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UCLA women’s tennis to begin NCAA tournament with matchup against Arkansas

Senior Elysia Bolton prepares to hit the ball in a match April 15 at Marks Tennis Stadium. Bolton and UCLA women’s tennis will start the NCAA tournament Saturday with a matchup against Arkansas in Stillwater, Oklahoma. (Kaiya Pomeroy-Tso/Daily Bruin senior staff)

women's tennis


Arkansas
Saturday, 11 a.m.

Stillwater, Oklahoma
TennisONE Streaming

By Jack Nelson

May 5, 2022 7:03 p.m.

In their previous four NCAA tournament appearances, the Bruins outscored their first-round opponents 16-0.

This season, they’ll hit the road with a shot at 20-0.

UCLA women’s tennis (12-6, 7-1 Pac-12) will commence its run at a third national title against Arkansas (16-9, 8-5 SEC) on Saturday at the Greenwood Tennis Center in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Should they come out on top against the Razorbacks, the Bruins will battle the victor of New Mexico State (11-15, 3-1 WAC) and No. 12-seed Oklahoma State (18-5, 7-2 Big-12).

After failing to secure a seed in the tournament for the first time since 2017, the blue and gold will be on the road for the entirety of the tournament.

“Playing on the road is not a bad thing,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster. “(It’s) just making sure nobody freaks out and panics, we’ve got to be ready for anything to happen. That’s the mentality.”

UCLA is the winner of the only previous meeting between the Bruins and Razorbacks – a 4-3 victory in February 2008 that helped lead the Bruins to their maiden national title. To earn a rematch, Arkansas made the tournament on the heels of winning five more matches than it did last season, marking an over-.500 increase in the Razorbacks’ winning percentage on the road.

Unlike UCLA, Arkansas has been unsuccessful against top-25 conference foes entering the NCAAs. Both the Pac-12 and Southeastern Conference have five teams in the top 25, but the Razorbacks are 0-6 against such SEC teams, whereas the Bruins possess a 3-2 mark against the Pac-12’s top dogs.

With Arkansas representing her first taste of the NCAA tournament, freshman Elise Wagle said the geography of the two schools could work to her advantage.

“Our coaches always say that West Coast tennis is different from East Coast,” Wagle said. “I’m not really sure what it is, but I’m hoping I’ll mess them up a little bit and screw over their rhythm.”

UCLA’s most recent first-round opponents – Grand Canyon, Northern Arizona, Fresno State and UC Santa Barbara – were all unranked and each of them were swept. Arkansas enters this matchup as the No. 31 team in the nation.

Sampras Webster said the Razorbacks will be a step up from the Bruins’ first-round opponents of previous years.

“In the past, we’ve been used to some easier first rounds, but this is a competitive team and it’s going to be a competitive match,” Sampras Webster said. “They’re going to be excited to play against us and they’ve got some very good results, so they’re a very solid team.”

Regional-host Oklahoma State is the higher seed against New Mexico State, but in the event of an upset, UCLA would square off against a first-time opponent.

New Mexico State salvaged its tournament hopes by going 11-6 down the stretch after losing nine straight to open the campaign, including three consecutive tournament match sweeps to snag the Western Athletic Conference tournament title.

Despite posting a losing record, the Aggies shared the Razorbacks’ five-win increase in comparison to last season.

Four of Oklahoma State’s five losses this season came against teams that currently sit in the top ten. It wrapped its regular-season slate with a 4-3 win over No. 8 Pepperdine, the team that knocked UCLA out of last year’s tournament.

Sampras Webster said regardless of who’s in store, her team has a balanced approach to postseason play.

“We don’t want to get too excited but we don’t want to be too passive,” Sampras Webster said. “We’re going to problem-solve, we’re going to compete and everyone’s going to be giving it their best because it’s one-and-done.”

Entering her third and final run at a national title, senior Elysia Bolton said her opponents can expect her to bring all she’s got.

“I’m going to bring everything that I have in my little bag of weapons,” Bolton said. “I’m not going to play with this team again so I really just want to have fun with it and see what we can do.”

First serve between UCLA and Arkansas is set for Saturday at 11 a.m.

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Jack Nelson | Sports senior staff
Nelson is currently a Sports senior staff writer. He was previously an assistant Sports editor on the softball, men's tennis and women's tennis beats and a contributor on the men's tennis and women's tennis beats.
Nelson is currently a Sports senior staff writer. He was previously an assistant Sports editor on the softball, men's tennis and women's tennis beats and a contributor on the men's tennis and women's tennis beats.
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