As if the possibility of facing the reigning national champion is not enough to get the Oklahoma women’s tennis team fired up, the California sun must be like icing on the cake.

OU will travel to Stanford, Calif., to compete in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend tournament for their first road test of the season. Hosted by No. 1 Stanford, the Sooners (1-0) are joined in the field by No. 29 UNLV and No. 65 Cal Poly.

Oklahoma, ranked No. 39, will face off against UNLV in the opening round of the tournament at 4 p.m. Friday (CST) at Taube Family Tennis Stadium.

OU catches a bit of a break against UNLV (3-0) as the Lady Rebels are still without their top two players, freshmen Lucia Batta and Aleksandra Josifoska. The pair has had to sit out the first four dates of the season after it was determined they accepted money before going to school.

OU coach David Mullins said UNLV will still provide a stiff challenge.

“They’re extremely talented,” Mullins said. “Their top four players have all got quite a bit of expensive, kind of professional tennis experience and had world rankings before they came to college.”

With the difficult tournament on tap for Oklahoma, Mullins said he wants to learn more about his freshmen. One of his freshmen, Mia Lancaster out of Edmond, has been hampered the past few months by back spasms.

Mullins said Lancaster is still not 100 percent, but he thinks the days leading up to the matches are more difficult for her than the matches themselves.

“Once the match starts, that kind of all goes out the window. Her adrenaline will get going, and she’s going to be just fine,” Mullins said. “Mia’s a really tough girl. As long as I have been coaching, she’s one of the tougher girls I’ve ever worked with.”

Fellow freshman Whitney Ritchie said she hopes playing outdoors will help her rebound from a difficult singles opener, which she lost (3-6, 1-6).

“I took all of my [tennis] classes outdoors, so it’s to my advantage,” Ritchie said. “I’m looking forward to starting out fresh.”

Senior Tara Eckel said having a difficult match against Wichita State will benefit the team against the better competition they will see this weekend at Stanford.

“It’s good to have that competitive match preparing us for this weekend, and it’s definitely good to have a match at home,” Eckel said. “The home support and the love and energy kind of propelled us into our competition out in California.”

Another benefit for the Sooners has been the good weather.

“We’ve been able to get outdoors, and kind of get used to the outdoor conditions, the wind and the sun,” Mullins said. “Our preparation has actually been a little better than I probably expected.”

If the Sooners defeat the Lady Rebels, they would face either Stanford or Cal Poly in the winner’s match at 4 p.m. Saturday.