game, no-ad proset. Two teams per pool advance to the Quarterfinals Sunday morning.

      Prior to the match, Team Manager Anthony Horsley orated an inspirational speech about the importance of never slowing down, never letting burdens weigh one down, and never easing up until the goal has been reached. He used the metaphor of crossing a street - You're not there until you're there; make sure you do it right. Throughout the day, whispered encouragement and advice in the form of "Cross the street!" could be heard from the sidelines. It would prove to be very sound advice.

      Both UCLA's A and B teams, dubbed Gold and Blue, respectively, began their matches around 10 AM. Gold started off tentatively against UCSD's top team, dropping our men's doubles (Mark Otten and Ricky Wu) and nearly falling in the mixed (Nick DeGoede and Alana Pfeffinger). Down 2-5, love-30 on our woman's serve in mixed, Chikako Shimura jumped in for Pfeffinger and revitalized our mixed doubles. Turning the tables around and completely upsetting our opponents, Bruin Gold shined as they won game after game, coming from behind to win the match with a victorious flourish.

      Women's Gold doubles (Chikako Shimura and Janis Hui) swept past UCSD. Singles player Emily Wu crushed all opposition, dropping only a game and wrapping up her match with quicksilver speed and efficiency. Likewise, men's singles player John Siefke brushed away all likelihood of resistance with a decisive victory for the Bruins.

      Unfortunately Bruin Blue endured a much rockier start. Playing against arguably the best competition in the tournament - USC's Gold (A) team - the Bruin Blues were upset in quick succession. Men's doubles (Pat Williams and Andre Michelin) lost 2-6 and women's doubles (Kelly Iwanabe and Alyssa Chen) performed similarly, ending 3-6. Singles players were surprised to an even greater extent. Women's (Adeline Yang) was down 0-4 before substituting in Iwanabe, but USC consistency held in this instance and the set was dropped 1-6. Men's (Ross Newman) also faltered 0-6 in our first match.

      Bruins may take a fall, however, but we keep on fighting. Fight, Fight, FIGHT! We'll do so until we climb back on top where we belong. Mixed doubles players Spencer Cohen and Alyssa Chen brought this mentality and personal philosophy to the forefront in their 6-4 victory against USC in a thrilling set. Cohen, at the net in one point, took an overhead from his male opponent at the feet and volleyed it back successfully, moving the ball to his female opponent and setting up Chen for a volley drive straight down the line - a decisive winner for the game that drove the UCLA crowd into a roar.

      In rapid succession Chen and Cohen advanced in games until they were ahead 6-3 and decided to take advantage of the unqiue WTT regulations: a team that is down may continue to win games in its mixed doubles match in an attempt to overtake their opponents in the number of games won. Doing so awards victory to the team. After a tough battle, though, the Bruins succumbed to a vigorous last-minute rally by the Trojans and concluded the set 6-4.

      After the morning's tumultuous matches the team met inside the UCLA Tennis team room around 12 PM to overview the day's events. Bruin Gold exited the meeting prepared to take on CSU Northridge and stamp Bruin Superiority all over the court. Bruin Blue vowed vengaence for their early-round loss and were out for blood. Delayed by tournament procedures, however, Blue would not play again until 4 PM.

        True to form the Bruin barrage stormed past Northridge with record speed. The line-up remained unchanged, with both men's and women's doubles finishing their matches in the blink of an eye. Siefke dashed to an early 4-0 lead before Will Lam substituted in and closed out the single's match 6-0 in style, with his back-handed serve and lopsided hat. Wu smashed through her single's opponent's defenses and closed out her set with an eight-point-straight victory, the last four of them being winners, for a 6-0 bashing. Mixed doubles concluded similarly, ensuring Bruin Gold a solid seeding in Sunday's tournament.

  Delay followed by delay continuously postponed the Bruin Blue match while Horsley maneuvered to have Blue play in the stadium courts instead of backcourts 7 and 8. The Bruins remained unfazed, however, and when the time came to commence play the entire team marched onto the courts ready for battle. Both women's and men's doubles quieted any and all doubts left over from the previous match, allowing for Emily Watt and Nicole Aponte to substitute in for the women's at 3-1 (ending with a 6-3 victory) while men's doubles shut out their opponents.

      Singles followed suit, with Newman sprinting towards a substantial early lead 4-0 finished by substitute Ron Alivia, 6-1. Women's player Yang finished out her match 6-1 while mixed doubles made quick work of their opponents.

      Bruin Blue thus made it to the Quarterfinals as well.

      Therefore the tireless Bruins shall once again proudly cross the LATC Stadium at 7:30 AM Sunday morning, ready for the tournament to come and prepared to do all that is within our power to solidly clench victory within these hands.