University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
Iowa State
Women's Tennis Continues NCAA Journey Friday at Iowa State
May 09, 2023 | Women's Tennis
MATCH INFORMATION
Date/Time: Friday, April 12/11 AM PT
Live Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=465601
Series vs. Iowa State: Iowa State leads, 1-0
Last Meeting vs. Iowa State: Iowa State won 4-3 on Jan. 28
Record in NCAA Play: 96-38
THIS WEEK
The UCLA women's tennis team continues its NCAA Championships journey Friday, when it visits No. 11-seed Iowa State for a super-regional showdown. First serve from Ames High Tennis Complex in Ames, Iowa is scheduled for 11 a.m. PT. The Bruins (15-7, 6-4 Pac-12) are coming off a 4-3 victory at No. 6-seed Duke, while the host Cyclones (20-5, 7-2 Big 12) bested Wisconsin 4-1 in their second-round match. The winner advances to the NCAA host site of Orlando, Fla. and the tournament's quarterfinal round.
NCAA Tournament Appearances: 41st
Overall Won-Lost Record: 96-38
Appearances Unseeded: Sixth
Round of 16 Appearances (Last): 37 (2023)
Quarterfinal Round Appearances (Last): 26 (2021)
Semifinal Round Appearances (Last): 15 (2015)
Final Round Appearances (Last): 9 (2015)
NCAA Championships: 2 (2008, 2014)
UCLA IN THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
UCLA women's tennis is one of two programs (Stanford) to qualify for the NCAA Championships each year since the tournament format was adopted, stretching the run to 41 seasons with its latest selection. Head coach Stella Sampras Webster's teams have claimed each of the program's NCAA titles during that time, taking the top spots in 2008 and 2014. The Bruins have already improved their program's all-time record in NCAA play to 96-38.
SERIES HISTORY
UCLA and Iowa State met for the first time Jan. 28, when the Cyclones prevailed 4-3 at Neil Schiff Tennis Center in Coral Gables, Fla. The ITA Kickoff Weekend first-round contest saw momentum swing in the direction of Iowa State as singles play progressed. UCLA was unable to capitalize on a 3-1 lead, built with the doubles point and singles wins by Ava Catanzarite and Fangran Tian. Miska Kadleckova clinched the victory for the Cyclones.
SCOUTING THE CYCLONES
Iowa State is No. 12 in the ITA Team Rankings. Individually, five Cyclones are ranked. On the singles list, Thasaporn Naklo is No. 60 and Ange Oby is No. 66. The pairs of Naklo/Anna Supapitch (No. 54), Oby/Chie Kezuka (65) and Oby/Xinyi Nong (77) can be found in the doubles rankings.
TRIO LAUDED IN PAC-12 YEAR-END AWARDS
Three Bruins were honored May 4 by the Pac-12, which announced its postseason award winners and All-Conference Teams. The combination of Kimmi Hance and Elise Wagle was voted Doubles Team of the Year, while Fangran Tian was tabbed the league's Freshman/Newcomer of the Year. Each of the three student-athletes also received All-Conference recognition. Tian made the First Team, Hance earned a spot on the Second Team and Wagle was an Honorable Mention pick. Tian is the first UCLA freshman to garner Freshman/Newcomer of the Year and First Team accolades in the same year since Elysia Bolton at the end of the 2019 campaign. A Bruin has now been named to the First Team at the conclusion of the past 11 completed seasons. Tian is the ninth to collect the newcomer award and first since Bolton in 2019. Six UCLA pairs had previously won Doubles Team of the Year, with Abbey Forbes and Jada Hart the most recent honorees in 2021. Hance is the only repeat selection of the trio, having been named All-Conference Honorable Mention in 2022.
THREE BRUINS BOUND FOR NCAA INDIVIDUALS
Kimmi Hance, Fangran Tian and Elise Wagle were chosen to participate in the 2023 NCAA Division I Championships singles and doubles tournaments, the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Subcommittee announced May 2. Hance and Wagle earned the Pac-12's automatic-qualifier spot in the doubles draw. The pair is seeded No. 5-8. Tian received an at-large selection into the singles field as a No. 9-16 seed. The singles and doubles competition will be conducted May 22-27 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida, after the conclusion of the team championship, which runs from May 17-20. Wagle made the 2022 doubles tournament alongside Elysia Bolton, while Hance and Tian are set to make their NCAA individuals debuts.
LAST TIME OUT
UCLA upset No. 6-seed Duke in a 4-3 thriller Saturday evening at the Blue Devils' Ambler Tennis Stadium, earning a berth in the NCAA Championships super-regional round. Sasha Vagramov provided the heroics with all eyes on her court. The senior won a pair of tiebreakers to complete her team's comeback from a 3-1 deficit. Also victorious for the Bruins in singles play were Kimmi Hance, Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer and Elise Wagle. The Blue Devils narrowly took the doubles point and had Chloe Beck and Emma Jackson add to their tally. One day earlier, Vagramov capped another bounceback performance as UCLA defeated Texas Tech 4-1 after losing the doubles point.
IN THE RANKINGS
UCLA holds the No. 20 spot in the most recent ITA Computerized Team Rankings, released May 4. The latest ITA National Singles and Doubles Rankings came out the same day and feature three Bruins. Leading the way on the singles list is Fangran Tian, who remained at her career-high spot of No. 14. Kimmi Hance, meanwhile, is No. 112. The tandem of Hance and Elise Wagle is No. 7 on the doubles list 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. Hance and Wagle also knocked off Broadus and Tjen in dual-match play (April 12).
SAMPRAS WEBSTER JOINS 500 CLUB
Head coach Stella Sampras Webster collected the 500th win of her illustrious career when the Bruins defeated UC San Diego 5-2 April 18. In her 27th season at the helm of the UCLA women's tennis program, Sampras Webster has compiled an impressive overall record of 503-185 (.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.
TAMING THE TOP FIVE
With its 4-3 home result over Pepperdine April 12, UCLA earned its second victory against a team ranked in the ITA's top five during 2023 dual-match play. The Bruins also beat No. 4 Ohio State by a 4-3 score at Los Angeles Tennis Center exactly one month earlier. Sasha Vagramov was the last player standing versus the Buckeyes, while Fangran Tian provided the heroics to help knock off the No. 5 Waves. Wins opposite two top-five teams during the same season had most recently happened for UCLA in 2015, when Stella Sampras Webster's Bruins earned 4-3 wins against No. 3 USC (March 4) and at No. 4 Baylor (March 7) in back-to-back matches.
TO A TI-AN
Fangran Tian recorded wins in 15 straight singles decisions to start her dual-match career. The freshman from Beijing, China is now 16-1. She has had two matches left unfinished. Of Tian's wins, seven have come against nationally-ranked players: No. 8 Madison Sieg of USC (6-4, 6-3 on April 21), No. 11 Janice Tjen of Pepperdine (7-6[1], 6-7[6], 6-3 on April 12), No. 28 Angelica Blake of Stanford (6-1, 1-6, 6-4 on March 26), No. 4 Sieg (6-3, 1-0, retired on March 16), No. 20 Irina Cantos Siemers of Ohio State (6-4, 3-6, 6-1 on March 12), No. 100 Hikaru Sato of Washington (4-6, 6-4, 6-3 on March 3) and No. 57 Thasaporn Naklo of Iowa State (6-1, 6-2 on Jan. 28). Dating back to fall action, Tian is 23-5 in singles play with a 11-4 mark opposite nationally-ranked foes.
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.
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).
Players Mentioned
