This post was updated Jan. 30 at 7:43 p.m.
The weekend’s rollercoaster climbed from heartbreak to revenge.
But at the end of the ride was the same outcome the Bruins have seen for years.
At ITA Kickoff Weekend in Urbandale, Iowa, No. 12 UCLA women’s tennis (2-1) dropped a marathon match 4-3 to No. 3 Oklahoma State (4-0) on Saturday and assembled a 4-0 shutout of Iowa State (2-2) on Sunday. The narrow defeat rendered the Bruins unable to qualify for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships for the third straight season, having reached the event each year from 2017 to 2021.
“We all handled the situation really well,” said junior Kimmi Hance. “Having these really difficult matches early on is really great, just as confidence, because we’re literally so close.”
After opening its dual season by unseating then-No. 6 Texas, UCLA had to take another step up the mountain with the nation’s No. 3 team standing before it. It’s the sort of competition the Bruins have thrived against lately, entering the weekend 4-0 against top-10 opponents since 2023.
The fate of that record would be decided by their top player.
With the match knotted at 3-3, the clinching point was left to the top court, where sophomore Tian Fangran had fallen behind 4-1 in the third set after splitting the first two with No. 13 Anastasiya Komar. The defending NCAA singles champion, who is no stranger to late heroics, crawled her way back, tying the set at four games apiece.
But with the one-two punch of a hold and break, Komar quelled the comeback attempt, and with it, handed Tian her first-ever regular-season singles loss as a Bruin in 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 fashion.
The sophomore had won 17 straight regular-season contests at No. 1 singles.
“It’s going to be a different year for her, only that now, everyone knows her and knows her game,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster. “She definitely has a target, and people are going to be playing lights-out against her, so she understands it. She’s ready for it.”
Before calling themselves victors, the Cowgirls had to play catch-up.
Claiming the doubles point, UCLA relied on the rekindling of an old pairing and the consistency of a familiar one. Hance and redshirt senior Sasha Vagramov – playing their first competitive doubles match together since 2022 – notched a 6-4 win, while a tightly contested battle on court three resulted in a 7-6(3) victory for freshman Ahmani Guichard and sophomore Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer.
The winning start continued courtesy of junior Elise Wagle, who secured a 7-6(4), 6-1 straight-setter over No. 60 Ayumi Miyamoto. Yet Oklahoma State halted the UCLA lead at 2-0.
Then three-setter mania ensued.
With four singles matches needing a decisive third set, No. 99 Guichard was the only one to fall in straights, while Lutkemeyer lost 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 to No. 53 Lucia Peyre. Hance – despite stealing a set from the nation’s second-ranked singles player – ultimately crumbled as well in a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(2) defeat at the hands of Ange Oby Kajuru.
Guichard said another close brush with a top dog was just a product of the work she and her teammates have put in.
“We all have been focusing a lot on bringing max intensity to our practices, so I feel like we’re kind of just ready to go from the start,” Guichard said.
Though the weekend’s championship match escaped their reach, opportunity was still on the table.
Iowa State was on tap – the very program that not only knocked UCLA out of the NCAA tournament last year but also eliminated it from National Indoors contention at 2023’s edition of the ITA Kickoff.
On this occasion, the Cyclones gifted the Bruins a forfeited singles match on court six and another forfeiture on court three doubles, good for a 1-0 lead right out of the gate. The automatic advantage was a result of Iowa State only having five players available.
Hance and Vagramov delivered the sole doubles win necessary, staving off a 4-1 deficit to Gala Arangio and Ashlee Narker all the way to a 6-4 win.
“It’s definitely a different feeling playing with a different player, but me and Sasha definitely have history together, and we understand how each other play,” Hance said. “So once we kind of got into a groove, it was just like it was freshman year again.”
The Bruins would need just two singles results in their favor. They went ahead and saved their head coach the stress.
Following suit on Guichard’s 6-2, 6-4 win, Hance didn’t allow a set to her opponent in a 6-3, 6-3 triumph, completing the Bruin sweep.
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