UCLA
Stanford
Top-Seeded UCLA Hits Pac-12 Championships
April 26, 2017 | Men's Tennis
The Bruins (18-4, 6-0) will head to Ojai, Calif. for this week's Pac-12 Tennis Championships, scheduled to run from Wednesday, April 26 through Saturday, April 29. As the team tournament's top seed, UCLA earned a bye through the first two days of competition and will play in Match 5 Friday at 12:00 p.m. All of the tournament's action will take place at Libbey Park at the Ojai Valley Athletic Club. Saturday's championship match (6:00 p.m.), meanwhile, will be broadcast by Pac-12 Network. Full coverage, with live results, will be available at pac-12.com/tennischamps.
Bruins Against the Pac -- UCLA finished its regular-season Pac-12 schedule an unblemished 6-0. The Bruins' April 7 match at California was rained out, leaving both teams short one conference match. UCLA outscored its Pac-12 opponents 24-8 over the six matches. UCLA also took on USC, California and Stanford in non-conference action. The Bruins split with the Trojans, defeating them at the ITA Indoor Championships, 4-3 (Feb. 17), and faling to them at Marks Stadium, 4-1 (March 9). UCLA fell to the Golden Bears in an ITA Indoors consolation match, 4-3 (Feb. 19), and dispatched the visiting Cardinal at Sunset Canyon Tennis Courts, 4-2 (Feb. 25).
Week That Was -- The Bruins clinched the Pac-12 regular-season title with a dramatic 4-1 win over crosstown rival USC at Sunset Courts on April 21. The teams split the first two doubles matches to put the pressure on the Court 2 teams, Ultimately, it was the Bruin duo of Austin Rapp and Joseph Di Giulio that was able to clinch the day's first point. UCLA rode that momentum into singles, where Evan Zhu and Logan Staggs were able to capture the first two points there, as well. USC answered with its first decicison, but the Bruins' Martin Redlicki, who had already won an 11-9 first-set tiebreak, held off the Trojans' Nick Crystal with another in the second set, 7-2. UCLA also defeated Cal Lutheran, a Los Angeles-area foe from the SCIAC, earlier in the week.
Redlicki Named Pac-12 POW -- For his efforts in the Pac-12-clinching win over USC, as well as his singles win against Cal Lutheran, Redlicki was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week Monday. In addition to his clinching win over Crystal in singles, the junior joined Evan Zhu in upsetting No. 10 duo Brandon Holt and Riley Smith on Court 1 in doubles. The honor marked Redlicki's Pac-12-best third of the season. He now has six for his career. It also marked a Pac-12-best five for UCLA on the season. The Bruins have 35 in their program history.
UCLA in the ITA Rankings -- With its win over a previously-higher-ranked USC team, UCLA rose to a season-best No. 5 in the latest Oracle/ITA Division I Men's National Team Rankings, which were announced Tuesday. Additionally, Bruins were represented in the latest singles and doubles rankings, which were also updated Tuesday. Gage Brymer (No. 22) and Redlicki (56) were ranked together for the eighth straight week. The doubles team of Redlicki and Zhu, meanwhile, checked in at a season-best-matching No. 7.
Staggs Starring -- Staggs, a junior out of Tracy, Calif., has won 10 singles matches in a row and is 10-0 on the year on Court 4. Overall, Staggs owns a 17-4 record (15-2 in dual-match play). Over a period during late March and early April, he posted the clinching point in three of four matches, including a dramatic 7-6 (3), 6-7 (5), 6-4 win over Jayson Amos of Oregon on April 1. The win marked the closest call of conference play for the Bruins, who edged out the Ducks, 4-3. Staggs has posted six clinchin singles points on the season, as well as a double-clinching victory alongside Brymer (Jan. 28 against New Mexico).
Dazzling Doubles -- The No. 1 doubles team of Redlicki and Zhu has shined during its first season as a pair. The duo holds a 16-3 overall record (14-2 in dual-match play) and has clinched six doubles points on the campaign. The pair also reached the semifinals of last month's 128th annual Pacific Coast Men's Doubles Championships in La Jolla, Calif. Redlicki-Zhu fell to the eventual champion team of Lucas Gerch and Arjun Kadhe in a three-set decision, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. On the other side of the bracket, the Bruin team of Maxime Cressy and Ben Goldberg also made a run to the semis, where it fell to the Stanford duo of Jack Barber and William Genesen, 6-4, 7-5. The team of Cressy-Goldberg, which made its debut in the tournament, has stuck togther since Pacific Coast Doubles, going 3-4 in dual-match play. It has clinched the doubles point with each of its wins, against Baylor, Washington.and Utah.
Home Cooking -- The Bruins' latest home win completed their regular season with a 14-0 home mark. Over the course of that streak UCLA has outscored opponents 59-13. The Bruins held an unblemished home mark in 2015-16, as they won all 11 of their matches. Dating back to the 2014-15 season, the Bruins have won 26 consecutive home contests at Los Angeles Tennis Center and Sunset Courts.
Professional Bruins -- Bruin tennis alums Marcos Giron and Mackenzie McDonald recently made news with their runs to the semifinals of the USTA Men's Pro Tennis Championships of Calabasas (March 21-26). Top-seeded McDonald won three matches before he fell to No. 4 and eventual champion Sebastian Fanselow of Germany in a walkover. Giron, meanwhile, also won three matches, including an upset over third-seeded American Tommy Paul, 7-5, 6-3. It capped a successful month of March for McDonald, who was honored on March 17 as part of the inaugural Oracle US Tennis Awards in a ceremony at the BNP Paribas Open. The honor includes a $100,000 grant intended to assist McDonald as he transitions from college into the professional ranks.
Head Coach Billy Martin -- Head coach Billy Martin is currently in his 24th season as head coach of the Bruins, and 34th on the staff. During his tenure, Martin's teams have accumulated a dozen conference championships and the 2005 NCAA title. Just two of Martin's teams have finished outside of the top five teams at the season-ending NCAA Championships. They have also not finished outside of the top three teams in the Pac-12 standings. He has earned Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors four times (1996, 2012-14) and the ITA National Coach of the Year award once (1996). Martin has also led three players (Benjamin Kohlloeffel in 2006, Marcos Giron in 2014 and Mackenzie McDonald in 2016) to the NCAA Singles Championship and two teams (J. Gimelstob/S. Muskatirovic in 1996 and M. McDonald/M. Redlicki in 2016) to the NCAA Doubles crown. An ITA Tennis Hall of Famer, Martin was named the "Junior Player of the Century" by Inside Tennis Magazine. Before turning pro, he played one season at UCLA (1975), during which the Bruins captured an NCAA team championship. He also won the NCAA Singles Championship. Heading into 2017, Martin held an overall record of 524-111 (.825) overall and a 143-27 (.841) mark in Pac-12 play.
Players Mentioned
