The Ivy League had one team in the NCAA women’s tennis championship at 9 a.m.

But less than three hours later, it had none.

UCLA women’s tennis (17-8, 10-3 Big Ten) delivered the final blow, opening its NCAA tournament run with a 4-0 sweep over Harvard (15-9, 7-0 Ivy League) at MTSU Tennis Complex in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on Friday morning.

The Crimson entered the NCAA tournament as Ivy League champions but were dealt a quick exit as the Bruins improved their head-to-head record against the squad to 5-0.

“They were battling against great players,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster. “You know they (the Crimson) just won their conference tournament. They were playing really good tennis.”

The Bruins improved to 9-0 against non-top 25 teams since March 14 and have won 10 of their last 11 matches. In that two-month stretch, UCLA lost just five times – all only to teams currently within the ITA’s top 20 and playing in the national tournament.

Regardless of its opponent’s ranking, however, the team still felt the nerves ahead of its first NCAA match since falling to Tennessee 4-3 in last year’s quarterfinals.

“It’s never easy, the first one,” Sampras Webster said. “Everyone’s nervous. Everyone did a good job of being there for each other and helping our freshmen settle in.”

Individually, No. 62 Elise Wagle a streak of her own. After going winless in six consecutive singles matches from Feb. 9 to March 22, the senior has gone undefeated in her last 13.

“I haven’t really thought about it,” Wagle said. “I’m just trying to play every match with as much energy as possible because I know this is my last run. I’m enjoying every moment.”

Wagle picked up a 6-1, 6-2 singles win over Charlotte Owensby on court three and a 6-2 doubles win alongside senior Kimmi Hance over Holly Fischer and Kavya Karra.

Singles finishes didn’t take much longer on courts one and two.

It was like seeing triple. All three first sets ended 6-1, only for the trio of second sets to finish 6-2.

No. 31 Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer secured a singles point with a win over Holly Fischer on court one, marking her first victory since April 18. However, the junior has lost once across her last 13 matches with six unfinished duels.

“We’re really excited to be out there,” Lutkemeyer said. “This is the point of the season where you want to be playing your best tennis.”

With host No. 15 seed Vanderbilt’s (20-6, 11-4 SEC) sweeping of Xavier on Friday, the Bruins and Commodores are set for a second-round affair Saturday at noon.

UCLA is 0-2 against SEC teams this year, falling to then-No. 12 Oklahoma and then-No. 16 LSU at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in February. Vanderbilt, on the other hand, is 1-0 against Big Ten teams, having defeated Northwestern 4-2 in February. However, arguably its most impressive win came against the reigning national champion, defeating then-No. 2 Texas A&M 5-2 on March 16.

The Commodores boast three ranked singles players, including No. 5 Célia-Belle Mohr, who is also half of the No. 9 doubles tandem alongside Sophia Webster.

Though the Bruins own four ranked singles players and two doubles tandems within the top 15, their highest ranked in the former is Lutkemeyer with No. 11 freshmen Olivia Center and Kate Fakih in the latter.

“We’re definitely the underdogs,” Sampras Webster said. “It’s a matter of competing our butts off and seeing what happens.”