TULSA, Okla. – UCLA junior Mackenzie McDonald punched his second ticket to the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship finals when he and partner Martin Redlicki pulled out a thrilling semifinal win over No. 15 Alex Lawson and Quentin Monaghan of Notre Dame on Sunday. After dropping the second set to the Irish in the tiebreaker, the second-ranked Bruins went on to win the match in a third-set super tiebreaker.
"We came out really strong, we were executing well, and got the first set," said Redlicki of their performance today. "We were up in the second and had chances to close it out, but Notre Dame played a couple of good points and they got the second set. The super tiebreaker was kind of a coin flip, but we knew that if we executed like we have been all week, we should be able to pull it out. I'm really happy that we were able to."
The opening set started with an exchange of holds and breaks. Down 5-4, Redlicki held at love to knot the score at 5-5. The Bruins broke the Fighting Irish in the next game, as Redlicki ripped a backhand winner down the line to give UCLA its first lead of the set. Trailing 40-15 at 6-5, McDonald saved three break points en route to a hold and a 7-5 win over Notre Dame in the first set.
McDonald/Redlicki (@uclatennis) take the first set 7-5 with a title match appearance on the line pic.twitter.com/y8TwUtYXlV
— NCAA Tennis (@NCAATennis) May 30, 2016
Both duos traded two holds apiece in the second set. Down 40-15 in the fourth game, McDonald once again saved three break points en route to a hold to knot the score at 2-2. After Notre Dame held to go up 3-2, the Bruins won eight straight points as Redlicki held and McDonald capped off the break with a forehand winner. Up 4-3, UCLA had its first lead of the set. McDonald then extended this lead when he held to put the Bruins up 5-3.
The Irish regained the lead by winning the next three games. Down 6-5, McDonald held at deuce to knot the score at 6-6 and send it into a tiebreaker. Despite an early 4-2 advantage, UCLA dropped the tiebreaker, 7-5, to send the match into a 10-point super tiebreaker.
After trading point for point, Notre Dame went up 7-5 in the breaker. McDonald held to bring the Bruins within one. The pairs again traded points, then Redlicki won both his serves to give the Bruins a 9-8 lead over the Irish. The UCLA pair then broke Notre Dame with a lob winner to take the breaker, 10-8, and secure a spot in Monday's final.
"I kept telling Marty that we were right there—we just needed to get one break," said McDonald of trailing early in the super tiebreaker. "Marty played a great point to get us to 8-8, and then served a huge ball to give us the 9-8 lead. We played smart percentage tennis and that pulled through for us today."
???? TICKET PUNCHED!
— NCAA Tennis (@NCAATennis) May 30, 2016
McDonald/Redlicki (@uclatennis) are championship bound after winning the third set tiebreak! pic.twitter.com/1mbK5R45av
McDonald and Redlicki face eighth-ranked Arthur Rinderknech and Jackson Withrow of Texas A&M at 2 p.m. PDT on Monday. In their last meeting, the Bruin duo edged the Aggies 7-6(4) in UCLA's 4-2 upset win over TAMU in the ITA National Men's Team Indoors Quarterfinals (Feb. 13).
Live streaming/scoring for the doubles final is available here.
2016 NCAA Doubles Championship
May 25-30
Tulsa, Oklahoma (Michael D. Case Tennis Center)
Doubles
Round of 32
No. 2 McDonald/Redlicki (UCLA) def. No. 16 Kwiatkowski/Styslinger (UVA), 6-2, 7-6(3)
Round of 16
No. 2 McDonald/Redlicki (UCLA) def. No. 20 Schipanski/ Valero (Tenn), 6-3, 6-3
Quarterfinals
No. 2 McDonald/Redlicki (UCLA) def. No. 10 Cash/Kadhe (Oklahoma State), 7-6(4), 7-5
Semifinals
No. 2 McDonald/Redlicki (UCLA) def. No. 15 Lawson/Monaghan (Notre Dame), 7-5, 6-7(5), 1-0(8)