UCLA
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Western Michigan
Men's Tennis to Face Western Michigan Ahead of Indoors
February 10, 2020 | Men's Tennis
On its way to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Madison Wis., the No. 16 UCLA men's tennis team will make a stop in Chicago to face Western Michigan. The Midtown Athletic Club will be the setting for the match, scheduled for Tuesday at 10 a.m., PT. The Bruins take a 3-2 record into the match, while the Broncos sit at 5-4.
LAST TIME OUT
UCLA suffered 4-2 defeats at No. 15 California (Jan. 31) and No. 11 Stanford (Feb. 1) in non-conference action. Sophomore Govind Nanda and junior Keegan Smith posted singles wins against top-50 opponents, but the Golden Bears would never trail in the first match. Ben Draper clinched the victory, beating sophomore Patrick Zahraj in straight sets on Court 5. The Bruins got off on the right foot the next day versus the Cardinal, earning the doubles point in thrilling fashion. Nanda would post their only win the rest of the way, however, as Stanford won two third sets to account for the difference in final score. Axel Geller clinched the victory, beating Smith on the top court.
UCLA VS. WMU
UCLA and WMU have met just once, with the Bruins dispatching of the Broncos by a 4-0 score in the first round of the 1999 NCAA Championships at Los Angeles Tennis Center. All singles matches were decided in straight sets, with Jean-Noel Grinda providing the clinching win on the top court. UCLA would go on to reach the tournament's final round, where it dropped a 4-3 decision against host Georgia.
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. 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
The Bruins' losses in Northern California caused them to drop from No. 10 to No. 16 in the Oracle ITA team rankings, it was announced Wednesday, Feb. 5. They are No. 17 in the second Tennis Channel/USTA Top 25 team rankings, released the same day. The Oracle ITA individual rankings, meanwhile, feature new career-high singles showings for Nanda and Smith. Smith is slotted at No. 6 after opening the season at No. 7, while Nanda made the nation's biggest jump from unranked to No. 10. Nanda's previous career high was No. 35, achieved in March 2019. Smith 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. Hahn (12 wins), Goldberg (11) and Rapp (10) bring 10 or more singles wins back into the fold. Zahraj and junior Bryce Pereira, who teamed to tally 12 dual-match doubles victories, are also back. Juniors Hance and Lucas Bellamy and sophomores Wild, Roscoe Bellamy and Mathew Tsolakyan 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:
64 – Martin has led his teams to 64 straight home wins, a streak that started May 8, 2015.
29 – UCLA teams have won 29 Pac-12 regular-season matches in a row since the start of the 2016 season.
4 – 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 598-126 (.826) 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.
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Players Mentioned
