Staring down the barrel of a 6-4 deficit in a winner-takes-all tiebreaker set, Ahmani Guichard had no room for error.
A single mistake and her team would be closing the shutters on their season.
The sophomore didn’t take the assignment lightly – she went on to hammer in four straight points to punch a ticket to the Sweet 16.
“I don’t think I was thinking at that point,” Guichard said. “Staying true to my identity as a player helped me in the end.”
UCLA women’s tennis (18-8, 10-3 Big Ten) narrowly avoided elimination from the NCAA tournament with a 4-3 victory over No. 15 seed Vanderbilt (20-7, 11-4 SEC) in Saturday’s second round.
The win – decided on the last singles court standing – was bittersweet for the Bruins’ veteran helmsman. Guichard bested UCLA coach Stella Sampras Webster’s daughter Sophia Webster 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6) to secure her team’s place in the super regionals.
“Both teams fought their butts off,” Sampras Webster said. “It’s sad to see a team not advance because it could have gone anyway. We’re excited to move on, and you feel for the Vandy team, who had such a great season. It was a tough ending for the team and especially my daughter.”
UCLA and Vanderbilt – which both swept their respective first-round opponents, Harvard and Xavier – had comparable records and near-identical national rankings at 17 and 15, respectively.
Doubles proved that the two teams were as closely matched as the statistics suggested.
The Commodores’ No. 76 Valeria Ray and Bridget Stammel threw the first punch, besting No. 11 freshmen Olivia Center and Kate Fakih by a score of 6-2.
Center and Fakih, who started the season ranked as one of the top five doubles pairs in the nation – a title they held until April 15 – have lost two of their last three sets, including a dropped decision to a then-unranked Michigan tandem April 25.
On the other hand, No. 14 seniors Kimmi Hance and Elise Wagle have been steadily working their way up the rankings in recent weeks. The team veterans – who each have four years of NCAA tournament experience under their belts – are likely to continue rising with Saturday’s 6-3 win over No. 9 Celia-Belle Mohr and Webster.
“Going into this match, I knew that it could potentially be my last as a Bruin,” Hance said. “I wanted to compete my very hardest.”
With the score leveled, the doubles point fell on Guichard and junior Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer’s court, where the pair had been trading points with Sonya Macavei and Amy Stevens.
“In NCAAs, you’ll always have ups and downs on both sides,” Guichard said. “It’s about staying in the battle.”
Guichard and Lutkemeyer were able to find just enough of an edge to win the last two games and convert a tied match into a 7-5 set victory, securing the 1-0 lead.
UCLA’s singles efforts were led by No. 62 Wagle, who downed Stammel 6-3, 7-6 (3) in her sixth consecutive straight-sets victory.
Wagle’s triumph pulled the Bruins back even with the Commodores, who put themselves on the scoreboard with wins on court one and four over No. 31 Lutkemeyer and No. 39 Fakih.
No. 93 Hance – who could’ve easily been written off after dropping the first decision against No. 70 Ray 6-1 – won a tiebreaker to take the second set and shut out her opponent in the third for a 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-0 win.
“It’s so neat to see their (Hance and Wagle) level of play on fire in the right moments,” Sampras Webster said. “You have players that are stepping up, which is what you need to win.”
When Center fell 6-3, 6-2 to Stevens, UCLA and Vanderbilt were once again tied with just court five left to decide what team would pack up its bags early.
And it was Guichard who prevailed, settling the score for the Bruins with a paper-thin margin.
“I don’t feel like it was about tennis,” Guichard said. “It was definitely mental and about heart and staying out there, because it was physically tough on both sides.”
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