UCLA
Arizona
Women's Tennis Seeded Second for Pac-12s
April 24, 2019 | Women's Tennis
ON SERVE
The No. 9 UCLA women's tennis team takes consecutive top-15 road wins to the Pac-12 Championships in Ojai, Calif., where the Bruins possess the tournament's No. 2 seed. Three play-in matches will take place Wednesday, leading into the quarterfinals. UCLA will face the winner of No. 7 Utah and No. 10 Arizona Thursday, with first serve from Weil Tennis Academy scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday's championship match will be televised by Pac-12 Bay Area at 12 p.m.
LAST WEEK
UCLA defeated crosstown rival USC 4-2 in a top-15 showdown at Marks Tennis Stadium, breaking a tie for second place in the Pac-12 standings and avenging an earlier non-conference home loss. Abi Altick posted the clinching victory on Court 5, where she held off the Trojans' Danielle Willson with identical 7-6(4) sets. Elysia Bolton and Gabby Andrews also posted singles wins for the Bruins, who picked up the doubles point to start the day. USC got wins from Angela Kulikov and Rianna Valdes.
UCLA IN THE PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Bruins posted drastically different showings in their first two Pac-12 Championships appearances, bowing out in the quarterfinal round in 2017 and reaching the championship match in 2018. One year after dropping a 4-3 decision to Oregon in the quarters, UCLA returned the favor to reach the final four. The second-seeded Bruins got off to a rocky start against No. 3 Arizona State there, dropping the doubles point. They would power back, though, notching a 4-1 win and a berth in the final. UCLA started strong against top-seeded Stanford, securing the doubles point and a top-court win from Ena Shibahara, but the Cardinal closed with a pair of three-set triumphs for a 4-2 win.
ALTICK EARNS FIRST-CAREER PAC-12 POTW HONOR
Altick was named Pac-12 Player of the Week for the week of April 15-21, the conference announced Tuesday. The honor marks the first of her career. In addition to her deciding singles win, the Monroe, La. native teamed with Alaina Miller to defeat 90th-ranked Constance Branstine and Estella Jaeger by a 6-2 score in doubles play.
PAC-12 BEST: UCLA women's tennis has captured 25 weekly awards in the program's history and a league-best-tying three this season. Bolton (Feb. 5) and Jada Hart (April 2) previously won in 2019. UCLA's Keegan Smith received the men's award Tuesday, marking the eighth time that Bruins have swept the honors and second this year (April 2 – Hart, Maxime Cressy).
PRESSURE MAKES HER 'TICK
High-tension situations have repeatedly found Altick during the dual-match season and she has made the most of her opportunities. The sophomore leads the team with five match-clinching victories, including two in 4-3 UCLA wins. With all eyes on Court 4, Altick defeated 69th-ranked Anna Bright of No. 24 Cal 1-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) in a non-conference match at the Hellman Tennis Complex on Feb. 24. She also topped Marie Van Aelst of Arizona 6-3, 7-5 in UCLA's narrow conference win over the Wildcats on March 9. Playing on Court 3, Altick clinched the decision at 4-2 before the day's final match was played out.
RED-HOT HART
Hart had an uneventful start to the dual-match season, as five of her six singles contests were left unfinished (Jan. 27-Feb. 23). The redshirt junior bounced back from Feb. 24-April 3, winning eight of nine completed matches. She has now won nine of 11, including triumphs over Julia Rosenqvist of California (No. 45), Salma Ewing of USC (No. 34), Michaela Gordon of Stanford (28), Ashley Lahey of Pepperdine (45) and Rosenqvist (30) again. Hart has seen her own singles ranking climb as a result, moving from unranked to No. 42 in the nation. The doubles tandem of Hart and Bolton, meanwhile, has won nine straight matches and a team-high 25 on the season.
STANDOUT SENIORS
Seniors Andrews, Ayan Broomfield and Alaina Miller constitute the core of the UCLA roster and bring with them different journeys to Westwood. Miller joined the Bruins as a freshman in 2015 and has racked up 141 wins across singles and doubles competitions. Andrews achieved All-America status for her singles and doubles accomplishments at Tyler Junior College before joining the Bruins as a sophomore in 2016. Broomfield was named ACC Freshman of the Year and twice received All-ACC honors at Clemson before transferring to UCLA as a junior in 2017.
BRUINS IN THE RANKINGS
UCLA remained in the top 10 of the Oracle/ITA team rankings, moving up to No. 9 in Tuesday's installment. The Bruins spent two previous weeks at No. 5 (Feb. 20, 26), marking their first appearances in the top five since the final release of the 2015 season. Six UCLA players, meanwhile, appeared in the latest individual rankings. Bolton leads the way at No. 29 on the singles list and is backed up by Hart at No. 42 and Altick at No. 118. The pairing of Andrews-Broomfield moved back into the top five of the doubles rankings at a career-high No. 4, while Bolton-Hart is holding strong at No. 12. Altick-Miller maintained its spot in the top 50 at No. 45, while Broomfield-Hart checked in at No. 81. The team sits at No. 12 in the Tennis Channel/USTA College Tennis Top 25 Rankings, updated Wednesday.
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 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.
2017-18 IN REVIEW
It was a stellar all-around 2017-18 campaign for the Bruins, who went 23-6 and reached 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. Shibahara starred individually, earning recognition as ITA Southwest Region Player to Watch, Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year and an All-Pac-12 First-Team member. Shibahara, Hart and Fleming received All-America accolades from the ITA. Hart, Fleming, Altick and Miller joined Shibahara in garnering All-Pac-12 honors.
ALUMNAE SPOTLIGHT
Jennifer Brady was part of UCLA's 2014 NCAA championship-winning team and her winning ways have continued into the professional ranks. Brady had a breakout 2017 and showed she was no fluke in 2018, reaching the singles second round of two Grand Slam tournaments. She broke onto the pro 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 has also had doubles success, advancing to the third round of the 2018 French Open and the semifinal round of the 2019 Australian Open. On Sunday, Brady helped the United States to a 3-2 win against Switzerland at the Fed Cup World Group playoffs in San Antonio. The Boca Raton, Fla. native has been ranked as high as No. 60 (Oct. 16, 2017) in the WTA singles rankings and she recently climbed to a career-best No. 48 (April 15, 2019) on the doubles list.
Players Mentioned
