This post was updated May 2 at 12:00 a.m.

Men’s tennis
Chloe Agas, Daily Bruin staff

Billy Martin’s crew was once the underdog in an unfamiliar conference.

Now, it has a chance at a national title.

Amid an eight-match win streak that last netted them the Big Ten tournament crown, UCLA men’s tennis (16-8, 11-2 Big Ten) is headed north to the Hellman Tennis Complex in Berkeley for the first and second rounds of the NCAA men’s tennis championship. The tournament will begin Friday, when the Bruins will face UC Santa Barbara (18-4, 6-0 Big West) in the first round.

“Our practices have been good,” Martin said. “We played a lot of matches, so I think we’re in good shape moving into the NCAA tournament – knock on wood.”

The Bruins will face the Gauchos, runners-up in the Big West tournament after a perfect conference record in the regular season. If UCLA advances to round two, it will face either Boise State (21-5, 6-0 Mountain West) or host No. 11 seed California (18-4, 10-3 ACC).

Boise State, also runners-up in its conference tournament, had its 13-match win streak snapped by New Mexico in the Mountain West title game April 25. On the other hand, Cal is undefeated at home, but heads into the NCAA tournament on a two-match losing streak after falling to then-No. 6 Virginia (20-7, 9-4 ACC) in the conference quarterfinals.

After a 2-6 start to the season, the Bruins regained their footing with a second-place regular season finish in conference play, ending the season on a five-match win streak ahead of the Big Ten tournament. There, in Columbus, Ohio, they snapped Ohio State’s 22-year undefeated home streak – dethroning the defending champions to claim their first title.

“We started to win a few matches here and there, and then things started going our way,” said No. 110 redshirt sophomore Emon van Loben Sels. “We flipped the script this year, and obviously, having Spencer (No. 35 sophomore Spencer Johnson) healthy again changes a lot of things for us.”

Johnson, who started the dual-match season as UCLA’s court one singles player, missed 11 matches this season with an elbow injury, but picked up two singles wins and two doubles wins in Columbus last week.

The Bruins haven’t advanced past the round of 16 since 2018, when they reached the semifinals before falling to then-No. 3 seed Ohio State.

But with a conference title under their belt, senior Alexander Hoogmartens said the team believes they are equipped for what’s next.

“We definitely grew as a team during these three days (in Columbus),” Hoogmartens said. “We believe in our potential to achieve more.”

Women’s tennis
Kai Dizon, Assistant Sports editor

Libbey Park in Ojai, California, may have been the Bruins’ last familiar court of the 2025 dual-match campaign.

And the Bruins – who’ve won just 6 of 13 matches away from Westwood this season – will need to win six more on the road to bring back the program’s first national title since 2014.

After its semifinal run in Ojai’s Big Ten tournament, UCLA women’s tennis (16-8, 10-3 Big Ten) will head to Nashville for the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, facing Harvard (15-8, 7-0 Ivy League) in the opening round Friday, and with a win will play either No. 15 Vanderbilt (19-6, 11-4 SEC) or Xavier (14-8, 5-1 Big East) on Saturday.

“I’m really happy with how everyone competed and everyone fought,” said No. 31 junior Anne-Christine Lutkemyer after Saturday’s loss to then-No. 1 seed Michigan. “I’m happy with the energy that we were all able to bring today. Obviously a disappointing loss, but they’re really good teams, so it was good competing, getting ready for the tournament next week.”

While Stella Sampras Webster said there were places for the Bruins to improve – namely in the team’s agility and mental toughness – the coach added that she thought the team was in a good place after Ojai. Sampras Webster said her main point of emphasis was ensuring the players took care of their academics and off-the-court matters so that they can best focus on tennis come the national tournament.

The Crimson head into the bracket as Ivy League champions, finishing the season with a seven-match win streak. However, Harvard is 8-8 against nonconference competition and 0-2 against Power Four opponents, failing to record a single point against either Wisconsin or Baylor in the regular season, and doesn’t boast any ranked singles or doubles players.

Xavier is the reigning Big East champion, but went 2-5 against Power Four opponents in the regular season and showcased just one ranked doubles tandem, No. 63 Abby Nugent and Clara Owen.

However, the Commodores appear far more up to par with the Bruins. Although Vanderbilt faltered in the SEC tournament’s quarterfinals to then-No. 4 seed Auburn, the team went 3-2 against top-10 teams in the regular season, notably defeating then-No. 2 Texas A&M, the defending national champion, March 16 to ascend to a season-high No. 13 national ranking.

The Commodores’ roster features three ranked singles players, led by No. 5 Celia-Belle Mohr, and two ranked doubles pairs.

But the Bruins may be well-equipped to handle the Commodores’ firepower. Lutkemeyer is undefeated in four matches against top-10 singles players this season, taking both Wisconsin’s then-No. 7 Maria Sholokhova and Michigan’s then-No. 5 Julia Fliegner to three sets in unfinished contests in Ojai.

And doubles have long been a strength of UCLA. When Michigan took the doubles point Saturday, it was just the fourth time all season the Bruins didn’t strike the scoreboard first, 1-0.

“It was a great look into how NCAAs is going to be,” said No. 62 senior Elise Wagle, who is undefeated in her last 12 singles matches, about the Big Ten tournament. “The best is yet to come.”