Women's Tennis
Sampras Webster, Stella
Stella Sampras Webster
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- ssampras@athletics.ucla.edu
Owner of an impressive overall record of 524-192 (.732), head coach Stella Sampras Webster completed her 28th season at the helm of UCLA women’s tennis in 2023-24. Sampras Webster is only the third head coach in program history, following legends Bill Zaima (1972-76, 1986-1996) and Gayle Godwin (1977-1986). The second-longest-tenured active coach at UCLA, Sampras Webster has led the women’s tennis program to both of its NCAA team championships. On April 9, 2010, she passed friend and mentor Zaima as the program’s all-time leader in head-coaching victories, with No. 246. On April 18, 2023, Sampras Webster recorded the 500th win of her career.
Sampras Webster and the Bruins captured the 2014 NCAA title with a thrilling 4-3 victory over North Carolina in Athens, Ga. It marked the 111th NCAA championship for UCLA. The Bruins finished the 2014 campaign with a 27-2 overall record, which included a 9-1 mark in the highly-competitive Pac-12 Conference. UCLA did not surrender the doubles point in any match that year, going a perfect 29-0 in doubles play. The 2014 season marked the second NCAA championship for Sampras Webster, as she also led UCLA to the title in 2008. UCLA’s 2008 title was the first NCAA championship for the program, following up on the team’s 1981 AIAW national crown.
Few college coaches can match Sampras Webster’s ability to continually put her team in the title hunt year in and year out. Prior to her first title in 2008, she also had a pair of second-place finishes at the NCAAs in 2004 and 2007. In all, Sampras Webster’s teams have finished in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships in 23 of her 27 completed seasons in Westwood. UCLA has also finished in the top five nationally on 16 occasions. The 2020 Bruins, who had their season cut short by the coronavirus pandemic, held a record of 12-1 for the best start in program history since the 2014 NCAA champions. They also matched the 2014 team in reaching the final round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
The shortened-season success carried into 2021 for Sampras Webster and UCLA, which outscored conference opponents by a margin of 47 points (53-6) en route to a 10-0 record and the first outright regular-season Pac-12 championship in program history. The 2008 team claimed UCLA’s initial Pac-10 title, sharing the top spot with Stanford after each went 7-1 in conference play. In 2024, the Bruins earned their spot in history by securing the final Pac-12 regular-season title outright with a 9-1 mark. For her efforts, Sampras Webster was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year in 2008. She was voted ITA National Coach of the Year in 2012 and earned Southwest Region Wilson ITA Coach of the Year honors in 2000, 2012, 2021 and 2024.
Sampras Webster has recruited and coached some of the top players in collegiate tennis. Under her tutelage, a total of 35 players have achieved All-America status. Two of the most notable during Sampras Webster’s tenure are Riza Zalameda and Robin Anderson. Zalameda was a four-time All-American and the Most Outstanding Player at the 2008 NCAA Championships. Anderson, who like Zalameda was named the Most Outstanding Player at the NCAAs in 2014, also achieved All-America status each of her four years. Sampras Webster has guided five four-time All-Americans in all, with Sara Walker, Kyle McPhillips and Jada Hart rounding out the quintet.
The 2023 campaign proved to be a milestone one for Sampras Webster, who saw her career win total reach 500, and UCLA. Freshman Tian Fangran became the program’s second NCAA singles champion and first under Sampras Webster’s guidance as head coach, collecting six straight-set wins over as many days at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla. Tian put an exclamation point on her run with a 6-4, 6-2 decision over Layne Sleeth of Oklahoma, joining UCLA Athletic Hall of Famer Keri Phebus as the only Bruins to raise the NCAA singles trophy. Phebus won the 1995 top prize with Sampras Webster on Zaima’s staff as assistant coach.
Three Sampras Webster-coached duos have won NCAA doubles championships, including Zalameda and Tracy Lin in 2008. Seeded first, Zalameda and Lin did not lose a set in the tournament. Daniela Bercek and Lauren Fisher captured the initial title, overcoming an unseeded starting position in 2004. Most recently, Gabby Andrews and Ayan Broomfield accomplished the feat in 2019. The fifth-seeded pair won three third-set, 10-point tiebreakers en route to the top spot. Hart and Elysia Bolton finished atop the ITA doubles rankings in 2020, but were unable to compete for the championship due to the shortened season.
Sampras Webster has also directed a pair of future Grand Slam champions in Abigail Spears and Ena Shibahara, who won mixed doubles titles at the 2017 Australian and 2022 French Opens, respectively. Jennifer Brady, who starred for the 2014 NCAA champions as a freshman, made a run to the 2020 U.S. Open singles semifinals before reaching the Australian Open singles final the next year.
A 1991 graduate of UCLA with a degree in psychology, Sampras Webster enjoyed a successful four-year career as a Bruin player from the fall of 1987 through the spring of 1991 and competed on the pro circuit for a season prior to joining Zaima’s staff. An NCAA doubles champion as a freshman in 1988 with Allyson Cooper, Sampras Webster was also the NCAA doubles runner-up as a senior in 1991 with Kimberly Po. A four-time All-American, Sampras Webster was, at the time, only the second player in UCLA women’s tennis history to obtain this status. She also won the 1989 and 1991 Pac-10 doubles championships and the 1990 Rolex Regional doubles title. Sampras Webster completed her UCLA career ranked No. 3 nationally in doubles and No. 42 in singles. Team accomplishments were most important to Sampras Webster, who helped lead the Bruins to four straight NCAA top-three finishes.
As a professional, Sampras Webster’s highest international singles ranking was No. 248, and her best in doubles was No. 142. Her professional highlights include competing in both singles and doubles at the U.S. Open and Lipton Championships. Sampras Webster advanced to the U.S. Open second round in doubles and also competed in doubles at Wimbledon. She also won three satellite tournament titles and competed in Team Tennis for the Wichita Advantage in 1992.
Lauded for her “achievements and contributions to the game of tennis across Southern California,” Sampras Webster was inducted into the Southern California Tennis Association Hall of Fame in 2017. Then, in 2018, she became just the fourth active head coach to gain entry into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame.
Born in Potomac, Md., Sampras Webster moved to the Los Angeles area as a child and graduated from Palos Verdes High School in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. A top-three player in Southern California and among the top 10 in the country as a junior player, a freshman Sampras Webster claimed the CIF-Southern Section doubles championship in 1983, as well as the singles title during her senior season in 1986. She capped her high school career by being named her school’s Athlete of the Year.
The second oldest of four children of Sam and Georgia Sampras, Stella considers the support of her entire family most significant. Younger brother Pete demonstrated his level of support for Stella and the Bruin program when he personally endowed a scholarship and assisted with the important fundraising effort in Stella’s first fall as head coach. Pete won a then-record 14 Grand Slam singles titles during his playing days, including seven Wimbledon championships.
Sampras Webster and her husband, Steve, were married Jan. 3, 2002 in Dana Point, Calif. They are the proud parents of twin girls Sophia and Savannah, who start college tennis careers of their own in 2024-25. Sophia signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Vanderbilt, while Savannah is taking her talents to Miami (FL).
Sampras Webster and the Bruins captured the 2014 NCAA title with a thrilling 4-3 victory over North Carolina in Athens, Ga. It marked the 111th NCAA championship for UCLA. The Bruins finished the 2014 campaign with a 27-2 overall record, which included a 9-1 mark in the highly-competitive Pac-12 Conference. UCLA did not surrender the doubles point in any match that year, going a perfect 29-0 in doubles play. The 2014 season marked the second NCAA championship for Sampras Webster, as she also led UCLA to the title in 2008. UCLA’s 2008 title was the first NCAA championship for the program, following up on the team’s 1981 AIAW national crown.
Few college coaches can match Sampras Webster’s ability to continually put her team in the title hunt year in and year out. Prior to her first title in 2008, she also had a pair of second-place finishes at the NCAAs in 2004 and 2007. In all, Sampras Webster’s teams have finished in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships in 23 of her 27 completed seasons in Westwood. UCLA has also finished in the top five nationally on 16 occasions. The 2020 Bruins, who had their season cut short by the coronavirus pandemic, held a record of 12-1 for the best start in program history since the 2014 NCAA champions. They also matched the 2014 team in reaching the final round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
The shortened-season success carried into 2021 for Sampras Webster and UCLA, which outscored conference opponents by a margin of 47 points (53-6) en route to a 10-0 record and the first outright regular-season Pac-12 championship in program history. The 2008 team claimed UCLA’s initial Pac-10 title, sharing the top spot with Stanford after each went 7-1 in conference play. In 2024, the Bruins earned their spot in history by securing the final Pac-12 regular-season title outright with a 9-1 mark. For her efforts, Sampras Webster was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year in 2008. She was voted ITA National Coach of the Year in 2012 and earned Southwest Region Wilson ITA Coach of the Year honors in 2000, 2012, 2021 and 2024.
Sampras Webster has recruited and coached some of the top players in collegiate tennis. Under her tutelage, a total of 35 players have achieved All-America status. Two of the most notable during Sampras Webster’s tenure are Riza Zalameda and Robin Anderson. Zalameda was a four-time All-American and the Most Outstanding Player at the 2008 NCAA Championships. Anderson, who like Zalameda was named the Most Outstanding Player at the NCAAs in 2014, also achieved All-America status each of her four years. Sampras Webster has guided five four-time All-Americans in all, with Sara Walker, Kyle McPhillips and Jada Hart rounding out the quintet.
The 2023 campaign proved to be a milestone one for Sampras Webster, who saw her career win total reach 500, and UCLA. Freshman Tian Fangran became the program’s second NCAA singles champion and first under Sampras Webster’s guidance as head coach, collecting six straight-set wins over as many days at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla. Tian put an exclamation point on her run with a 6-4, 6-2 decision over Layne Sleeth of Oklahoma, joining UCLA Athletic Hall of Famer Keri Phebus as the only Bruins to raise the NCAA singles trophy. Phebus won the 1995 top prize with Sampras Webster on Zaima’s staff as assistant coach.
Three Sampras Webster-coached duos have won NCAA doubles championships, including Zalameda and Tracy Lin in 2008. Seeded first, Zalameda and Lin did not lose a set in the tournament. Daniela Bercek and Lauren Fisher captured the initial title, overcoming an unseeded starting position in 2004. Most recently, Gabby Andrews and Ayan Broomfield accomplished the feat in 2019. The fifth-seeded pair won three third-set, 10-point tiebreakers en route to the top spot. Hart and Elysia Bolton finished atop the ITA doubles rankings in 2020, but were unable to compete for the championship due to the shortened season.
Sampras Webster has also directed a pair of future Grand Slam champions in Abigail Spears and Ena Shibahara, who won mixed doubles titles at the 2017 Australian and 2022 French Opens, respectively. Jennifer Brady, who starred for the 2014 NCAA champions as a freshman, made a run to the 2020 U.S. Open singles semifinals before reaching the Australian Open singles final the next year.
A 1991 graduate of UCLA with a degree in psychology, Sampras Webster enjoyed a successful four-year career as a Bruin player from the fall of 1987 through the spring of 1991 and competed on the pro circuit for a season prior to joining Zaima’s staff. An NCAA doubles champion as a freshman in 1988 with Allyson Cooper, Sampras Webster was also the NCAA doubles runner-up as a senior in 1991 with Kimberly Po. A four-time All-American, Sampras Webster was, at the time, only the second player in UCLA women’s tennis history to obtain this status. She also won the 1989 and 1991 Pac-10 doubles championships and the 1990 Rolex Regional doubles title. Sampras Webster completed her UCLA career ranked No. 3 nationally in doubles and No. 42 in singles. Team accomplishments were most important to Sampras Webster, who helped lead the Bruins to four straight NCAA top-three finishes.
As a professional, Sampras Webster’s highest international singles ranking was No. 248, and her best in doubles was No. 142. Her professional highlights include competing in both singles and doubles at the U.S. Open and Lipton Championships. Sampras Webster advanced to the U.S. Open second round in doubles and also competed in doubles at Wimbledon. She also won three satellite tournament titles and competed in Team Tennis for the Wichita Advantage in 1992.
Lauded for her “achievements and contributions to the game of tennis across Southern California,” Sampras Webster was inducted into the Southern California Tennis Association Hall of Fame in 2017. Then, in 2018, she became just the fourth active head coach to gain entry into the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame.
Born in Potomac, Md., Sampras Webster moved to the Los Angeles area as a child and graduated from Palos Verdes High School in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. A top-three player in Southern California and among the top 10 in the country as a junior player, a freshman Sampras Webster claimed the CIF-Southern Section doubles championship in 1983, as well as the singles title during her senior season in 1986. She capped her high school career by being named her school’s Athlete of the Year.
The second oldest of four children of Sam and Georgia Sampras, Stella considers the support of her entire family most significant. Younger brother Pete demonstrated his level of support for Stella and the Bruin program when he personally endowed a scholarship and assisted with the important fundraising effort in Stella’s first fall as head coach. Pete won a then-record 14 Grand Slam singles titles during his playing days, including seven Wimbledon championships.
Sampras Webster and her husband, Steve, were married Jan. 3, 2002 in Dana Point, Calif. They are the proud parents of twin girls Sophia and Savannah, who start college tennis careers of their own in 2024-25. Sophia signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Vanderbilt, while Savannah is taking her talents to Miami (FL).
UCLA W. Tennis Postmatch - Olivia Center & Kate Fakih (Nov. 23, 2024)
Sunday, November 24
Media Availability - Coach Sampras Webster (May 15, 2024)
Thursday, May 16
NCAA First and Second Rounds
Friday, May 03
Postmatch Interviews: Fangran Tian/Rance Brown (May 27, 2023)
Saturday, May 27
