No. 17 UCLA women’s tennis is just three days away from the start of its 2026 season. After a NCAA tournament super regional berth in 2025, the Bruins lost one-third of their starting lineup ahead of the upcoming campaign. Coach Stella Sampras Webster’s squad has acquired a new crop of young talent to fill roster holes while retaining many of its key underclassmen. Daily Bruin reporter Badri Viswanathan analyzes the Bruins’ roster ahead of the season opener.

2025 record: 18-9 (10-3 Big Ten)
Coach: Stella Sampras Webster

Outgoing players

Kimmi Hance and Elise Wagle became doubles partners when they were sophomores in 2023. They graduated last summer ranked as the nation’s No. 12 doubles team and UCLA’s top doubles squad.

The duo earned a slew of accolades for its play, including ITA All-American honors, two NCAA doubles tournament berths and a 2023 Pac-12 Doubles Team of the Year award.

Hance and Wagle were also recognized on the national stage for their singles play, finishing their collegiate careers ranked No. 54 and No. 63, respectively. They closed their final season in Westwood holding the second and third spots in the Bruins’ singles lineup.

Wagle won two Pac-12 Doubles Team of the Year awards throughout her collegiate career, a feat that only six other players in Pac-12 women’s tennis history have accomplished. She amassed a 67-36 singles record and a 78-34 doubles record, earning all-conference honors twice.

Hance finished her UCLA career with a 63-38 singles record and a 77-26 doubles record, earning four all-conference accolades.

Their departures left the Bruins with vacancies on both sides of the doubles alley entering 2026.

The freshmen

There were two freshmen on last year’s Bruin squad. Olivia Center and Kate Fakih, who grew up playing tennis together, made an immediate impact in Westwood and reached the championship match of the 2024 NCAA doubles tournament. They finished the year as the No. 13 doubles team in the nation and were frequent starters on the Bruins’ six-player singles lineup.

This season, freshmen Mayu Crossley, Kayla Chung and Rona Rugara have a chance to follow in Center and Fakih’s footsteps.

Crossley headlines the trio as the No. 1 freshman in the nation. The Tokyo local has already earned a Big Ten Freshman of the Week accolade for her NCAA Championships-clinching performance at the ITA West Sectionals. She achieved a No. 81 singles ranking and a No. 16 doubles ranking alongside junior Bianca Fernandez in August.

Chung joins the Bruins’ roster as the No. 9 junior tennis player in the nation. She won a slew of 18-and-under doubles titles and clinched a singles quarterfinals berth at the 2024 USTA Girls’ 18 Indoor National Championships.

Rugara rounds out the group as a four-star recruit who won nine ITF junior doubles championships throughout her high school career.

The returners

The Bruins have six players returning from last season.

Senior Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer holds a 68-31 singles and 70-21 doubles record across her collegiate career and ended the 2024-25 season as Sampras Webster’s go-to at the top of the Bruins’ singles lineup.

Center and Fakih enter 2026 as the No. 23 doubles team in the nation and appear poised to build on the 31-9 doubles record they posted last season. The pair will likely assume the No. 1 doubles spot in the Bruins’ lineup following the departures of Hance and Wagle.

Junior Ahmani Guichard closed last season as the fifth player on the Bruins’ singles lineup and tallied a 28-11 doubles record alongside Lutkemeyer.

Fellow juniors Fernandez and Mia Jovic played in 20 and 10 matches, respectively, during the 2024-2025 campaign. While Fernandez occasionally traded spots with Center as the final member of the Bruins’ singles lineup, Jovic did not see any action during the dual-match season. They will both have a chance to expand their roles in the lineup this season.