Women’s tennis starts season swinging with NCAA doubles championships berth
Senior Elise Wagle returns a ball at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. Wagle, alongside Kimmi Hance, qualified for the NCAA championships last week. (Michael Gallagher/Assistant Photo editor)
By Kai Dizon
Oct. 3, 2024 12:09 p.m.
This post was updated Oct. 3 at 10:39 p.m.
A pair of veteran Bruins have already punched their ticket to the NCAA championships.
From Sept. 21 to Sept. 29, seven members of UCLA women’s tennis competed in the ITA All-American Championships in Cary, North Carolina. Doubles partners No. 15 Elise Wagle and Kimmi Hance, both seniors, swung their way to the final round, the Bruins’ strongest performance of the tournament.
“We hadn’t played together since sophomore year, and this was our first tournament back,” Wagle said. “And we only got to practice for a week beforehand. We didn’t really have any expectations going into it.”
Though the duo fell in the finals to North Carolina State’s Gabriella Broadfoot and Maddy Zampardo 6-4, 6-4, Wagle and Hance’s strong showing earned them a spot in the NCAA individual championships – happening in mid-November. It will be the duo’s second trip to the postseason together, having also made the venture during their sophomore campaign.
Wagle has proven particularly adept at the doubles game. She has previously qualified for the NCAA doubles tournament thrice and is a two-time Doubles All-American.
“I honestly don’t think I’m the best doubles player on the team by far,” Wagle said. “And honestly, I’ve just had really great partners. It’s so weird that I’ve made it four times.”
In Wagle’s freshman campaign, her partner was former Bruin Elysia Bolton. In her sophomore campaign, it was, of course, Hance. And last season it was then-sophomore Tian Fangran.
Wagle added that despite her doubles success, her longstanding goal of making the NCAA singles tournament lingers.
Over in singles, freshman Kate Fakih emerged as a breakout talent.
The Pasadena local advanced to the individual main draw from the prequalifying round, winning five consecutive singles matches before her first loss.
“I just saw a lot of grit in her because I think she was really nervous in the beginning,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster. “It was tough to maintain that high level, especially for the main draw players, because everyone is so good.”
Fakih – the former No. 6 recruit in the nation – was named Big Ten Player of the Week on Sept. 25.
“It means a lot,” Fakih said. “It was cool to see my hard work mentioned.”
No. 83 junior Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer similarly reached the individual main draw after defeating Oklahoma’s Ava Catanzarite and Texas’ No. 96 Vivian Ovrootsky before falling to Georgia’s No. 2 Dasha Vidmanova in the round of 64.
After being a NCAA singles qualifier in 2024, No. 42 sophomore Bianca Fernandez earned an appearance in the round of 32 after defeating Central Florida’s No. 35 Sophia Biolay in straight sets. Fernandez would later be defeated by South Carolina’s No. 10 Sarah Hamner in three frames.
One notable UCLA student-athlete absent from the team was 2023 NCAA singles champion Tian – who Sampras Webster said would be out of Westwood for at least the fall season.
The rest of the Bruins will turn their attention to the ITA Regional Championships, occuring Oct. 17 to Oct. 22.
“I want to make the tournament – that would be great,” Fakih said. “I want to have a great run at regionals.”