LOS ANGELES, Calif. – After three matches on the road, the fifth-ranked UCLA men's tennis team returns home to host the Bay Area teams this week. The Bruins face No. 36 Stanford at 3 pm PDT on Friday, followed by No. 16 California at 3 pm PDT on Saturday.
UCLA (14-2, 2-0 Pac-12) opened conference play last weekend with wins against No. 26 Oregon and No. 39 Washington. After the Bruins dropped the doubles point to the Ducks, ninth-ranked Mackenzie McDonald put the first UCLA point on the board when he downed No. 94 Daan Maasland in straights. From there, the Bruins registered four straight singles wins to clinch the match, 4-1. In Seattle, UCLA made quick work of Washington. After clinching the doubles point on courts 1 and 2, the Bruins rattled off three straight singles wins to blank the Huskies, 4-0. Sophomore transfer Logan Staggs clinched both matches for UCLA on court 5.
Joining McDonald in the ITA singles rankings are No. 41 Gage Brymer, No. 49 Martin Redlicki, and No. 98 Karue Sell. In doubles, McDonald and Redlicki check in at No. 4.
Scouting the Cardinal
Stanford (9-6, 2-0 Pac-12) is fresh off two conference wins against Arizona and No. 61 Utah. In their Pac-12 opener, the Cardinal downed the 'Cats, 4-1. Stanford's Nolan Paige clinched on court 4 with a three-set win over Arizona's Trent Botha. Against Utah, Paige collected his second straight clinching point as the Cardinal edged the Utes, 4-2.
Stanford currently has four players ranked nationally in singles—No. 6 Tom Fawcett, No. 56 David Wilczynski, No. 101 Sameer Kumar, and No. 110 Maciek Romanowicz. In doubles, Romanowicz and Paige check in at No. 64.
Scouting the Golden Bears
Cal (11-3, 2-0 Pac-12) is on a three-match win streak after downing Utah and Arizona to open Pac-12 play and blanking San Diego State in a mid-week matinee. The Bears edged the Utes, 4-3, after trailing 2-0 early in the match. Cal's J.T. Nishimura defeated Utah's Jamey Swiggart 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-4 at No.5 singles to clinch the match. After a hard-fought victory in Salt Lake City, the Bears coasted past the 'Cats, 4-0, in Tucson. Returning home, Cal hosted San Diego State for a Tuesday afternoon matchup. The Bears made quick work of the Aztecs, registering a 4-0 shutout.
Cal also has four players ranked nationally in singles—No. 17 Andre Goransson, No. 28 Florian Lakat, No. 40 Billy Griffith, and No. 62 Oskar Wikberg. In doubles, Filip Bergevi and Lakat are ranked No. 44 while Lakat and Goransson punch in at No. 76.
Saturday's showdown with Cal is the last match that seniors Sell and Ryoto Tachi will play at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. Live scoring for both matches is available here.