UCLA
Rice
Women's Tennis to Meet Rice Friday in San Diego
February 08, 2023 | Women's Tennis
The UCLA women's tennis team (1-2) is scheduled to play its first match since Jan. 29 when it travels south to meet Rice (2-2) Friday in a neutral-site contest in San Diego. The Santaluz Club plays host, with first serve set for 1 p.m. PT. The Bruins had their two latest scheduled matches rained out in Northern California.
FOLLOW LIVE
Fans can receive results updates from San Diego Friday on the UCLA women's tennis Twitter account (@uclawtennis).
LAST TIME OUT
UCLA was rained out of matches at Saint Mary's and California, scheduled for Feb. 3 and 4, respectively. The then-No. 18 Bruins dropped a 4-1 decision to FIU Jan. 29 in the ITA Kickoff Weekend consolation match, completing their time at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center in Coral Gables, Fla. One day earlier, UCLA was outlasted by then-No. 24 Iowa State in a first-round contest. The Bruins were unable to capitalize on a 3-1 lead, built with the doubles point and singles wins by Ava Catanzarite and Fangran Tian, in that one.
UCLA VS. RICE
UCLA has prevailed in each of its three matchups with Rice. The programs most recently squared off during the 2012 NCAA Championships, when the Bruins registered a 4-0 round-of-16 win at Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga. McCall Jones, Carling Seguso and clincher Robin Anderson logged straight-set singles victories for top-ranked UCLA, which took the doubles point without a loss. Stella Sampras Webster's Bruins have also defeated the Owls in 2006 and 2010. Both those decisions were made at Los Angeles Tennis Center.
IN THE RANKINGS
The latest ITA National Singles and Doubles Rankings came out Feb. 8 and feature four Bruins. Leading the way on the singles list is Ava Catanzarite, at No. 52. Fangran Tian is listed at a career-best No. 70, while Kimmi Hance checked in at No. 82. The tandem of Hance and Elise Wagle rose to No. 9 for doubles โ a career high for both โ thanks in part to claiming the ITA Southwest Regional Championships top prize.
FALL RECAP
Bruins made appearances at six events, including two national ones, during the fall. There were two championship performances, as Kimmi Hance and Elise Wagle teamed to win the ITA Southwest Regional Championships doubles title in San Diego, while the combination of Vanessa Ong and Sasha Vagramov took the Dennis Rizza Classic top prize in Rolling Hills Estates, Calif. Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer, who was the top singles performer at the Women of Troy Invitational, collected a team-high 11 singles wins. Hance, Ava Catanzarite and Fangran Tian each beat three nationally-ranked opponents. Hance also made the singles final round at the ITA Southwest Regionals.
2021-22 IN REVIEW
The 2021-22 UCLA women's tennis team went 13-7, finishing second in the Pac-12 with a 7-1 record. The Bruins advanced past Arkansas in the NCAA Championships first round, but were outlasted by host Oklahoma State in a 4-2 second-round decision. Elysia Bolton and Abbey Forbes qualified for the NCAA singles draw, while the duo of Bolton and Elise Wagle made the doubles draw. Bolton advanced to the singles second round. Forbes (First Team), Bolton (Second Team) and Kimmi Hance (Honorable Mention) received All-Conference honors from the Pac-12. Forbes was also tabbed the ITA Southwest Region's recipient of the Arthur Ashe Leadership & Sportsmanship award.
WHO'S NEW?
Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer and Fangran Tian make up UCLA's freshman class. Lutkemeyer (Irvine, Calif.), a Blue Chip recruit according to TennisRecruiting.net, was the No. 1 player in her class during 2020 and 2021. She took the singles championship at the 2021 PTT Newport Beach, Calif. Women's $25K Hard 2 event. On the junior level, Lutkemeyer collected the Girls' 16 singles crown at the 2018 USTA International Spring Championships in Carson, Calif. Tian (Beijing, China) won the Girls' singles title at the 2019 Australian Open Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-Off event, earning wild-card entry into the 2020 Australian Open Junior Championships. She also earned a spot in the 2019 Roland-Garros Junior Championships singles draw.
MARSHALL JOINS COACHING STAFF
An acclaimed performance coach for many of the world's top professional tennis players, volunteer assistant coach Rodney Marshall is new to head coach Stella Sampras Webster's staff in 2022-23. Marshall joined the Bruins after spending the past five years in Orlando, Fla., where he worked with standout Americans Madison Keys, Caty McNally and Alison Riske-Armitraj. He has overseen strength and conditioning, nutrition and injury prevention for Keys, who finished 2022 with a WTA singles ranking of No. 11. From 2009-2018, Marshall served as lead national strength and conditioning coach for USTA Player Development, spearheading strength and conditioning efforts for top American players out of the National Training Centers in Orlando and Carson, Calif. He also assisted with nutrition, sports medicine and injury prevention. Marshall's time at the USTA also afforded him the opportunity to manage strength and conditioning programs for multiple United States Davis Cup teams under captains Patrick McEnroe and Jim Courier. He has also aided in the development of numerous top-100 American women, including, but not limited to, Claire Liu, Christina McHale and Sloane Stephens.
BRUINS ON TOUR
Ena Shibahara earned her first Grand Slam championship in 2022, teaming with Wesley Koolhof to seize the mixed doubles title at Roland-Garros. She also recently made her first major women's doubles final round alongside Shuko Aoyama at the 2023 Australian Open. Shibahara climbed to a career-best No. 4 position in the WTA's doubles rankings in March 2022. Catherine Harrison also had a standout 2022, making her Grand Slam singles and doubles debuts. She advanced through singles qualifying at Wimbledon and continued her success with a first-round win. Harrison and partner Ulrikke Eikeri made a doubles second-round appearance at Roland-Garros and the pair went on to accomplish the same feat at Wimbledon and the US Open. Harrison also collected her first WTA title last year, partnering with Sabrina Santamaria to prevail at the Monterrey Open in Mexico. The following Bruins in the professional ranks achieved career-high WTA rankings in 2022: Robin Anderson (No. 137 singles and 181 doubles), Harrison (214 singles and 69 doubles), Elysia Bolton (230 doubles), Chanelle van Nguyen (350 singles) and Jada Hart (489 doubles).
HEAD COACH STELLA SAMPRAS WEBSTER
Head coach Stella Sampras Webster is in her 27th season at the helm of the UCLA women's tennis program, compiling an impressive overall record of 489-180 (.731). She is the second-longest-tenured active coach at UCLA, behind men's tennis head coach Billy Martin. Sampras Webster has guided her alma mater to NCAA championships in 2008 and 2014, the first two in program history. Her teams have finished top-10 nationally in 21 of her 25 completed seasons and in the top five 15 times. Three doubles pairs have won NCAA titles under Sampras Webster's tutelage, most recently Gabby Andrews and Ayan Broomfield in 2019.
Players Mentioned
