UCLA women’s tennis falls to Stanford in semifinal of Pac-12 tournament

This post was updated April 24 at 11:12 p.m.

Two of the Bruins’ previous three runs at a conference tournament title were stopped two points short by the Cardinal.

In their latest run, the same foe denied them a chance to play for the conference crown.

No. 2 seed UCLA women’s tennis (12-6, 7-1 Pac-12) was defeated 4-1 by No. 3 seed Stanford (17-5, 7-2) in the semifinals of the Pac-12 tournament at the Ojai Valley Athletic Club on Friday. The blue and gold snagged a 4-1 victory over No. 10 seed Washington State (8-15, 2-8) in the quarterfinal Thursday before falling one win short of a fourth consecutive appearance in the championship match.

“We came into this tournament hungry. We came into this tournament competitive, and we came into this tournament ready,” said junior Abbey Forbes. “We’ve had tough losses this season that have prepared us for this very moment right now.”

The Bruins’ first taste of the postseason saw them surrender the fewest games of the season in doubles play.

Freshman Kimmi Hance and junior Sasha Vagramov turned in a baguette for the first doubles decision of the day, beating Hania Abouelsaad and Fifa Kumhom 6-1 on court three. The flow of baked goods continued when the No. 49 duo of senior Elysia Bolton and freshman Elise Wagle served a bagel to Michaela Bayerlova and Maxine Murphy on court one – a 6-0 victory that clinched the 1-0 advantage for the Bruins heading into singles play.

Bolton said doubles is a valuable part of the Bruins’ success.

“Our doubles is something we take a lot of pride in,” Bolton said. “Everyone gets along really well. We try really hard, trust each other a lot and I think that shows.”

Hance’s success against Abouelsaad continued into singles action, where she notched a 6-0, 6-1 triumph on court four to increase her team’s lead to 2-0. Dropping two games across three total sets Thursday, Hance grabbed her 10th consecutive singles win while adding to her 13-1 record with Vagramov in doubles play.

“She (Hance) just does a great job of bringing great energy to the team, to herself, and she stays super positive,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster. “We expected her to do quite well this year since she’s one of the top juniors in the country coming out of high school.”

Court five was the next to finish, where sophomore Vanessa Ong upended Kumhom 6-4, 6-2. Elyse Tse then ensured the Cougars would dodge a shutout by handing freshman Ava Catanzarite a 6-3, 7-6 (2) loss on court six. The deciding point came from Vagramov on court three, where she sent the Bruins to the semifinal with a 6-1, 6-4 performance against Murphy.

Against Stanford on Friday, UCLA grabbed a win early to finish 4-0 in doubles in Ojai, California.

Bolton and Wagle represented the first entry into the win column for the Bruins, upsetting the No. 13 team of Angelica Blake and Connie Ma 6-2 on court one. The court two pair of No. 60 Catanzarite and Forbes then solidified the doubles point for the blue and gold with a 6-3 showing against Sara Choy and Alexandra Yepifanova.

The Bruins then split the first sets of singles play, with Forbes, Bolton and Hance carrying 6-2, 6-3 and 6-1 leads, respectively, into their second frames. In need of three points, UCLA could have advanced by winning another set in each of those matches.

The Bruins did not win another set in any of them.

“There was a moment where, in the beginning of second sets, we let them in and they really ran with it,” Sampras Webster said. “We got frustrated and down. They took that, got up and stayed up.”

Stanford would claim all three second sets, and Ong was the first to fall, taking a 6-2, 6-2 defeat at the hands of Choy on court six. No. 53 Bolton managed to collect five games across her two final sets in a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 loss to No. 21 Yepifanova that put Stanford out in front 2-1. The Cardinal then extended their lead with Blake’s 7-5, 6-4 win over Vagramov on court three.

Wagle was tasked with winning a second-set tiebreaker on court five to keep her team in contention for the title, but she couldn’t deliver. No. 109 Valencia Xu sent the Bruins packing with a 6-3, 7-6 (5) defeat of the freshman.

“Stanford’s a great team. They’re always really tough, so we knew we were going to struggle yesterday (Friday),” Bolton said. “We’ve just got to have a short-term memory, be a goldfish and get ready for NCAAs.”