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UCLA women’s tennis takes on Intercollegiate Championships to start fall season

Sasha Vagramov of UCLA women’s tennis emits a triumphant cry in a match. The senior saw her first fall action at the Intercollegiate Championships over the weekend and will contend for the No. 1 singles spot in 2023. (Kaiya Pomeroy-Tso/Daily Bruin senior staff)

By Jack Nelson

Oct. 6, 2022 6:42 p.m.

Alongside two veterans, it was the rookie who made it the farthest for the Bruins.

UCLA women’s tennis had three representatives in action at the Intercollegiate Championships in San Diego over the weekend. Freshman Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer, junior Vanessa Ong and senior Sasha Vagramov constituted the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 seeds, respectively, at the first event of the blue and gold’s fall slate.

Associate coach Rance Brown said it was no shock to see Lutkemeyer — the only Bruin to reach the semifinals — execute a deep run in her first collegiate competition.

“She had a good summer and played a competitive pro schedule this summer, so I knew she was up for the task,” Brown said. “She competes really well, and I think that goes a long ways even when you don’t win on your good days.”

Lutkemeyer entered UCLA as the No. 3-ranked recruit in the country and the only blue-chip recruit in the blue and gold’s 2022 recruiting class.

Courtesy of a first-round bye followed by a walkover against San Diego’s Victoria Kalaitzis in the round of 32, Lutkemeyer earned a spot in the round of 16 sans the swing of a racket. She then notched her first win as a Bruin via a 6-3, 6-2 defeat of Iowa’s Marisa Schmidt.

Standing in the way of a semifinal berth was the first Trojan adversary of her career.

Lutkemeyer snagged an early lead against USC’s McKenna Koenig with a 6-4 first set but surrendered multiple service games en route to dropping the following frame. She responded by matching her first set performance to emerge victorious 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 before bowing out to No. 5 seed and eventual tournament champion Sofia Rojas of Oklahoma State 6-1, 3-6, 6-0.

“I started playing a little passively. The courts at San Diego are a little bit slower, so you really have to make sure you’re moving up to the ball,” Lutkemeyer said. “I tried to play a little more aggressively in the third and really get the movement and the intensity back on track.”

The elder stateswoman of the event for the Bruins was Vagramov, who participated in both draws and teamed up with Ong to form the No. 1 seed in the doubles bracket. The pair upended North Texas’s Olivia Malm and Gloria Alogo Piqueras 6-3 but was faced with the opposite fate in the quarterfinals, falling later that day to Arizona contingency Alexa Ryngler and Belen Nevenhoven via the same decision.

Vagramov polished off a reverse sweep of Arizona’s Kayla Meraz with a one-sided tiebreaker, winning her first singles contest 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(1). Though she once again worked a tiebreaker to her advantage, Vagramov would go on to fall 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3 in the round of 16 to Oklahoma State’s Alana Wolfberg.

After spending the majority of last season at the No. 3 singles spot behind then-junior Abbey Forbes and then-senior Elysia Bolton, Vagramov is in position to contend for the No. 1 spot in the lineup in 2023. Brown said UCLA’s coaching staff expects a strong fall showing from the senior.

“Sasha has a very high-risk game, and she has got to play smart, and if she doesn’t, it can show up in the scoreboard,” Brown said. “She’s our senior, she’s our captain, and she’s been in a lot of battles, so we’re going to expect a lot from her coming up throughout the fall.”

After almost doubling her number of dual matches played last season, Ong strung together consecutive wins in her first fall competition. Vanesa Suarez was pitted against the Bruin in the round of 32 — a bout that Ong claimed 7-5, 6-2 before downing San Diego State’s Dariya Detkovskaya 6-3, 5-7, 6-1.

It was Claudia De Las Heras of San Diego who eventually knocked Ong out of the running by handing her a 6-2, 6-1 defeat.

Injuries limited Ong over her previous two seasons, and now that she’s back to full health, she said her focus is on keeping it that way.

“I feel like I’ve had a lot of injuries in the past two years, so I think this quarter I’m truly trying to focus on keeping my body healthy, … doing the things that I can control to keep myself working well and moving well,” Ong said.

UCLA will continue fall action at the ITA All-American Championships and Women of Troy Invitational, both of which are slated to wrap up Sunday.

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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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