UCLA
SoCal Intercollegiate Championships
Quartet Heads to SoCal Championships
October 26, 2017 | Men's Tennis
LOS ANGELES -- Four Bruins will take part in the singles and doubles main draws at the 61st Annual Southern California Intercollegiate Championships on the campus of USC, beginning Friday. The fields will be rounded out with qualifying rounds Thursday.
UCLA will be represented at Marks Stadium by a quartet of Bruins, led by 2016 semifinalist Maxime Cressy. The junior did not drop a set in his first three matches at last year's competition, defeating 48th-ranked Logan Smith of USC in the process. Cressy's run would end just short of the final, however, as No. 27-ranked Trojan Nick Crystal would advance.
Cressy will enter the 2017 installment of the tournament as a No. 5 seed with a Round of 32 opponent yet to be determined. The Hermosa Beach, Calif. native is scheduled to begin play Friday at 10:00 a.m. Fellow veteran Austin Rapp will also look to improve upon his 2016 showing, as the current senior advanced into the Round of 16 of last year's tournament. Austin Rapp is off to a strong start in 2017-18, having won the Aztec Fall Invitational singles title en route to a 5-1 record. He will face off with his soon-to-be-determined opponent at 11:30 a.m. Friday.
The list of Bruin competitors is completed by a pair of first timers, redshirt freshman Connor Rapp and freshman Keegan Smith. Smith, the tournament's No. 4 seed, will begin play at 11:30 a.m., while the younger Rapp is scheduled for a 12:00 p.m. start time. Smith holds a 5-2 record in the fall thus far, while Connor Rapp is off to a 2-2 start after sitting out last season.
Austin Rapp and Smith will square off in the Round of 16 if each is victorious Friday.
In doubles play, Cressy and Smith will team up as the tournament's top seed. They will begin play Saturday at 1:00 p.m. The pair recently reached the Round of 16 at the USTA/ITA Southwest Regional Championships. The Rapp brothers will also team up beginning Saturday at 1:00 p.m., marking a first for the pair as Bruins.
For more information on the 61st Annual Southern California Intercollegiate Championships, visit the tournament home page. For Bruin-specific updates, follow @uclatennis on Twitter.
Players Mentioned
