University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
Minnesota
No. 8 Women's Tennis Opens Saturday
January 23, 2019 | Women's Tennis
UCLA women's tennis will open the dual-match portion of the 2018-19 schedule this weekend when it welcomes Minnesota, FIU and Loyola Marymount to Los Angeles Tennis Center for ITA Kick-Off Weekend. FIU and LMU will square off Saturday at 9 a.m. (PT), with the Bruins set to take on Minnesota at 12 p.m. The winners of the matches will meet Sunday at 1 p.m., following the 9 a.m. consolation tilt. The champion will qualify for the February's Oracle ITA Team Indoor Championship in Seattle. The first day of women's matches will overlap with the second day of men's matches, as LATC will also host Kick-Off Weekend contests Saturday at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. Live stats for each match will be available at uclalivestats.com.
FREEMAN MEMORIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Eight UCLA players traveled to Las Vegas to take part in the Freeman Memorial Championships Jan. 18-20. In the Bruins' final tune-up before dual-match play, Gabby Andrews captured the Flight Two singles championship, Jada Hart and Taylor Johnson advanced to the Flight One singles Round of 16 and Hart-Elysia Bolton made the doubles semifinal round before bowing out. Abi Altick and Ayan Broomfield each bounced back from an early loss to reach the Flight One singles consolation quarterfinals, while the pair of Andrews-Broomfield joined Bolton-Hart in the doubles quarters.
UCLA VS. MINNESOTA, FIU/LOYOLA MARYMOUNT
The meeting between UCLA and Minnesota will represent nearly a decade to the day from the teams' last clash at LATC. The Jan. 31, 2009 match was also held as part of ITA Team Indoor qualifying. Maya Johansson clinched the Bruins' 4-0 win. UCLA defeated LMU last season (Feb. 16, 2018), 4-0, to improve to 24-0 historically versus the Lions. Andrews and Broomfield teamed to clinch the doubles point before tallying the third and fourth points, respectively, in singles play. UCLA and FIU have never met.
2017-18 IN REVIEW
It was a stellar all-around season for the Bruins, who went 23-6 on the way to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Championships before seeing their journey come to an end in a 4-3 shootout versus Georgia Tech. UCLA lost just one Pac-12 match during the regular season and won 11 contests in a row before falling to eventual NCAA champion Stanford in a hard-fought title match at the Pac-12 Championships. Ena Shibahara starred individually, earning recognition as ITA Player to Watch, Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year and an All-Pac-12 First-Team member. Shibahara, Hart and Terri Fleming received All-America accolades from the ITA. Hart, Fleming, Altick and Alaina Miller joined Shibahara in garnering All-Pac-12 honors.
WHO'S GONE?
Shibahara, who went 27-10 in singles play and 28-4 in doubles action in 2017-18, has departed to pursue a professional career. All 21 of her dual-match singles decisions came on the top court. The steady Fleming has graduated. She went 16-14 in singles play and a team-best 14-8 in dual-match doubles play. Kristin Wiley is gone after a 4-5 singles showing and a 3-3 doubles effort, while Kelly Shaffer rounds out the list of Bruins gone from the 2017-18 team.
WHO'S BACK?
All-American and two-time All-Pac-12 Second Teamer Hart is back after filling the No. 2 singles spot for a vast majority of the 2017-18 dual-match season. The redshirt junior was also one half of the top doubles tandem. Seniors Andrews, Broomfield and Miller also bring experience and 2017-18 success. Andrews-Broomfield went 10-4 from the No. 2 doubles slot, while Broomfield went 17-11 across three singles courts. Miller lost just once in her final 19 singles matches and failed to lose any of her final 19 doubles contests. Altick is back after a standout debut season. The Monroe, La. native registered a team-high 30 singles wins. Sophomore Sophie Bendetti is also back.
WHO'S NEW?
Two of the nation's top recruits join the fold in Elysia Bolton and Taylor Johnson. Bolton, a Blue-Chip prospect according to TennisRecruting.net, was ranked No. 4 in the nation by the website at the time of her signing. Nationally, the USTA had the right-hander slotted at No. 13 in its Girls 18s doubles rankings, as well. In September, Bolton made a run to the quarterfinal round at the US Open Junior Tennis Championships in both the singles and doubles competitions. Johnson has spent the past two years atop the TennisRecruiting.net rankings. In 2017, she teamed with Claire Liu to claim the doubles title at the USTA Girls' 18 National Championships in San Diego. The 5-10 left-hander has participated in all four Grand Slam junior tournaments, notching quarterfinal-round berths in each doubles draw. LaFrance is a veteran of the ITF circuit, nothing nine doubles championships with five partners across four continents.
KATZ FAMILY SCOREBOARD
UCLA tennis and the UCLA Athletic Department debuted the Katz Family Scoreboard Wednesday, Jan. 9 in front of donors and special invited guests at LATC. The ceremony culminated in a ribbon cutting by the Katz Family, Director of Athletics Dan Guerrero, women's tennis head coach Stella Sampras Webster and men's tennis head coach Billy Martin. Each, along with Sr. Associate Athletic Director, External Relations Josh Rebholz, made remarks highlighting the meaning of the Katz Family's generous donation and the opportunities the scoreboard will provide the UCLA tennis programs. The Katz Family Scoreboard's Daktronics display, measuring 18 feet high and 31.2 feet wide, is among the largest LED video screens in collegiate tennis. Stationed at the east end of LATC's main stadium courts, the board has a 13HD pixel pitch capable of switching between content playback mode and video mode using Show Control. RGB LED lights, meanwhile, will allow for a multitude of graphics possibilities. Also new to the match-day experience is a custom JBL speaker system set to improve audio on the front courts while introducing sound to the back courts.
BRUINS IN THE RANKINGS
UCLA has been slotted at No. 8 in each of the first two installments of the Oracle ITA team rankings. The top-10 appearance marks the Bruins' first to start a season since 2016. While player rankings have not been released this year, a number of Bruins were spread across the Nov. 14 installment. Bolton's standout fall was rewarded with a No. 11 singles ranking. Joining her on that list was Altick at No. 113. The duo of Andrews and Broomfield is No. 6 among doubles tandems. The pair of Bolton and Hart is No. 12, while Altick and Miller is No. 36.
ALUMNAE SPOTLIGHT
Jennifer Brady was part of the 2014 NCAA championship-winning team as a Bruin and her winning ways have continued into the professional ranks. Brady had a breakout 2017 and showed she was no fluke in 2018, having now reached the singles second round of each Grand Slam tournament. She broke onto the scene at the 2017 Australian Open, winning all three of her qualifying matches before notching three more victories in the main draw. Brady went on to reach the fourth round at the 2017 US Open, as well. She also had doubles success, advancing to the third round of the 2018 French Open and the semifinal round of the 2019 Australian Open. Brady, a Boca Raton, Fla. native, has been ranked as high as No. 60 (Oct. 16, 2017) in the WTA singles rankings and No. 70 (Sept. 10, 2018) on the doubles list.
HEAD COACH STELLA SAMPRAS WEBSTER
Head coach Stella Sampras Webster enters her 23rd season at the helm of the UCLA women's tennis program, compiling an impressive overall record of 420-158 (.727). Sampras Webster has guided the Bruins to NCAA team championships in 2008 and 2014, the first two in program history. The 2012 ITA National Coach of the Year, Stella Sampras Webster is also responsible for helping the Bruins to their first Pac-10 Championship in 2008. For her efforts, she was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year at the end of the season. In all, Sampras Webster's teams have finished in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships in 19 of her 22 seasons in Westwood. UCLA has also finished in the top five nationally on 13 occasions. The 2000 ITA West Region Coach of the Year, Sampras Webster has recruited and coached some of the top players in collegiate tennis. Under her tutelage, a total of 28 players have achieved All-America status.
Players Mentioned
