Despite storms and shutouts, UCLA women’s tennis faces California with resolve

Utter downpour drowned the Los Angeles Tennis Center, and the Bruins were sentenced to their thoughts.

Bad history was fresh on their minds. Dealt back-to-back 4-0 losses by then-No. 17 Duke and then-No. 12 Ohio State the weekend prior, the program suffered consecutive shutouts for the first time since at least 1986.

Though the courts eventually dried and practice resumed, UCLA’s match play hiatus outlasted the sun’s return.

But the Bruins will finally have an opportunity to pick themselves up – that is, unless another bout of rain has anything to say about it.

Previewing a Pac-12 opponent before conference play, No. 18 UCLA women’s tennis (2-3) will try to beat an impending storm Monday against No. 14 California (3-2). Tests keep on coming for the Bruins, who will play their fifth contest against a top-20 squad in their last six outings. But they’ll be home defenders instead of road warriors this time around, swapping a four-match away trip for a seven-match stint on their home courts.

“They really had some great practices, really challenging each other in point play, drills, putting pressure on them during drills, just a lot of things that we feel like they need to improve,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster. “And it’s great to have the time to be able to do that, but I know we’re itching to play – they’re ready to play and compete.”

If the Bruins qualified for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, they’d only be staring at a one-week break in their schedule. Sampras Webster said she attempted to add matches, but no teams she contacted had open dates or the capacity to come to Westwood.

Cal, who did reach the tournament, will be entering the LATC on the latter half of a back-to-back, facing San Diego State on Sunday. And it was at National Indoors where No. 1 Oklahoma State hoisted the trophy – the very team UCLA went the distance with at ITA Kickoff Weekend.

That 4-3 loss can be understood as an indicator of the Bruins’ potential, said redshirt senior Sasha Vagramov.

“We were match points away from beating the team who won indoors, so although it was a disappointing weekend, it was definitely a great sign that we are really close,” Vagramov said. “We belong among the top competitors in the nation.”

At the core of UCLA’s three losses in its last four outings has been a persistent singles struggle, and it’s trickled from the top down.

Sophomore Tian Fangran and junior Kimmi Hance – the Bruins’ No. 1 and No. 2 singles options – are a combined 2-5 in the format and the team as a whole is 9-12.

Undefeated at the top court in regular-season dual-match play last year, things have changed for Tian, the reigning NCAA singles champion.

“The expectation is definitely different, but I feel like I try to tell myself to still have no expectations going into the match,” Tian said. “That’s what helped me last year, and then, at the end of the day, it’s just another match.”

Early-season doubles experimentation has taken a turn for the worse. After stringing together three doubles points to commence the campaign, UCLA has dropped its last two. The 4-0 partnership of freshman Ahmani Guichard and sophomore Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer, though, has remained fruitful.

Splitting up the 2023 Pac-12 Doubles Team of the Year has not.

Hance and junior Elise Wagle, ending last season ranked No. 12 in the country, have each played their past four doubles matches with different counterparts, going 2-2 and 1-2 in that span, respectively. Sampras Webster said she has no intention of reuniting them in the near future.

“It’s not easy, but it’s something that we’re used to,” Sampras Webster said. “We’ve had to do this other times, but I think it’s going to pay off once we figure out our best combinations in the right spots.”

The Golden Bears, in their final season as a conference rival, have assembled one of their deepest teams in recent memory, featuring six singles players ranked and three standing in the top 22 nationally.

That challenge, paired with impending rain and a losing streak to boot, leaves UCLA with the chance to respond in more ways than one.