Playing under the California sun seemingly comes naturally to a home-grown Bruin squad.
And even though the Toreros also call Southern California home, much of their experience has come from overseas.
No. 19 UCLA women’s tennis (3-2) will face University of San Diego (4-3) – whose eight-player team is made up of seven international recruits – on Saturday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
About 60% of athletes playing Division I tennis are international. But UCLA has found a strong base of local recruits. Five out of UCLA’s nine players are from California and only three hail from out of the country.
No. 79 senior Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer, the Bruins’ No. 1 singles player, grew up in Irvine – only an hour south of Westwood. She will face either No. 94 Hannah Read or Charlotte Keitel, who alternate playing the first line for the Toreros on Saturday.
Read was named the West Coast Conference’s Co-Freshman of the Year in 2025. She lost a close battle to No. 119 sophomore Kate Fakih – who plays line three singles – in November at the 2025 ITA DI Women’s West Sectional Championships.
Stand-out freshman Mayu Crossley could face a potential rematch with Keitel on Saturday if she plays line two singles. No. 37 Crossley notched a split-set win against Keitel in her first round of the November sectional – her tightest match of the tournament – with Keitel winning the second set 6-1 and 10 total games.
Crossley said she has learned a lot from her fall quarter with the team and is adjusting to college tennis life.
“I’m getting used to dual matches,” Crossley said. “Supporting each other and trusting my teammates also helps me play free.”
The Bruins’ season is reigniting after a two-week break, as the team will also face Loyola Marymount on Tuesday and Pepperdine on Friday.
Coach Stella Sampras Webster said she planned to use the break from matchplay effectively, adding that it was the ideal time for the team to regenerate and catch up on school work.
“I’m hoping that we show improvement and that we’re going to be in better shape against San Diego,” Sampras Webster said. “San Diego is a good team. Every team is tough, so we’ve got to be able to get everyone ready to play after having a week and a half off.”
The Bruins’ most recent competition came Jan. 30 and 31, when the squad travelled north to battle then-No. 16 California and then-No. 11 Stanford. Despite falling to the former 3-4, Sampras Webster’s squad swept the Cardinals 7-0 for a decisive top-15 victory.
[Related: Women’s tennis bounces back from Cal loss to defeat Stanford in away series]
Strength across doubles play has been the Bruins’ calling card all season, but that could be put to the test by a Torero lineup that has won the doubles point in five of their seven matches – including in their loss to then-No. 2 Texas A&M.
UCLA has not faced San Diego in a dual match since February 2021, but it has beaten the Toreros seven consecutive times since 1999.
Junior Ahmani Guichard said the team is preparing for the match by researching how each San Diego opponent plays, as well as focusing on their own individual areas of improvement.
“It will be important for us to have that same energy and same focus on what each of us needs to work on,” Guichard said.
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