Thursday, April 11
Malibu, CA
1:00 PM
UCLA
at
Pepperdine
Photo by: Scott Chandler
No. 15 Women's Tennis to Visit No. 7 Pepperdine, Host Oregon
April 10, 2024 | Women's Tennis
MATCH INFORMATION
Date/Time: Thursday, April 11/1:00 PM PT
ย ย ย ย Saturday, April 13/11:00 AM PT
Live Stream: PepperdineWaves.com / UCLABruins.com
Live Stats: PepperdineWaves.com / UCLABruins.com
Series vs. Pepperdine: UCLA leads 59-22
Series vs. Oregon: UCLA leads 27-1
Last Meeting vs. PEPP: UCLA won 4-3 on April 12, 2023
Last Meeting vs. ORE: UCLA won 4-0 on April 14, 2023
THIS WEEK
The 15th-ranked UCLA women's tennis team (14-4, 7-1 Pac-12) will try for its 13th win in 14 matches Thursday, when it travels up the coast to face No. 7 Pepperdine (11-5, 2-0 WCC). First serve from Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center is scheduled for 1 p.m. PT. The Bruins return to Los Angeles Tennis Center Saturday for a Pac-12 matchup with Oregon (10-10, 1-7 Pac-12). The contest begins at 11 a.m., with Senior Day festivities preceding play.
FOLLOW LIVE
Live scoring and streaming of Thursday's match in Malibu, Calif. will be available at PepperdineWaves.com. Fans unable to attend home UCLA women's tennis matches in person can still follow live. Point-by-point scores and live video can be found for all matches played at Los Angeles Tennis Center through UCLABruins.com.
LAST TIME OUT
The Bruins won three matches in five days, outscoring CSUN (4-0, April 3), Utah (4-0, April 5) and Colorado (4-1, April 7) by a 12-1 margin. The latter two contests occurred away from home, as UCLA resumed Pac-12 play. Tian Fangran (CSUN), Elise Wagle (Utah) and Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer (Colorado) provided the clinching points. Bianca Fernandez won each of her six matches played, going 3-0 in singles and 3-0 in doubles.
UCLA VS. PEPPERDINE, OREGON
UCLA holds an all-time record of 59-22 against Pepperdine. In the most recent meeting, Tian Fangran and the 24th-ranked Bruins prevailed 4-3 in a marathon match at Los Angeles Tennis Center (April 12, 2023). With all eyes on the top court, Tian defeated Janice Tjen in a three-set battle of top-20-ranked singles players. Also victorious for UCLA in singles play were Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer and Elise Wagle. Each of the three also had a hand in securing the doubles point. The Waves led 3-2 thanks to singles wins by Savannah Broadus, Nikki Redelijk and Lisa Zaar. The contest took over four hours to complete. The Bruins will try to improve upon a 27-1 mark versus Oregon. Last year, Tian clinched a 4-0 victory at UO's Student Tennis Courts. Also prevailing in singles play for UCLA were Ava Catanzarite and Kimmi Hance. Hance and Tian also contributed to their team's efforts in doubles play, where they collected the day's first point.
IN THE RANKINGS
UCLA sits at No. 15 in the latest ITA team rankings, released Tuesday. The Bruins have won 12 of their past 13 matches. They were slotted at No. 36 in the Feb. 27 installment. There were once again five UCLA entries in the latest individual rankings, also announced Tuesday. The singles list include Kimmi Hance (No. 32), Tian Fangran (37) and Bianca Fernandez (68). Each defeated a top-60 player in the Bruins' non-conference victory against USC March 1. Fernandez and Tian have each knocked off five nationally-ranked singles opponents, while Hance has beaten four. The doubles combination of Tian and Elise Wagle rose to No. 36, while Hance and Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer climbed to No. 65.
FERNANDEZ EARNS FIRST PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK AWARD
Bianca Fernandez earned her first career Pac-12 Women's Tennis Player of the Week award Tuesday, the conference announced. The honor was presented for the week of April 1-7, when the Bruins went 3-0 and outscored their opponents by a 12-1 margin. Fernandez was victorious in each of her six individual matches played. Her week of singles play began with a 6-0, 6-0 display against CSUN's Victoria Santibañez Luna (April 3) and she also downed Keila Barksdale of Utah in straight sets (April 5) before outlasting Mila Stanojevic 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 to prevent Colorado from pulling level at 2-2 (April 7). The all-freshman combination of Fernandez and Ahmani Guichard went undefeated in doubles play, giving up more than two games just once. Utes Barksdale and Sara Akid were a deuce point away from 5-5 in cold and windy conditions, but the UCLA pair was able to prevail. UCLA has won a league-high six Pac-12 Women's Tennis Player of the Week awards in 2024. A team most recently reached that number in 2016, when California accomplished the feat. Bruins have accounted for 44 total in program history.
HANCE VOTED PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
On the heels of her heroic singles win at Stanford, Kimmi Hance was named Pac-12 Player of the Week by the conference April 2. More than four and a half hours after the dual match began, Hance was left standing triumphant over the Pac-12's highest-ranked player and UCLA had its first win against the Cardinal since 2021. The 4-3 result on fifth-ranked Stanford's home court was sealed with a backhand down the line past No. 13 Connie Ma, who had won 12 straight matches in straight sets entering play. Hance fought off two Ma match points, going on to win the marathon match by a 6-4, 6-7(3), 7-6(5) score. That capped a perfect day for Hance, who also teamed with Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer to beat No. 67 Angelica Blake/Alexis Blokhina 7-6(6) and secure a doubles point that ultimately proved the difference. For good measure, Hance took down No. 38 Hannah Viller Moeller of California 7-6(4), 6-3 on the road one day earlier. The Pac-12 Player of the Week award represents Hance's third of her career. She previously won twice during the 2023 dual-match campaign.
TIAN NAMED PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR FOURTH TIME THIS SEASON
Tian Fangran was named Pac-12 Player of the Week for the week of March 11-17, giving her three straight awards and four overall this season. The defending NCAA singles champion's 6-0, 6-0 performance against Arizona State's Chelsea Fontenel came in a 4-0 team triumph. The next day, Tian beat No. 123 Reece Carter of Arizona 6-3, 6-2 and UCLA prevailed 6-1. Each of Tian's singles wins came before the overall result was clinched. Tian and Elise Wagle also beat Sun Devils Fontenel and Patricija Spaka 6-1 in doubles play after a Bruin team was forced to retire. Tian/Wagle had its match abandoned leading 5-4 versus the top-court Wildcats. Tian is now a five-time Pac-12 Player of the Week award winner for her career.
FALL RECAP
Bruins appeared at three tournaments during the fall. Freshman Ahmani Guichard made her debut on a national scale, logging two of her team-high six fall singles wins at the ITA All-American Championships in Cary, N.C. Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer and Elise Wagle each recorded three singles victories at the ITA Southwest Regional Championships in San Diego. Guichard and Lutkemeyer teamed to collect two wins at ITA Regionals and added another during Thunderbird Invitational play in Tempe, Ariz. Guichard added two more singles wins in the desert.
T IS FOR TITLE
Freshman Tian Fangran completed a sparkling run through the 2023 NCAA Championships singles tournament at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla., defeating Layne Sleeth of Oklahoma 6-4, 6-2 for the second NCAA singles title in program history. The No. 9-16-seeded Tian joined UCLA Athletic Hall of Famer Keri Phebus as the only Bruins to lift the trophy at the season-ending event. En route to the title, Tian won six matches without dropping a single set. She completed her debut college season with a singles record of 30-7, including a 17-6 mark against nationally-ranked opponents. The NCAA singles championship represents the first in the career of head coach Stella Sampras Webster, who was on staff as an assistant coach under Bill Zaima when Phebus collected hers.
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 made her first major women's doubles final round alongside Shuko Aoyama at the 2023 Australian Open. Shibahara/Aoyama was the last pair standing at the 2023 National Bank Open in Toronto, giving each player her second WTA 1000 championship. Shibahara climbed to a career-best No. 4 position in the WTA's doubles rankings in March 2022 and entered 2024 at No. 14. Catherine Harrison also had a standout 2022, competing at Roland-Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. She reached the singles second round at the All England Club and earned a main-draw win in doubles at each event. Harrison added the Australian Open to her résumé in 2023 and made a return trip earlier this year. She also collected her first WTA title in 2022, partnering with Sabrina Santamaria to prevail at the Monterrey Open in Mexico. Harrison posted career-high WTA rankings of 214 singles and 69 doubles in 2022. Robin Anderson also had a stellar 2022, making career-high appearances of 137 singles and 181 doubles. She made her Grand Slam main-draw debut at the 2022 Australian Open. Jennifer Brady achieved the highest singles ranking of any former UCLA standout when she climbed to No. 13 in 2021. Elysia Bolton (167) and Jada Hart (296) earned the highest doubles rankings of their careers thus far in 2023.
STELLA'S STERLING RÉSUMÉ
Head coach Stella Sampras Webster is in her 28th season at the helm of the UCLA women's tennis program, compiling an impressive overall record of 517-190 (.731). She is the second-longest-tenured active coach at UCLA, behind men's tennis head coach Billy Martin. Sampras Webster collected the 500th win of her illustrious career when the Bruins defeated UC San Diego on April 18, 2023. She has guided her alma mater to NCAA championships in 2008 and 2014, the first two in program history. Sampras Webster's teams have finished top-10 nationally in 22 of her 26 completed seasons and in the top five 15 times. Four NCAA individual championships have been won under her watch: Tian Fangran in 2023, Gabby Andrews/Ayan Broomfield in 2019, Tracy Lin/Riza Zalameda in 2008 and Daniela Bercek/Lauren Fisher in 2004.
Date/Time: Thursday, April 11/1:00 PM PT
ย ย ย ย Saturday, April 13/11:00 AM PT
Live Stream: PepperdineWaves.com / UCLABruins.com
Live Stats: PepperdineWaves.com / UCLABruins.com
Series vs. Pepperdine: UCLA leads 59-22
Series vs. Oregon: UCLA leads 27-1
Last Meeting vs. PEPP: UCLA won 4-3 on April 12, 2023
Last Meeting vs. ORE: UCLA won 4-0 on April 14, 2023
THIS WEEK
The 15th-ranked UCLA women's tennis team (14-4, 7-1 Pac-12) will try for its 13th win in 14 matches Thursday, when it travels up the coast to face No. 7 Pepperdine (11-5, 2-0 WCC). First serve from Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center is scheduled for 1 p.m. PT. The Bruins return to Los Angeles Tennis Center Saturday for a Pac-12 matchup with Oregon (10-10, 1-7 Pac-12). The contest begins at 11 a.m., with Senior Day festivities preceding play.
FOLLOW LIVE
Live scoring and streaming of Thursday's match in Malibu, Calif. will be available at PepperdineWaves.com. Fans unable to attend home UCLA women's tennis matches in person can still follow live. Point-by-point scores and live video can be found for all matches played at Los Angeles Tennis Center through UCLABruins.com.
LAST TIME OUT
The Bruins won three matches in five days, outscoring CSUN (4-0, April 3), Utah (4-0, April 5) and Colorado (4-1, April 7) by a 12-1 margin. The latter two contests occurred away from home, as UCLA resumed Pac-12 play. Tian Fangran (CSUN), Elise Wagle (Utah) and Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer (Colorado) provided the clinching points. Bianca Fernandez won each of her six matches played, going 3-0 in singles and 3-0 in doubles.
UCLA VS. PEPPERDINE, OREGON
UCLA holds an all-time record of 59-22 against Pepperdine. In the most recent meeting, Tian Fangran and the 24th-ranked Bruins prevailed 4-3 in a marathon match at Los Angeles Tennis Center (April 12, 2023). With all eyes on the top court, Tian defeated Janice Tjen in a three-set battle of top-20-ranked singles players. Also victorious for UCLA in singles play were Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer and Elise Wagle. Each of the three also had a hand in securing the doubles point. The Waves led 3-2 thanks to singles wins by Savannah Broadus, Nikki Redelijk and Lisa Zaar. The contest took over four hours to complete. The Bruins will try to improve upon a 27-1 mark versus Oregon. Last year, Tian clinched a 4-0 victory at UO's Student Tennis Courts. Also prevailing in singles play for UCLA were Ava Catanzarite and Kimmi Hance. Hance and Tian also contributed to their team's efforts in doubles play, where they collected the day's first point.
IN THE RANKINGS
UCLA sits at No. 15 in the latest ITA team rankings, released Tuesday. The Bruins have won 12 of their past 13 matches. They were slotted at No. 36 in the Feb. 27 installment. There were once again five UCLA entries in the latest individual rankings, also announced Tuesday. The singles list include Kimmi Hance (No. 32), Tian Fangran (37) and Bianca Fernandez (68). Each defeated a top-60 player in the Bruins' non-conference victory against USC March 1. Fernandez and Tian have each knocked off five nationally-ranked singles opponents, while Hance has beaten four. The doubles combination of Tian and Elise Wagle rose to No. 36, while Hance and Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer climbed to No. 65.
FERNANDEZ EARNS FIRST PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK AWARD
Bianca Fernandez earned her first career Pac-12 Women's Tennis Player of the Week award Tuesday, the conference announced. The honor was presented for the week of April 1-7, when the Bruins went 3-0 and outscored their opponents by a 12-1 margin. Fernandez was victorious in each of her six individual matches played. Her week of singles play began with a 6-0, 6-0 display against CSUN's Victoria Santibañez Luna (April 3) and she also downed Keila Barksdale of Utah in straight sets (April 5) before outlasting Mila Stanojevic 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 to prevent Colorado from pulling level at 2-2 (April 7). The all-freshman combination of Fernandez and Ahmani Guichard went undefeated in doubles play, giving up more than two games just once. Utes Barksdale and Sara Akid were a deuce point away from 5-5 in cold and windy conditions, but the UCLA pair was able to prevail. UCLA has won a league-high six Pac-12 Women's Tennis Player of the Week awards in 2024. A team most recently reached that number in 2016, when California accomplished the feat. Bruins have accounted for 44 total in program history.
HANCE VOTED PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
On the heels of her heroic singles win at Stanford, Kimmi Hance was named Pac-12 Player of the Week by the conference April 2. More than four and a half hours after the dual match began, Hance was left standing triumphant over the Pac-12's highest-ranked player and UCLA had its first win against the Cardinal since 2021. The 4-3 result on fifth-ranked Stanford's home court was sealed with a backhand down the line past No. 13 Connie Ma, who had won 12 straight matches in straight sets entering play. Hance fought off two Ma match points, going on to win the marathon match by a 6-4, 6-7(3), 7-6(5) score. That capped a perfect day for Hance, who also teamed with Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer to beat No. 67 Angelica Blake/Alexis Blokhina 7-6(6) and secure a doubles point that ultimately proved the difference. For good measure, Hance took down No. 38 Hannah Viller Moeller of California 7-6(4), 6-3 on the road one day earlier. The Pac-12 Player of the Week award represents Hance's third of her career. She previously won twice during the 2023 dual-match campaign.
TIAN NAMED PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR FOURTH TIME THIS SEASON
Tian Fangran was named Pac-12 Player of the Week for the week of March 11-17, giving her three straight awards and four overall this season. The defending NCAA singles champion's 6-0, 6-0 performance against Arizona State's Chelsea Fontenel came in a 4-0 team triumph. The next day, Tian beat No. 123 Reece Carter of Arizona 6-3, 6-2 and UCLA prevailed 6-1. Each of Tian's singles wins came before the overall result was clinched. Tian and Elise Wagle also beat Sun Devils Fontenel and Patricija Spaka 6-1 in doubles play after a Bruin team was forced to retire. Tian/Wagle had its match abandoned leading 5-4 versus the top-court Wildcats. Tian is now a five-time Pac-12 Player of the Week award winner for her career.
FALL RECAP
Bruins appeared at three tournaments during the fall. Freshman Ahmani Guichard made her debut on a national scale, logging two of her team-high six fall singles wins at the ITA All-American Championships in Cary, N.C. Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer and Elise Wagle each recorded three singles victories at the ITA Southwest Regional Championships in San Diego. Guichard and Lutkemeyer teamed to collect two wins at ITA Regionals and added another during Thunderbird Invitational play in Tempe, Ariz. Guichard added two more singles wins in the desert.
T IS FOR TITLE
Freshman Tian Fangran completed a sparkling run through the 2023 NCAA Championships singles tournament at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla., defeating Layne Sleeth of Oklahoma 6-4, 6-2 for the second NCAA singles title in program history. The No. 9-16-seeded Tian joined UCLA Athletic Hall of Famer Keri Phebus as the only Bruins to lift the trophy at the season-ending event. En route to the title, Tian won six matches without dropping a single set. She completed her debut college season with a singles record of 30-7, including a 17-6 mark against nationally-ranked opponents. The NCAA singles championship represents the first in the career of head coach Stella Sampras Webster, who was on staff as an assistant coach under Bill Zaima when Phebus collected hers.
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 made her first major women's doubles final round alongside Shuko Aoyama at the 2023 Australian Open. Shibahara/Aoyama was the last pair standing at the 2023 National Bank Open in Toronto, giving each player her second WTA 1000 championship. Shibahara climbed to a career-best No. 4 position in the WTA's doubles rankings in March 2022 and entered 2024 at No. 14. Catherine Harrison also had a standout 2022, competing at Roland-Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. She reached the singles second round at the All England Club and earned a main-draw win in doubles at each event. Harrison added the Australian Open to her résumé in 2023 and made a return trip earlier this year. She also collected her first WTA title in 2022, partnering with Sabrina Santamaria to prevail at the Monterrey Open in Mexico. Harrison posted career-high WTA rankings of 214 singles and 69 doubles in 2022. Robin Anderson also had a stellar 2022, making career-high appearances of 137 singles and 181 doubles. She made her Grand Slam main-draw debut at the 2022 Australian Open. Jennifer Brady achieved the highest singles ranking of any former UCLA standout when she climbed to No. 13 in 2021. Elysia Bolton (167) and Jada Hart (296) earned the highest doubles rankings of their careers thus far in 2023.
STELLA'S STERLING RÉSUMÉ
Head coach Stella Sampras Webster is in her 28th season at the helm of the UCLA women's tennis program, compiling an impressive overall record of 517-190 (.731). She is the second-longest-tenured active coach at UCLA, behind men's tennis head coach Billy Martin. Sampras Webster collected the 500th win of her illustrious career when the Bruins defeated UC San Diego on April 18, 2023. She has guided her alma mater to NCAA championships in 2008 and 2014, the first two in program history. Sampras Webster's teams have finished top-10 nationally in 22 of her 26 completed seasons and in the top five 15 times. Four NCAA individual championships have been won under her watch: Tian Fangran in 2023, Gabby Andrews/Ayan Broomfield in 2019, Tracy Lin/Riza Zalameda in 2008 and Daniela Bercek/Lauren Fisher in 2004.
Players Mentioned
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