Karue SellKarue Sell
UCLA Athletics

UCLA Advances to NCAA Quarterfinals

Men's Tennis

UCLA senior Karue Sell clinches to send Bruins to the Elite 8.

TULSA, Okla. – The second-ranked UCLA men's tennis team advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship after downing Pac-12 foe Stanford, 4-2, on Friday evening.  This was the fourth time this season that the Bruins have rallied from a 1-0 deficit to defeat the Cardinal. 

“We have had so many great battles with Stanford," said UCLA head coach Billy Martin.  "I was particularly worried about this match, because it was our fourth time to play Stanford this year.  I feel like we were kind of spreading it thin trying to get a team four times in one year.  I am glad we got over the hump."  

Stanford dictated the pace in doubles, jumping out to early leads on two of three courts.  At the bottom of the lineup, Sameer Kumar and Yale Goldberg took a 5-0 lead over Maxime Cressy and Austin Rapp.  Cressy held at 40-0 to put the first point on the board for the Bruins, but Goldberg responded for the Cardinal to take the set, 6-1. 

On court 2, Joseph Di Giulio and Karue Sell were down 4-2 heading into Nolan Paige's serve.  The Bruin duo broke Paige to cut the deficit to 4-3, and Sell then held to knot the score at 4-4.  UCLA took two straight—first, David Wilczynski double faulted on game point and then Di Giulio held at 40-0—to register the 6-4 win. 

The clincher came from court 1.  The second-ranked duo of Mackenzie McDonald and Martin Redlicki held an early 3-1 advantage over 23rd-ranked Tom Fawcett and Maciek Romanowicz.  The Cardinal duo won two straight games to knot it at 3-3.  The pairs then traded game for game before Stanford broke McDonald to take a 6-5 lead.  Despite a late surge from the Bruins, Romanowicz held to clinch the doubles point for Stanford.

UCLA regained control of the match in singles play, winning four of six first sets.  At the top of the lineup, sixth-ranked McDonald made quick work of No. 15 Fawcett.  The Bruin standout evened the score at 1-1 with a 6-1, 6-2 win over his Cardinal foe. 

No. 38 Redlicki followed suit on court 2 to give UCLA its first lead of the match.  Redlicki went up 5-2 in the first set, but Michael Genender slowly chipped away at the lead, knotting the score at 5-5.  Redlicki held to regain a 6-5 advantage and then broke his opponent to take the first set 7-5.  The Bruin sophomore jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the second set and never looked back.  At deuce, Redlicki broke Genender to take the match and put the Bruins ahead 2-1.    

The squads then traded matches on courts 3 and 6.  On court 3, No. 58 Gage Brymer inched the Bruins closer to victory when he dispatched No. 87 Wilczynski in straights.  Shortly after, Di Giulio fell to Romanowicz on court 6 in a second-set tiebreaker.  UCLA led Stanford 3-2 with the two remaining matches deep into the third set. 

After dropping the first set to Paige in the tiebreaker, No. 101 Sell rallied to win the second, 6-3.  The Bruin senior took a commanding 5-0 lead in the third and then broke Paige to take the match and punch UCLA's ticket into the quarterfinals.

"I was feeling the ball well for the most part, but a couple points went his way in the first set and he ended up winning that set," said Sell of dropping the first set.  "I was still confident I could get the win coming into the second set, and I started playing better and moving the ball better.  In the third set I just kind of rolled, and so it ended up being a pretty good first match and first round.”

"It's always good to get a win here, especially in the first round no matter who it's against," said Martin.  "I think that we will play a little bit better next time. Looking forward, we have got a really tough match on our hands.”

The Bruins face Oklahoma on Sunday, May 22, at 2 pm PDT.  Live streaming and stats are available here.  For updates, follow UCLA Men's Tennis on Twitter.  

#3 UCLA (25-2) def. #17-32 Stanford (15-11), 4-2
Tulsa, Okla. (Michael D. Case Tennis Center)

Doubles
1. #23 Tom Fawcett/Maciek Romanowicz (Stanford) def. #2 Mackie McDonald/Martin Redlicki (UCLA), 7-5
2. Joseph Di Giulio/Karue Sell (UCLA) def. Nolan Paige/David Wilczynski (Stanford), 6-4
3. Yale Goldberg/Sameer Kumar (Stanford) def. Maxime Cressy/Austin Rapp (UCLA), 6-1
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1

Singles
1. #6 Mackenzie McDonald (UCLA) def. #15 Tom Fawcett (Stanford), 6-1, 6-2
2. #38 Martin Redlicki (UCLA) def. Michael Genender (Stanford), 7-5, 6-2
3. #58 Gage Brymer (UCLA) def. #87 David Wilczynski (Stanford), 7-5, 6-3
4. #101 Karue Sell (UCLA) def. Nolan Paige (Stanford), 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-0
5. Logan Staggs (UCLA) vs. Sameer Kumar (Stanford), 6-3, 5-7, 5-3 DNF  
6. Maciek Romanowicz (Stanford) def. Joseph Di Giulio (UCLA), 6-3, 7-6
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3, 6, 4