Defining moments of the 2024 campaign for UCLA women's tennis

Throughout the 2024 dual match season, UCLA women's tennis experienced a series of highs and lows. From early-season setbacks to top-ranked wins and a conference title, the Bruins were on a journey of triumph and tragedy. Daily Bruin's women's tennis beat takes its picks for the defining moments of UCLA's 2024 campaign.

The lowest of lows
Olivia Simons
Daily Brown senior staff

A top-10 win led to one of the worst weekends in scoring in program history for the Bruins.

UCLA defeated then-No. 6 Texas by a mark of 5-2 to start its dual season, aided by several retirements due to food poisoning. The team then split its games against then-No. 3 Oklahoma State and Iowa State losing to the former 4-3 but beating the latter 4-0, but were unable to carry their two early season wins into their indoor weekend against the then No. 17 Duke and then No. 12 state of Ohio.

The Blue Devils and Buckeyes drove into the Ty Tucker Tennis Center and swept the Bruins back to back, leaving then-No. 13 UCLA blank in consecutive games for the first time since at least 1986.

At the time it seemed like a harbinger for the rest of the season. Lower teams or teams with sick players were beatable, but strong, well-rounded teams were not.

Ohio State finished the season ranked No. 15 and Duke ranked No. 23, but neither team advanced beyond the second round in the NCAA Championships. Regardless, the losses weren't bad just looking at the opponent, but a lack of match points sealed the deal at UCLA's lowest low of the year.

Fortunately, the Bruins had 19 days to rest and recover before their next dual match, and they won eight straight games in a row while reaching the Elite Eight in the national tournament.

UCLA will soon join the ranks of the Big Ten, which includes Ohio State and a litany of indoor contests, including those pitting the Bruins against the Blue Devils and Buckeyes. While not every Big Ten opponent is as formidable as Ohio State, UCLA will have to adapt to new environments and opponents in 2025.

Fantastic on the farm
Jack Nelson
Daily Brown senior staff

It is a sweet taste, tasted only by those who deserve it.

Beating Stanford just means more. This fact might as well be universal across the collegiate women's tennis landscape, but Pac-12 members know it best.

Recognized as the most storied sports program, the Cardinal has won 20 NCAA titles, 46.5% of all national team championships ever awarded. They are 560-63 under their current head coach of 24 years, Lele Forood.

The Bruins, who are guaranteed an annual assault on the ever-reigning rulers, lick their lips every time the opportunity pops up on their calendar.

For the 2024 iteration, they headed into a road trip through Northern California fueled by eight straight wins, including a 4-0 start in Pac-12 play, but suffered a 4-3 loss to then-No. 11 California with then No. 5 Stanford on tap for the next day. In a quickly tight race for the conference regular-season title, another loss would put then-No. 17 UCLA out of contention for good.

Rising from the ashes of yesterday would be the signature victory of the season, etched by the woman of multiple moments.

Junior Kimmi Hance played her part in earning the doubles point first, teaming with sophomore Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer for a decisive tiebreaker victory. That early 1-0 lead was tripled thanks to Lutkemeyer and sophomore Tian Fangran with their respective singles victories.

But control of Stanford is a luxury few can afford. The Cardinal roared back to life with three straight points of their own, leaving Hance and then No. 13 Connie Ma as arbiters of the outcome. De Bruin twice clung to the edge and fought off a pair of match points, but claimed the day's crown in a three-setter, enduring tiebreaks in each of the final two frames.

Empires fear heroes, and Hance struck fear with not one but two crucial blows.

After successive difficult affairs, she enjoyed fruit in the form of a feast.

Conference sonata
Chloe Agas
Daily Bruin Contributor

Superstitions vary among athletes.

For UCLA women's tennis, this involves finding a rhythm through songs.

On the way to Marks Stadium this year, the team banned Rihanna.

Rihanna's music was on the playlist when the team took to the red courts for the Pac-12 championship two years earlier. But on its way through town, UCLA fell to then-No. 19 USC in 4-3 fashion.

This year it was time to create a new playlist. And the Bruins hit all the right notes.

The Bruins were 9-1 in conference play and entered the game with a shot at the regular season title.

The interlude was joined when Tian and junior Elise Wagle took the doubles point, ending the first bar of the winning stretch at 6-2. A scale of highs and lows dictated the following actions: two Bruins climbed and two fell.

One by one, each Bruin played an important role in the orchestra, creating a harmonious composition at court. It all coincided with a solo played by Wagle over the Trojans' Eryn Cayetano for the grand finale, as applause and cheers filled the audience.

A Tennessee tragedy
Elise Olivier
Daily Bruin Contributor

Like a bullet train, the Bruins flew through the first three rounds of the NCAA women's tennis championship.

They defeated an unseeded San Diego State and an unseeded Texas Tech, then gave up just one point to No. 9 seed Texas as they closed out their final home game and finished the season with a perfect 13-0 record at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.

But entering the Elite Eight, UCLA's momentum ground to a halt, its steam spent and its energy depleted.

Facing No. 16 seed Tennessee in Stillwater, Oklahoma, the Bruins faced a demanding performance in doubles. After freshman Ahmani Guichard and redshirt senior Sasha Vagramov dropped their match 6-4, the Bruins clawed their way back in two tiebreakers. Hance and Lutkemeyer won their 10th doubles match in a row. And Tian and Wagle followed with their ninth straight tandem victory to collect the doubles point for the Bruins.

The Lady Volunteers soon tied the score, but UCLA quickly jumped to a 3-1 lead with wins over underclassmen Lutkemeyer and Guichard on the bottom two courts, the latter being the first of four matches that went to three sets.

Just one win in the remaining three games would have sent the Bruins to the Final Four. But the momentum was all but gone.

After dropping her first set, Hance recovered with a 6-1 win in the second, before falling 7-5 in the third. And the Bruins lead disappeared completely when Wagle was taken down in similar fashion in three sets.

With that, all eyes were on Tian at the highest court. At that point, not all hope was lost. Tian had won the first set 6-4. But the weight of the team's hopes proved too much to bear. Tennessee's Sofia Cabezas took the second set 7-6(4) before taking the win in the third set for Tennessee.

With a 3-1 lead in the game, victory seemed inevitable, but the Bruins saw their lead slip away, ending their NCAA run in an upset few expected.