75 degrees and sunny is the Bruins’ natural habitat.
And a trip south usually means the Westwood squad stays well within this comfort zone. But the Louisiana weather proved unpredictable last weekend.
While the covered facilities of the LSU Tennis Complex protected the team from ironic 20-degree Southern temperatures, the fast-paced nature of indoor tennis still proved to be a change of tempo compared to the courts of the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
“The ball does come a lot faster (indoors), and the major adjustment is to keep a really low base and anticipate the ball coming faster,” said sophomore Olivia Center. “Even when we were at school, before we went to LSU, we were practicing staying up on the baseline.”
Competing indoors for the first time all season, No. 18 UCLA women’s tennis (2-1) opened ITA kickoff weekend with a 4-1 win over No. 24 UCF (2-1) on Saturday before falling 4-1 to No. 5 LSU (4-0) the following afternoon. Sunday’s loss put the Bruins out of reach of a berth to the ITA indoor championships in February.
Doubles once again proved to be UCLA’s strength, and coach Stella Sampras Webster’s squad opened both of the weekend’s competitions by securing the doubles point. Freshmen Kayla Chung and Mayu Crossley were the deciding factor for the Bruins, clinching the doubles victory for the second time this season with an 8-6 tiebreaker set win on Sunday.
“It’s neat to see them (Chung and Crossley) just embrace the pressure, embrace the moment and really enjoy it,” Sampras Webster said. “The way they interact and the way they compete as freshmen – I was really impressed with how they handled the situation, and they’re just going to get better and better as they get more experience.”
Center and fellow sophomore Kate Fakih earned back-to-back doubles wins across Saturday and Sunday, going 6-3 and 6-4 on court one over UCF and LSU tandems, respectively.
Singles was a mixed bag for UCLA, which opened the season with four straight individual victories against San Diego State. While indoor play presents a faster tempo than outdoor venues, the team described the new courts at the LSU Tennis Complex as slightly grippier than older surfaces, softening the change in pace.
“It was not that difficult to adjust to the LSU court, because, surprisingly, their courts were new, so they were grittier,” said junior Bianca Fernandez. “The ball wasn’t flying as much. It just wasn’t as fast as, let’s just say, Ohio State.”
Fernandez returned to the singles lineup on court five after sitting out the San Diego State showdown because of a knee injury. Fernandez – an inconsistent member of last year’s dual-match campaign – swept the Knights’ Lauren Seye 6-0, 6-2 en route to her team’s victory Saturday.
The junior, who grew up playing indoors in Montreal, continued to find her rhythm on the courts at the LSU Tennis Complex on Sunday, reaching what could have been her match-winning tiebreaker set over the Tigers’ Florentine Dekkers. Fernandez led the set 4-2 before the match was abandoned, as LSU had secured its fourth and competition-winning singles victory.
“I was laughing at myself a little bit because I didn’t know I had a match point by four deuce,” Fernandez said. “I thought it was 30-all.”
Senior Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer has continued to top the Bruins’ singles lineup after holding down court one for most of last season.
Lutkemeyer’s match against the Tigers’ Cadence Brace went unfinished alongside Fernandez’s. Despite trailing LSU’s top player in the second set, Lutkemeyer took Brace to a tiebreaker set in the first frame to fend off the Tigers’ attack for the time being.
“Playing number one is not easy,” Sampras Webster said. “It’s great to see her as a leader for our team, and seeing how she’s competing against the number ones on all the teams – and she’s right in there with all these top teams.”
Sampras Webster added that Lutkemeyer has stepped into her role as an off-court leader as well, setting the tone for the team in and out of practice. The first road trip of the season gave the Bruins a chance to bond as they welcomed their three new freshmen – rounded out by Rona Rugara – into the fold.
UCLA returns to the Golden State this weekend to go head-to-head with No. 16 California on Friday, followed by No. 11 Stanford on Saturday. Returning to their home not only offers the Bruins the comfort of outdoor tennis but the familiarity of former Pac-12 foes.
“We’re very familiar with their (Cal and Stanford’s) stadiums and their courts,” Sampras Webster said. “We’ve all had great rivals against both Cal and Stanford, and the players know a lot of their players. Both teams are ranked pretty high, and we just want to get as many matches testing us as possible.”
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