Spanish tradition dictates that a bull never wins a fight.
Even if the bull mauls the matador to the point of presumed defeat, the remaining bullfighters will surround and trample its chance at victory.
But the Bruins – the bull in this arena – will have an opportunity to break that tradition.
UCLA women’s tennis (2-2) will tussle with Cal State Northridge (3-1) on Thursday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center with a chance to cross the .500 plateau for the first time this season. The bout represents the second-consecutive late addition to the blue and gold’s regular-season schedule and one of just three matches remaining prior to conference play.
“I know the competition is going to get stronger and stronger, so it’s all preparation to play the big matches and, once we get into Pac-12 (play), to be ready,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster.
Captained by senior Sasha Vagramov, the Bruins previously defeated Rice 4-3 to snap a two-match losing streak in their first contest following a pair of rain cancellations up North. And though the senior is seated in the leadership role, it’s a freshman who presumably will continue to spearhead the singles front against the Matadors.
Fangran Tian, who beat out former freshman standout Kimmi Hance for the No. 1 singles spot in the offseason, has done nothing but win since earning the position. Tian stands at 3-0 with a ranked win against No. 42 Thasaporn Naklo of Iowa State, an undefeated run that has pushed the rookie from No. 94 to No. 70 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles rankings.
Early exposure to high-level competition is precisely what drew Tian to Westwood, according to Sampras Webster.
“That’s why she came here. She came to play and improve and get more experience,” Sampras Webster said. “She has a great mentality coming in and (she’s) a very mature freshman. She does not act like a freshman.”
Alongside Tian’s season-opening streak, sophomore Elise Wagle made her singles season debut against Rice at the No. 6 spot, surrendering just two games en route to a straight-set singles win. Wagle had been active in doubles play since the start of the dual-match season but was not yet ready to fully return from an injury that hindered her for much of 2022.
But if she indeed wasn’t 100% until last Friday, her doubles results didn’t reflect it.
After winning the ITA Southwest Regional Championships doubles title with Hance in the fall, the tandem entered dual-match play ranked No. 11 nationally and have gone 3-1 since to boost their ranking to No. 9, much to their surprise.
“Honestly we don’t really know how we got to (the) top 10 because we moved up but weren’t winning,” Wagle said. “We’ve had losses on our record, so it was kind of weird, but I mean every match we learn from it and we’ve been improving and building upon the ones before.”
The Matadors will be seeking to tame the Bruins for the first time in program history, with the latter having claimed all eight matchups between the two and accumulating a 17-2 point advantage in all contests since 2000.
Two of CSUN’s three wins this year have come against a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and a Division 2 program, and the only Division 1 win was claimed against 0-4 Santa Clara.
With conference play looming, Vagramov is intent on pumping up her teammates for the road ahead.
“Offering experience on how it was (in) my previous years is definitely going to be helpful for, especially, the newcomers,” Vagramov said. “Just trying to get everyone excited, because this is arguably one of the more exciting parts of the season.”
First serve between the Bruins and the Matadors is set for 2 p.m. on Thursday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
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