Rivalry duels almost always boast added tenacity and anticipation.
But for Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer – the Bruins’ sole senior – her last home Battle for Los Angeles had extra meaning.
No. 5 UCLA women’s tennis (6-2) trounced No. 8 USC (7-4) 6-1 Friday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center – a Westwood matchup that Lutkemeyer had won with the team all three of her previous years.
Lutkemeyer’s dominant serving and ball placement at the net secured her the first singles set 6-3 after breaking at 3-2 and again at 5-2. Riding the momentum of first set domination, she was up 3-1 in the second set.
But then the breeze changed.
Her opponent, No. 32 Jana Hossam, began gaining steam – winning the next three games to earn a 4-3 lead after breaking Lutkemeyer’s serve. Hossam led 5-4, then 6-5, after Lutkemeyer dropped back-to-back return deuce points.
But Lutkemeyer said she took a deep breath, focused on her feet and fought for every point.
The home crowd’s cheers grew as Lutkemeyer brought the score to 6-6 and sealed her fourth and final victory over the Trojans in Westwood 7-4 in the tiebreak with a down-the-line forehand winner. It marked her highest-ranked victory of the season.
“For me, this is the best day ever,” Lutkemeyer said. “It means a lot that I was able to do this for my team and that we got the win.”
Lutkemeyer’s win clinched a 4-0 UCLA win – though the coaches let the rest of the matches play out, with the match ending 6-1.
“I’m really happy that she got the win, for the team and for herself,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster. “It’s a great feeling. I mean, it’s never easy. I don’t think we played our best. I don’t think they played their best. It was just a grind.”
The Bruins secured the doubles point with a 6-2 win from freshmen duo Mayu Crossley and Kayla Chung, as well as a 6-2 clincher from No. 62 sophomore team Olivia Center and Kate Fakih on court one.
Lutkemeyer and her partner, junior Ahmani Guichard, experienced more trouble against Daniela Borruel and Eugenia Zozaya, with the Trojan tandem using the unconventional double-back formation.
Sampras Webster said winning the doubles point is not always completely a pro.
“Winning the doubles point is always a good thing and a bad thing, because then sometimes you kind of relax, and then you let the team back in, and then all of a sudden, it’s a war,” Sampras Webster said. “We’ve had so many momentum shifts, even today, I thought we were in complete control. And then (courts) one and two had a battle in the second set, and it could go either way.”
Five out of the six Bruins trailed in the second set of singles play. Yet, four of them still pulled through with the win.
No. 49 Crossley was the first to put a singles point on the board with a win over Immi Haddad, extending her singles win-streak to five. Haddad struggled to return Crossley’s cross-court forehands, who won the first set 6-2.
In the second stanza, Haddad began to slice, throwing off Crossley’s rhythm, who opened the set trailing 2-0. Crossley regained her composure and won the second set 6-4 after a back-and-forth battle.
She said the vocal Bruin supporters kept her motivated.
“It definitely helped me, kept me energetic,” Crossley said. “It was super fun to play out here.”
Junior Bianca Fernandez defeated USC’s No. 39 Emma Charney in straight sets on court four, less than 10 minutes later, marking her second-ranked victory of the season.
After Lutkemeyer sealed the Bruins’ win in her tiebreaker six minutes later, No. 122 Fakih, Guichard and Center continued battling.
Fakih lost to No. 89 Zozaya – who was vocal in her celebrations throughout the match, even on Fakih’s unforced errors – 6-4, 7-5. Sampras Webster added that Fakih was not feeling her best because of the heat.
“I was proud that she stuck in there and stayed out there and did what she could,” Sampras Webster said. “She didn’t play her best, but she tried to compete, tried to give it her all.”
Guichard – who lost the second set to lefty Krisha Mahendran 6-1 – flipped the script on Mahendran in the third with a 6-1 set win of her own to secure the victory on court five.
Center finished last after coming back from a deficit in the second frame against Borruel to force a final set, which was ultimately decided with a 10-7 tiebreaker win from the Bruin.
Next, UCLA will leave behind the 80-degree winter for a snowy landscape in the Midwest to face Wisconsin on Friday and Minnesota on Sunday.
Lutkemeyer said she plans to work on shortening points and moving up closer to the baseline as she prepares for the switch to indoor courts, which are often quicker-paced as the ball flies faster.
Sampras Webster echoed the need to practice close to the line.
“We’re going to have to make some adjustments and be ready, because playing indoors, everyone’s so good,” Sampras Webster said. “It comes so fast. We’re going to have to get prepared to play some fast tennis.”
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