Women's Tennis Home for Three in Four Days

The No. 9 UCLA women's tennis team will play three matches in four days at Los Angeles Tennis Center, beginning with a midweek contest against non-conference foe UC Santa Barbara and concluding with Pac-12 clashes versus No. 4 Stanford and No. 19 California. The Bruins and Gauchos will face off Wednesday, March 27 at 1 p.m. Pac-12 Networks will provide live television coverage of the Friday, March 29 match against the Cardinal, with Brian Webber and Corina Morariu on the call. Saturday's showdown with the Golden Bears will begin at 12 p.m. Live stats will be available throughout the week at uclalivestats.com.

LAST WEEK
The Bruins improved to 3-0 in Pac-12 play, beating Oregon 6-1 at the Oregon Student Tennis Center (March 24). UCLA clinched the match at 4-0 before the remaining matches were played to completion. It was a big day for Bruins Elysia Bolton and Jada Hart. The pair teamed to clinch the doubles point and each also notched a singles win. Bolton clinched the overall victory with a 6-2, 6-3 defeat of Paiton Wagner on Court 2. Abi Altick and Taylor Johnson also tallied singles wins for UCLA in played contests. Forced to forfeit a pair of matches, Oregon got its lone win from Julia Eshet on Court 4, where Alaina Miller retired.

UCLA VS. UCSB, STANFORD, CAL
UCLA holds an all-time record of 33-0 versus UCSB, most recently dropping the Gauchos 4-2 in its 2018 dual-match debut (Jan. 19, 2018). UCSB picked up the doubles point with a decisive top-court win, but the Bruins bounced back with four straight-set singles triumphs. Hart defeated Palina Dubavets 6-2, 7-5 to clinch. The Bruins are 19-79 against the Cardinal, including a pair of close losses last season. The teams met in the Pac-12 Championships final round, where UCLA claimed the doubles point on a top-court tiebreaker before recording just one singles victory. Three of five completed singles matches were decided in three sets. UCLA is 44-35 versus Cal, with its latest win coming in 4-3 nail-biter on Feb. 23. The Golden Bears took the doubles point in thrilling fashion before finding the score tied at 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3. Altick provided the heroics, capturing a third-set tiebreaker. The Bruin sophomore was beaten convincingly in her first set with Anna Bright and trailed 1-4 in the second before mounting an improbable comeback.

BRUINS IN THE RANKINGS
UCLA remained in the top 10 at No. 9 in the Oracle ITA team rankings, announced Tuesday, March 19. The Bruins spent two previous weeks at No. 5, marking their first appearances in the top five since the final installment of the 2015 season. Six UCLA players appeared in the latest individual rankings, also announced March 19. Bolton leads the way at No. 18 and is backed up by Hart at No. 56. The pairing of Andrews-Broomfield checks in at No. 11 in the doubles rankings, while Bolton-Hart appears at No. 22 and Altick-Miller at No. 45. After an impressive win at Pepperdine, Broomfield-Hart debuted at No. 51. The team sits at No. 10 in the Tennis Channel/USTA College Tennis Top 25 Rankings, updated Wednesday, March 20.

RED-HOT HART
Hart had an uneventful start to the dual-match season, as five of her six singles contests were left unfinished (Jan. 27-Feb. 23). In the subsequent four matches (Feb. 24-March 9), however, the redshirt junior went 4-0 without dropping a set on the top court. Included in that stretch were wins over No. 45 Julia Rosenqvist of California and No. 34 Salma Ewing of USC. The Bruin redshirt junior added her fifth win in six tries when she knocked off Oregon's Daniela Nasser on March 24. Hart has seen her own singles ranking climb as a result, moving from unranked to 56th in the nation.

PRESSURE MAKES HER 'TICK
High-tension situations have repeatedly found Altick during the dual-match season and the sophomore has made the most of her opportunities. The Monroe, La. native is tied for the team lead with three match-clinching victories, including a pair in 4-3 Bruin wins. With all eyes on Court 4, Altick defeated 69th-ranked Anna Bright of No. 24 California 1-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) in a non-conference match at the Hellman Tennis Complex on Feb. 24. She also topped Marie Van Aelst of Arizona 6-3, 7-5 in UCLA's narrow conference win over the Wildcats on March 9. Playing on Court 3, Altick clinched the decision at 4-2 before the day's final match was played out.

STANDOUT SENIORS
Seniors Andrews, Broomfield and Miller constitute the core of the UCLA roster and bring with them different journeys to Westwood. Miller joined the Bruins as a freshman in 2015 and has racked up 133 wins across singles and doubles competitions. Andrews achieved All-America status for her singles and doubles accomplishments at Tyler Junior College before transferring to UCLA as a sophomore in 2016. Broomfield was named ACC Freshman of the Year and twice received All-ACC honors before transferring to UCLA as a junior in 2017.

BOLTON NAMED PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR JAN. 28-FEB. 3
Bolton was named Pac-12 Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 28-Feb. 3, the conference announced Feb. 5. UCLA improved to 4-0 thanks in large part to Bolton's efforts, as the Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. native clinched Bruin road wins at Oklahoma State (Feb. 2) and Tulsa (Feb. 3). In addition to Bolton's singles successes, the first-year player teamed with Hart for a pair of doubles triumphs. The first win secured the doubles point, propelling the Bruins to victory over the No. 9 Cowgirls. The award represents the first of Bolton's career and 23rd all time for the UCLA women's tennis program.

2017-18 IN REVIEW
It was a stellar all-around 2017-18 campaign for the Bruins, who went 23-6 and reached the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Championships before seeing their journey come to an end in a 4-3 shootout versus Georgia Tech. UCLA lost just one Pac-12 match during the regular season and won 11 contests in a row before falling to eventual NCAA champion Stanford in a hard-fought title match at the Pac-12 Championships. Ena Shibahara starred individually, earning recognition as ITA Southwest Region Player to Watch, Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year and an All-Pac-12 First-Team member. Shibahara, Hart and Fleming received All-America accolades from the ITA. Hart, Fleming, Altick and Miller joined Shibahara in garnering All-Pac-12 honors.

WHO'S NEW?
Two of the nation's top recruits join the fold in Bolton and Johnson. Bolton, a Blue-Chip prospect according to TennisRecruting.net, was ranked No. 4 in the nation by the website at the time of her signing. Nationally, the USTA had the right-hander slotted at No. 13 in its Girls' 18 doubles rankings, as well. In September, Bolton made a run to the quarterfinal round at the US Open Junior Tennis Championships in both the singles and doubles competitions. Johnson spent 2017 and 2018 atop the TennisRecruiting.net rankings. In 2017, she teamed with Claire Liu to claim the doubles title at the USTA Girls' 18 National Championships in San Diego. The 5-10 left-hander participated in all four Grand Slam junior tournaments, notching quarterfinal-round berths in each doubles draw. LaFrance is a veteran of the ITF circuit, notching nine doubles championships with five partners across four continents.

KATZ FAMILY SCOREBOARD
UCLA tennis and the UCLA Athletic Department debuted the Katz Family Scoreboard Wednesday, Jan. 9 in front of donors and special invited guests at LATC. The ceremony culminated in a ribbon cutting by the Katz Family, Director of Athletics Dan Guerrero, women's tennis head coach Stella Sampras Webster and men's tennis head coach Billy Martin. Each, along with Sr. Associate Athletic Director, External Relations Josh Rebholz, made remarks highlighting the meaning of the Katz Family's generous donation and the opportunities the scoreboard will provide the tennis programs. The Katz Family Scoreboard's Daktronics display, measuring 18 feet high and 31.2 feet wide, is among the largest LED video screens in collegiate tennis. Stationed at the east end of LATC's main stadium courts, the board has a 13HD pixel pitch capable of switching between content playback mode and video mode using Show Control. RGB LED lights, meanwhile, will allow for a multitude of graphics possibilities. Also new to the match-day experience is a custom JBL speaker system set to improve audio on the front courts while introducing sound to the back courts.

ALUMNAE SPOTLIGHT
Jennifer Brady was part of UCLA's 2014 NCAA championship-winning team and her winning ways have continued into the professional ranks. Brady had a breakout 2017 and showed she was no fluke in 2018, reaching the singles second round of two Grand Slam tournaments. She broke onto the pro scene at the 2017 Australian Open, winning all three of her qualifying matches before notching three more victories in the main draw. Brady went on to reach the fourth round at the 2017 US Open, as well. She has also had doubles success, advancing to the third round of the 2018 French Open and the semifinal round of the 2019 Australian Open. Brady, a Boca Raton, Fla. native, has been ranked as high as No. 60 (Oct. 16, 2017) in the WTA singles rankings and she recently climbed to a career-best No. 49 (Feb. 18, 2019) on the doubles list.

HEAD COACH STELLA SAMPRAS WEBSTER
Head coach Stella Sampras Webster is in her 23rd season at the helm of the UCLA women's tennis program, holding an impressive overall record of 430-161 (.728). Sampras Webster has guided the Bruins to NCAA team championships in 2008 and 2014, the first two in program history. The 2012 ITA National Coach of the Year, Stella Sampras Webster is also responsible for helping the Bruins to their first Pac-10 Championship in 2008. For her efforts, she was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year at the end of the season. In all, Sampras Webster's teams have finished in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships in 19 of her 22 seasons in Westwood. UCLA has also finished in the top five nationally on 13 occasions. The 2000 ITA West Region Coach of the Year, Sampras Webster has recruited and coached some of the top players in collegiate tennis.