A pair of freshmen in Westwood seemed to have bolted out the gates.

From Oct. 17 to Oct. 22, seven members of UCLA women’s tennis competed at the ITA Southwest Regional Championships in San Diego. Freshmen doubles partners Kate Fakih and Olivia Center were the only UCLA pair to make a championship match during the tournament.

Though the duo ultimately fell to Pepperdine’s No. 24 Savannah Broadus and Vivian Yang, 6-4, 6-1, Fakih and Center improved on their performance at the ITA Women’s All-American Championships in late September, where they were defeated in their second match of the qualifying rounds.

“We’ve been playing together for a really long time,” Center said. “For us, we were just having fun playing together to get to the finals.”

Fakih and Center have previously played with each other in the 2023 U.S. Open, where they lost in the first round, and in International Tennis Federation matches.

“I feel like I’m already really close to all the girls,” Fakih said. “We spend a lot of time together, especially at these tournaments.”

Their journey to the finals was not all smooth sailing, losing their first set in the semifinal match 6-7(7-9). The duo bounced back to win the third set 10-8, securing a spot in the final match.

“We’re going to be good in doubles because we’re a very aggressive team,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster. “We came in with a freshmen team that’s played a lot of doubles together and are very experienced.”

That aggressiveness on the court has already manifested into a second Big Ten Player of the Week award for Fakih, making her the only women’s tennis player to have earned the honor twice this year.

“The recent trips give me confidence. I know I can do well in future tournaments and I’ve gotten momentum,” Fakih said. “I just have to try and keep it up and enjoy it.”

However, Fakih and Center were not alone in making a deep run in doubles play. The tandem of No. 28 sophomore Ahmani Guichard and junior Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer made it to the doubles semifinals, where they pushed the match to three sets – before falling 6-2, 3-6, 1-0 (10-3).

On the singles side of the tournament, success was again marked by Fakih, who made it the furthest of anyone on the team.

The newcomer progressed to the quarterfinals, where she lost in three sets to San Diego’s No. 89 Kailey Evans.

Center, on the other hand, fell in the first round to Alexia Harmon of Pepperdine 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.

“I wasn’t too happy with the way I competed in my first singles match in the first round,” Center said. “My focus and energy were going up and down throughout the match. Going into the next tournaments, I want to work on keeping my energy high and staying aggressive.”

UCLA will play its next tournament starting Nov. 1 at the Jack Kramer Fall Invitational, kicking off a fast-paced month of five tournaments.

“We’re going to use these two weeks as our training blocks,” Sampras Webster said. “That’s the whole idea of the fall. Keep improving and be able to make adjustments in matches.”