University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
San Diego State
Men's Tennis Set to Host Kickoff Weekend
January 22, 2020 | Men's Tennis
The No. 10 UCLA men's tennis team, already with a dual-match win under its belt, will host San Diego State, UCF and San Diego this weekend in ITA Kickoff action. The Bruins will get started Saturday at 12 p.m., PT, when they host SDSU. That will be the second of two men's matches that day, with UCF and San Diego squaring off in the opener at 9 a.m. The winners of those contests will meet in the championship match Sunday at 1:30 p.m., with a spot in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Madison, Wis. on the line. The consolation match will be Sunday's first match, beginning at 9:30 a.m. Live streaming and live scoring are available HERE. The UCLA women's tennis program will also host ITA Kickoff Weekend matches at LATC, beginning Friday.
FRIDAY
Match 1 (9:30 a.m.): LMU vs. Gonzaga (women)
Match 2 (1:30 p.m.): Minnesota vs. UCLA (women)
SATURDAY
Match 3 (9 a.m.): UCF vs. San Diego (men)
Match 4 (12 p.m.): San Diego State vs. UCLA (men)
Match 5 (3 p.m.): Women's Championship Match
Match 6 (6 p.m.): Women's Consolation Match
SUNDAY
Match 7 (9:30 a.m.): Men's Consolation Match
Match 8 (1:30 p.m.): Men's Championship Match
LAST WEEK
UCLA registered a commanding performance in its 2020 dual-match opener Wednesday, Jan. 15, defeating BYU by a 7-0 score at Los Angeles Tennis Center. Junior Connor Hance, who missed a majority of the 2018-19 season, clinched the victory on Court 6. Junior Keegan Smith posted his first top-court victory since 2018, beating a ranked opponent in the process. Freshman Drew Baird added the first dual-match win of his career. The Bruins also competed at the Sherwood College Cup, where sophomore Govind Nanda proved to be the top-performing Bruin. Nanda advanced to the semifinals of the singles draw and teamed with Keegan Smith to reach the final round of doubles play. Nanda and Smith were two of 11 Bruins in action at Sherwood Country Club, where players from Stanford, Texas A&M and USC also took part.
UCLA VS. SDSU/USD/UCF
UCLA men's tennis has won each of its 36 matches played against SDSU. The last meeting between the teams occurred in 2015, when the Bruins registered a 4-0 win at LATC. UCLA is also unbeaten versus USD, most recently improving its mark to 31-0 with a win in the 2019 ITA Kickoff Weekend championship match. The Toreros took the doubles point from the host Bruins before dropping four singles matches in a row for a 4-1 result. UCLA has yet to face off against UCF.
FALL RECAP
Smith represented the Bruins at three national events during the fall, earning a team-high seven singles wins along the way. Three of his victories came versus ranked opponents. His finest performance came in the season-opening Oracle ITA Masters tournament, where he reached the final round before dropping a three-set decision. Senior Ben Goldberg, who went 6-3, posted singles quarterfinal-round showings at the Jack Kramer Club Collegiate Invitational and the SoCal Intercollegiate Championships. Junior Bryce Pereira and redshirt junior Connor Rapp, meanwhile, teamed to win the doubles title at the Aztec Fall Invitational. The pair beat teammates Eric Hahn and Max Wild in the final round. Rapp finished the fall with a 9-3 doubles record, while Wild went 8-5. Pereira registered a 5-2 mark.
IN THE RANKINGS
Last week's win helped the Bruins move up one spot to No. 10 in the Oracle ITA team rankings, it was announced Wednesday. Individually, Smith will start the new year ranked a career-best No. 7 on the singles list. He spent 10 of 12 installments ranked among the top 100 singles players and top 40 doubles duos, with partner Maxime Cressy, in 2019. Smith and Cressy finished the season atop the doubles rankings. As a team, the Bruins completed the 2019 campaign slotted at No. 11.
2018-19 IN REVIEW
Behind a lineup comprised predominantly of freshmen and sophomores, the Bruins went undefeated in Pac-12 play to secure their fourth regular-season conference championship in a row. The team won 13 consecutive contests from Feb. 26-April 25, highlighted by a 4-3 victory against crosstown rival USC at Los Angeles Tennis Center. Smith and senior Cressy, who were stellar on the singles courts, achieved perfection in doubles play. The pair went 21-0, completing its run with the program's 14th NCAA doubles championship and third in four years. The All-Americans also earned UCLA's fourth-straight Pac-12 Doubles Team of the Year award and were selected to the All-Pac-12 First Team. Billy Martin, meanwhile, became the program's all-time leader in head-coaching wins with No. 593.
WHO'S BACK?
The Bruins return 13 players and 88 percent of their singles wins from the 2018-19 roster. In addition to his doubles success, Smith posted a 24-6 singles mark during his sophomore season. The ITA Southwest Region Player to Watch earned all 15 of his dual-match victories, versus just two losses, at the No. 2 spot. Nanda will look to top his All-Pac-12 Second Team selection, earned in large part due to his 20 singles wins. Sophomore Eric Hahn (12 wins), senior Ben Goldberg (11) and redshirt junior Connor Rapp (10) bring 10 or more singles wins back into the fold. Junior Bryce Pereira and sophomore Patrick Zahraj, who teamed to tally 12 dual-match doubles victories, are also back. Juniors Hance and Lucas Bellamy and sophomores Roscoe Bellamy, Mathew Tsolakyan and Max Wild round out the list of returners.
WHO'S GONE?
NCAA doubles champion Cressy also occupied the top singles spot on 2019, going 15-3 in dual matches. Six of those wins came against nationally-ranked foes. He was named the ITA Southwest Region Senior Player of the Year.
WHO'S NEW?
Blue-Chip recruit Baird, ranked as high as No. 3 in his class by TennisRecruiting.net, brings a wealth of experience in prestigious junior tournaments to the Bruins. In 2018, the Raleigh, N.C. native participated in each of the four Grand Slam junior tournaments. His best singles showing was at the Australian Open, where he reached the round of 16. Baird also notched doubles quarterfinal-round trips at the US Open junior, Orange Bowl, Eddie Herr and Easter Bowl events. He also represented the United States at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
BY THE NUMBERS
UCLA has three notable streaks alive:
ย ย ย ย 62 โ Martin has led his teams to 62 straight home wins, a streak that started May 8, 2015.
ย ย ย ย 29 โ UCLA teams have won 29 Pac-12 regular-season matches in a row since the start of the 2016 season.
ย ย ย ย 4 โ UCLA has won four straight Pac-12 regular-season championships.
HEAD COACH BILLY MARTIN
Martin, who became the program's all-time leader in head-coaching wins last year, is the longest-tenured active coach at UCLA. In his 27th year as head coach and 37th on staff, Martin holds a record of 596-124 (.828) at the helm. He guided the 2005 Bruins to the program's 16th NCAA team title and just three Martin-led squads have finished outside the top five at the season-ending NCAA Championships. Benjamin Kohlloeffel (2006), Marcos Giron (2014) and Mackenzie McDonald (2016) have earned NCAA singles titles on Martin's watch, while UCLA has become a frequent landing spot for doubles champions of late. In addition to 1996 winners Justin Gimelstob and Srdjan Muskatirovic, three of the last four titleholders (McDonald/Martin Redlicki in 2016, Redlicki/Evan Zhu in 2018 and Cressy/Smith in 2019 have called Westwood home.
Players Mentioned
