Portals into the past are popping up left and right.
With them come recent memories – the kind of moments that defined what the Bruins went on to accomplish a season ago.
Closing out the road trip portion of its nonconference schedule, No. 13 UCLA women’s tennis (2-1) will take to Columbus, Ohio, for a pair of contests against No. 17 Duke (5-1) and No. 12 Ohio State (3-1) on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. The top-20 matches come in the immediate aftermath of a shutout over Iowa State, with all three resembling programs that the Bruins fought major battles against in 2023.
“Just knowing who is who and where they played last year, and just matchups and stuff we had last year – but obviously, we’re going into very tough matches,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster. “Everyone’s improved, and playing on the road is not easy.”
When UCLA held Iowa State off the scoreboard last Sunday, old ghosts had been laid to rest. Not only had the Cyclones eliminated a 3-1 deficit to shock the Bruins at ITA Kickoff Weekend last year, but they were also the very team that curtailed UCLA’s NCAA tournament run in the Sweet 16.
Last weekend’s opportunity for redemption now evolves into something else entirely – a chance at reassertion.
UCLA had just surpassed .500 when then-No. 4 Ohio State came to town last March. It was an unranked team standing at 4-3 with no quality wins on its resume and a bad loss to Florida International to boot.
But thanks to a winning shot off the racket of then-redshirt junior Sasha Vagramov, UCLA proceeded to knock off Ohio State 4-3.
And it wasn’t the last time the captain would be engulfed by a sea of embraces and smiles.
Vagramov delivered a similarly critical clinch months later when the Blue Devils – the then-No. 6 seed of the NCAA tournament – squared up with the Bruins in the Round of 32. After then-sophomore Kimmi Hance and then-freshman Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer dug UCLA out of a 3-1 hole, Vagramov showed up in the clutch again, winning a tiebreaker to commence another celebration.
“She’s seen it all and knows us, the coaching staff, very well,” Sampras Webster said. “She understands what culture we want to keep building, and she’s just training super hard.”
Though the time machine continues to run, the setting won’t be like those of the past.
Duke and Ohio State don’t just represent UCLA’s third and fourth top-20 opponents in its first five matches. The ranked bouts will also be staged indoors, marking what will be four Bruin matches over a two-week span not played in outdoor facilities.
When UCLA clashed with the trio of squads in 2023, wind and sunshine were in play on every occasion.
“I’m super excited, actually, to start playing more indoors,” said freshman Ahmani Guichard. “I feel like it fits my game really well. College tennis is making me really enjoy the high-pressure moments of matches.”
Practice strategy at the Los Angeles Tennis Center, as a result of the extended indoor stint, has been modified.
“We have our players playing closer up to the line, because balls are going to be coming faster to us. Everything needs to be quicker – preparation and our movement is key,” Sampras Webster said. “It’s very short points, so we need to be able to take advantage of being aggressive and going after our shots so that they don’t pound us first.”
Though the setting has moved and the stakes have changed, the ranked nature of the Bruins’ upcoming matchups make at least one certainty.
Big wins will be up for grabs in the Midwest.
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