UCLA
National Collegiate Tennis Classic
Men's Tennis Sending Four to NCTC
January 09, 2020 | Men's Tennis
A quartet of UCLA men's tennis players will open the 2020 portion of its schedule on Friday, when play begins at the National Collegiate Tennis Classic. Sophomore Roscoe Bellamy, junior Connor Hance, redshirt freshman Blaine Hovenier and redshirt junior Connor Rapp will be in action from the La Quinta Resort & Club in La Quinta, Calif., which will host matches through Sunday.
FALL RECAP
Junior Keegan 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
UCLA begins 2020 ranked No. 11 by Oracle ITA. 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 in 2019.
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 Maxime 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. Sophomore Govind 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 Lucas Bellamy and Connor Hance 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 also named the ITA Southwest Region Senior Player of the Year.
FRESH FACE
Blue-Chip recruit Drew 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.
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, he holds a record of 595-124 (.828) at the helm. Martin guided the 2005 Bruins to the program's 16th NCAA team title and just three of his 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
