UCLA
Ohio State
Women's Tennis Hosts No. 4 Ohio State Sunday
March 11, 2023 | Women's Tennis
Fresh off opening Pac-12 play in the Pacific Northwest, the UCLA women's tennis team returns home Sunday for a non-conference tilt with No. 4 Ohio State. First serve from Los Angeles Tennis Center is scheduled for 12 p.m. PT. The Bruins (4-3, 1-1 Pac-12) enter the match winners of three of their past four contests, while the Buckeyes (8-4, 1-0 Big Ten) are coming off a 7-0 win versus Penn State in their conference opener.
FOLLOW LIVE
Fans unable to attend home UCLA women's tennis matches in person can still follow live. Live streaming and live scoring will be available for all matches played at Los Angeles Tennis Center HERE.
LAST TIME OUT
UCLA registered a split on the road to open Pac-12 play, falling to Washington by a 4-3 score before posting a 5-2 win against Washington State. In a match that saw three singles contests go three sets, the Bruins ultimately could not overcome the Huskies' early 2-0 lead. Kimmi Hance, Fangran Tian and Elise Wagle were victorious for UCLA. Melissa Sakar clinched the overall win for UW, which also saw Jennifer Kerr and Astrid Olsen prevail in singles play. Two days later, the Bruins collected the final three wins of the day, including Wagle's straight-set clincher. Tian, Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer and Vanessa Ong were also victorious for UCLA. Yura Nakagawa and Elyse Tse momentarily pulled the Cougars even on the singles courts. The Bruins earned the doubles point after dropping just three total games in the completed contests.
UCLA VS. OHIO STATE
UCLA and Ohio State have met just twice on the tennis courts, with the Buckeyes prevailing both times. The programs most recently clashed during the 2016 NCAA Championships, when host and fourth-ranked Ohio State dealt the No. 27 Bruins a second-round loss. UCLA collected the doubles point in the match, but was unable to get on the board again in singles play.
SCOUTING THE BUCKEYES
Ohio State is listed at No. 4 in the latest ITA Computerized Team Rankings, sporting a record of 8-4. Individually, three Buckeyes were recognized in the singles and doubles rankings. Irina Cantos Siemers leads the way at No. 20 on the singles list, backed up by No. 28 Sydni Ratliff and No. 94 Shelly Bereznyak. Ratliff and Siemers team to form the No. 17 doubles tandem.
IN THE RANKINGS
The latest ITA National Singles and Doubles Rankings came out Tuesday and feature four Bruins. Leading the way on the singles list is Fangran Tian, at No. 63. Ava Catanzarite is listed at No. 76, while Kimmi Hance checked in at No. 95. The tandem of Hance and Elise Wagle is now at No. 10 for doubles, thanks in part to its ITA Southwest Regional Championships title run. The pair beat current No. 1 Savannah Broadus/Janice Tjen of Pepperdine in the final. UCLA was slotted at No. 64 in the most recent ITA Computerized Team Rankings, also released Tuesday.
CLINCH WATCH
Ava Catanzarite (Loyola Marymount), Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer (CSUN) and Fangran Tian (vs. Rice) and Elise Wagle (at Washington State) have each clinched one win this season.
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.
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 492-181 (.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
