UCLA
USC
Men's Tennis to Face No. 1 USC Thursday
March 11, 2020 | Men's Tennis
The No. 15/25 UCLA men's tennis team (9-4, 2-0 in Pac-12 play) will take on top-ranked USC (13-1, 2-0) Thursday in a non-conference match at Los Angeles Tennis Center. First serve is now scheduled for 12ย p.m., PT after previously being set for a 3 p.m. start. Based on Tuesday's announcement by UCLA, the match will be spectator-free and limited to essential personnel. Live streaming and up-to-the-minute statistics will be available HERE.
UCLA ATHLETICS ANNOUNCES CORONAVIRUS PRECAUTIONS FOR HOME EVENTS
UCLA Athletics continues to work closely with campus leadership to monitor and respond to the evolving coronavirus situation. Based on the decisions announced Tuesday by UCLA and out of an abundance of caution, attendance at all UCLA Athletics home events will be limited to essential personnel only at least until April 10, or until further notice. Essential personnel are defined as student-athletes, coaches, team trainers and medical personnel, game officials, operational and administrative staff, and credentialed media members. Spectators who have pre-purchased tickets for scheduled events during this time period may contact UCLA's Central Ticket Office with inquiries.
LAST TIME OUT
UCLA defeated Liberty, 6-1, Monday afternoon at Los Angeles Tennis Center. The match was previously set for Tuesday, but rescheduled due to rain in the forecast. Sophomore Roscoe Bellamy's first-career dual-match victory clinched the overall result. Freshman Drew Baird, junior Keegan Smith and sophomores Govind Nanda and Mathew Tsolakyan also logged singles wins for the Bruins, who prevailed for the fifth time in a row. Goncalo Ferreira turned in the lone victory for the Flames. A tiebreaker was needed to decide the doubles point, which UCLA grabbed on Court 3. The meeting was the first in the history of the programs.
UCLA VS. USC
UCLA went 1-1 versus its crosstown rivals in 2019, bringing its all-time record against the Trojans to 84-50. In the teams' last meeting, April 5, 2019 at LATC, then-freshman Patrick Zahraj introduced himself to the UCLA-USC rivalry in a major way, winning a third-set tiebreaker to give the 13th-ranked Bruins a 4-3 win against the No. 9 Trojans. Zahraj, who trailed 2-4 in the third set on Court 4, sent a backhand winner past Riley Smith to set off a celebration on the court and in the standing-room-only crowd. A raucous group had moved from the main grandstand to the back courts for the final two matches of the day. USC (13-7, 3-1) led 3-2 before Ben Goldberg and Zahraj willed the Bruins to victory via three-set wins. With the win, UCLA took sole possession of first place in the Pac-12.
IN THE RANKINGS
The Bruins checked in at No. 25 in the latest Oracle ITA team rankings, it was announced Tuesday. They are slotted at No. 15, meanwhile, in the Tennis Channel/USTA poll released Wednesday. The latest Oracle ITA individual rankings feature a career-high showing for Smith, who sits at No. 4 on the singles list. Nanda moved up to No. 21. The doubles pair of Nanda and Smith resides at No. 29. 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 ranked No. 11.
MR. 600
With the Bruins' 4-0 ITA Indoors defeat of NC State on Feb. 16, head coach Billy Martin reached the 600-win plateau for his career.
MORE ON 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 604-128 (.825) 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.
BY THE NUMBERS
UCLA has three notable streaks alive:
ย ย ย ย 66 โ Martin has led his teams to 66 consecutive home wins, a streak that started May 8, 2015.
ย ย ย ย 31 โ UCLA teams have won 31 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.
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 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 sophomore 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.
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. Cressy and Smith, 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. 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. Pereira and sophomore Zahraj, who teamed to tally 12 dual-match doubles victories, are also back. Juniors Lucas Bellamy and Connor Hance, sophomores Tsolakyan, Wild and Roscoe Bellamy and redshirt freshman Blaine Hovenier 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.
Players Mentioned
