Coaches and supporting staff alike looked on, sporting a fresh piece of Nike gear.

They each donned a white quarter zip detailed with black stripes on the sleeves, the NCAA logo on the back and the UCLA Athletics logo on the right chest. But the distinguishing insignia was stamped elsewhere.

On the left read the word “champions” below a blue-and-gold Pac-12 logo, honoring the conference’s regular-season victors.

It’s who the Bruins are – and who the Aztecs could not handle.

Needing just an hour and 45 minutes, No. 8 seed UCLA women’s tennis (19-5, 9-1 Pac-12) rolled past San Diego State (16-7, 7-2 Mountain West) with a 4-0 decision Friday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA championships. The quick sweep ushered the regional host into Saturday, when it will face No. 25 Texas Tech – also to be staged at the Los Angeles Tennis Center – with a Sweet 16 berth on the line.

“We knew that these teams were just going to swing from the hip. They (the Aztecs) were ripping the ball, so they really made us a little uncomfortable in the beginning,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster. “But once we got it going, our girls stepped up.”

New merchandise wasn’t the sole indicator of win-or-go-home stakes. Both the front and back courts featured a variety of blue-and-white banners branded by the NCAA, leaving no doubt the venue had transformed into a national stage.

They were old scenes – reminiscent of a time when UCLA was a regular regional site for the season-ending national tournament. After hosting in 12 years between 2007 and 2021, the Bruins spent the entirety of the previous two postseasons away from home.

“There’s a lot of factors with traveling, adjusting to new courts, when you have to go somewhere else,” said freshman Ahmani Guichard. “So I think it’s really nice just being able to start at home.”

The pair of Southern California programs battled in doubles play, despite the Aztecs boasting zero ranked duos against the Bruins’ two.

Tandems struggled to hold serve early as breaks traded back and forth. The court-three pairing of Guichard and redshirt senior Sasha Vagramov earned the largest advantage of any Bruin team, at one point up 3-0 and on serve.

But after breaking for a 4-3 lead and the ball on their racket, the No. 13-ranked pair of sophomore Tian Fangran and junior Elise Wagle – on court one – beat their counterparts to the punch with a 6-4 victory, snapping the scoreboard stalemate. Vagramov and Guichard mirrored that result moments later to secure the 1-0 advantage for UCLA.

On a 24th try, it was the 21st doubles point won this season.

“We’re focused on starting doubles and singles off strong, no matter what happens,” Guichard said.

Coronation preceded an exercise in doubles prowess. Tian and Wagle earned Pac-12 Doubles Team of the Year on Thursday, marking the Bruins’ second consecutive such honor after Wagle won alongside then-sophomore Kimmi Hance in 2023.

UCLA’s premier duo in 2024 rose from the ashes of Wagle and Hance’s partnership, split well before conference play. A 10-3 dual-doubles record resulted as Wagle would become the seventh woman in conference history to claim the award multiple times.

“In the beginning, I didn’t know if they would be a good team, but they really worked on it together,” Sampras Webster said. “She’s (Wagle) been fortunate to have good leaders, but she’s been able to step up, and it’s great to see her even grow.”

Battling died down from there.

There was no fight to the finish.

The Bruins got 6-0 first sets from Tian, freshman Bianca Fernandez and Guichard on courts one, three and six, respectively. No. 100 Yasmine Kabbaj – opposing No. 32 Tian – needed medical attention from a trainer for her right arm midway through the frame. Her serve mechanics visibly suffered, and unable to keep pace, she retired down 1-0 in the second.

Guichard followed with the first double bagel of her collegiate career to put UCLA on the brink. No. 73 Fernandez stood up 6-0, 5-1, but a combination of unforced errors and serving mishaps let her opponent back in at 5-3.

“I know my team is also playing right now, and they’re also having their own little battles, and not everything has to go my way,” Fernandez said. “So I just have to accept every little challenge that someone throws up.”

Serving for the match at 40-40, Fernandez needed only a few baseline strokes before her opponent sailed a shot long. The opposition’s comeback was brief.

Far too little, far too late.