This post was updated Nov. 15 at 1:06 p.m.
Players often perform their best on home turf.
But four Bruins punched their NCAA berths on Trojan territory.
From Nov. 7 to Nov. 10, six members of UCLA women’s tennis participated in the ITA West Sectional Championship hosted at USC.
The Bruins swept the competition, with No. 83 junior Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer winning the singles competition and the freshman tandem of Kate Fakih and Olivia Center clinching the doubles title.
En route to glory, Lutkemeyer took care of four ranked opponents, including USC’s No. 36 Grace Piper in the quarterfinals.
In that matchup, Lutkemeyer fought an uphill battle after losing the first set 6-1. She rallied back and won the next two 6-4, 6-2. It was Lutkemeyer’s only matchup to extend to three sets up till that point.
“I’ve done a lot of training over the past couple of weeks, playing aggressive and capitalizing on mistakes,” Lutkemeyer said.
Her preparation proved to be fruitful, as her impressive win earned her the Big Ten Player of the Week award.
She wasn’t the only one to find success across town – in the finals, her comrade was across the net.
Fakih encountered adversity early in the first round, down 6-2 to Pepperdine’s Alexia Harmon. But similarly to Lutkemeyer, she was able to recuperate and win the next two sets 7-5, 6-3.
It was then smooth sailing for Fakih, who even beat California’s No. 107 Mao Mushika in the semifinals.
“I played AC (Lutkemeyer) in the finals. That was a little bit weird,” Fakih said. “But it was fun to be competing next to them. And even competing against them.”
Lutkemeyer won the match decisively, 6-3, 6-4.
After losing in the title match at the ITA Southwest Regional Championships in October, Fakih and Center didn’t settle for second best at USC.
The duo secured a nip-and-tuck match to advance to the second round against No. 44 Parker Fry and Maia Sung from USC, where it routed both sets 6-4.
Facing elimination in the semifinals after dropping the first set 6-2 against No. 35 Amelia Honer and Marie Weissheim of UC Santa Barbara, Fakih and Center’s experience with one another shone – winning the next two sets 6-2, 10-4.
“We’ve been playing together since maybe 10 years old,” Fakih said. “Our chemistry is pretty good on the court. … We don’t even have to say anything, and we understand our roles really well. … I love playing with her.”
They won the final match because of a walkover and earned a bid in the NCAA doubles tournament, set to commence Tuesday in Waco, Texas.
No. 97 senior Elise Wagle also made it far into the tournament – enough to earn a ticket to Waco – before eventually falling to Lutkemeyer in the semifinals. Sophomore Ahmani Guichard lost in the first round of both singles and doubles with Lutkemeyer as her partner in the latter.
“I was really happy with the way our players competed together,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster. “We have a really special team of people who actually get along extremely well. They have a lot of respect for each other, and I know the coaching staff really enjoys every one of our players.”
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