Singles matches are played alone, but two Bruins will travel to the NCAA Singles Championship next week.
UCLA women’s tennis competed in the ITA Conference Masters Championships in Rome, Georgia, and the ITA Sectional Championships at USC from Thursday to Sunday. Junior Kate Fakih advanced to the NCAA Singles Championship for the second time in her career. Senior Ahmani Guichard will also be joining her in the championship.
The Bruins played in the West region of the Sectional Championships at David X. Marks Tennis Stadium. ITA No. 102 Fakih, the tournament’s No. 1 seed, earned an NCAA berth with three consecutive singles victories.
Fakih first defeated Washington’s Karolina Kozakova – who competed in both singles and doubles at last year’s NCAA tournament – 6-3, 6-2. She then picked up a 6-2, 6-0 Round of 16 win over Pepperdine’s No. 70 Chantal Sauvant before securing her NCAA spot with a 6-4, 6-4 victory against San Diego’s Emily Deming.
“I know how much she really wanted to qualify for NCAA, so happy for her to get that last win,” said coach Stella Sampras Webster. “She didn’t play her best, but she competed really hard.”
Joining Fakih will be Guichard, who earned her NCAA singles debut in late October at the ITA Regional Championships in San Diego, posting two comeback victories en route to qualifying.
Fakih and Guichard played in doubles at the Sectional Championships, sharing the court with sophomores Mayu Crossley and Kayla Chung, respectively.
Guichard and Chung defeated both USC’s Dani Borruel, an ITA All-American in doubles last season, and Lexi Wolf 7-5, 6-4 on the Trojans’ home court to open play.
“It’s all the hard work paying off,” Guichard said. “It’s great that I was able to do this (qualify for NCAA singles) my senior year, so I’m excited to continue the good run.”
The Bruin pairings, however, did not advance past the quarterfinals.
Guichard and Chung lost to Washington’s Alexia Jacobs and Marie Weissheim – ITA’s No. 5 pair – by a score of 7-5, 6-1. Fakih and Crossley beat Oregon’s Hinata Furutani and Juliet Santitto 6-0, 6-2 in the Round of 16 before falling to Arizona State’s Sara Svetac and Lily Taylor in a 10-point tiebreaker.
“Playing with Mayu was definitely a highlight for me,” Fakih said. “It was so fun to share the court with her. She’s so positive, and she brings great energy.”
Rounding out the Bruins in the doubles tournament were junior Polina Marakhtanova, a UC Davis transfer, and sophomore Rona Rugara. Marakhtanova and Rugara narrowly missed an NCAA doubles berth at the ITA Regional Championships, where they advanced to the semifinals and defeated fellow Bruins Guichard and Chung 6-4, 7-5.
At the Sectional Championships, Marakhtanova and Rugara were eliminated in the Round of 16 by Arizona’s Maria Garcia and Ciara Moore. But, the Bruin duo defeated Washington’s Alexia Marginean and Carina Syrtveit in the consolation quarterfinals before falling to San Diego’s Vilma Krebs Hyllested and Hannah Read in the consolation semifinals.
“We’ve got a lot of great doubles players, and our challenge this year will be to figure out which combinations are going to work best,” Sampras Webster said. “We have a lot of depth, so we’ve got a lot of flexibility in our teams. I feel very good about putting any two in.”
At the Conference Masters Championships, UCLA was represented by juniors Olivia Center and Michigan transfer Jessica Bernales. Despite entering the competition seeded No. 2, they were upset 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (11-9) by North Florida’s Aryana Bartlett and Gabby Goyins and failed to advance to the main draw.
The duo reached the final matchup of the consolation bracket, defeating three pairs along the way, but ended their run with a walkover loss to Charlotte’s Shona Nakano and Amalia Widdowson.
Fakih and Guichard will conclude the Bruins’ fall slate at the NCAA Singles Championship in Athens, Georgia, from Nov. 17-22.
“We’re going to need everyone this year,” Sampras Webster said. “I feel more than any other year that I could put any eight of them in, and I’d feel pretty confident that they have a great chance to win.”
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