University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Men's Tennis Adds Two to Incoming Class
July 23, 2020 | Men's Tennis
LOS ANGELES โ Head coach Billy Martin announced Thursday the additions of area products Sam Feit and Timo Li to the men's tennis roster for the 2020-21 season.
Feit joins the Bruins as a graduate transfer from Gonzaga University, where he spent a majority of his four seasons atop the Zags' singles and doubles lineups. He is the first graduate transfer in program history. Li, meanwhile, recently completed a decorated prep career at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles.
A native of Los Angeles and graduate of Milken Community Schools, Feit helped Gonzaga to a 10-4 dual-match record in the shortened 2019-20 season. That finish came on the heels of a 2018-19 campaign that saw the Zags go 16-8 and earn its first-ever ITA ranking. The team went just 6-13 in the 2016-17 season, Feit's first. He proved a catalyst in the turnaround, however, posting a singles record of 75-36 during his time in the Pacific Northwest. Feit went 20-9 on Court 1, his most frequent position in the lineup. He reached No. 118 in the Oracle/ITA singles rankings and earned All-WCC Singles honors in 2018 and 2019, including a spot on the First Team as a junior, when he went 24-8.
"I am very excited to have Sam join our team," said Martin. "He adds to the incredible depth of our team. Not losing anybody from last year's team and adding him, a person who's had experience for four years of college tennis and played No. 1 for Gonzaga and had top wins over highly-ranked players, I think it's going to make our team even more formidable and help us really have a chance to fight for an NCAA championship."
Feit also holds a 61-45 doubles mark and netted All-WCC First- (2019) and Second-Team (2018) Doubles accolades. He reached No. 33 in the Oracle/ITA doubles rankings with partner Matthew Hollingworth. Feit was also a standout off the court, receiving WCC All-Academic Honorable Mention recognition in 2019 and 2020, as well as an ITA Scholar-Athlete designation in 2019.
Li and Harvard-Westlake collected the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 team title in 2017 and 2018 and went on to take the top spot at the CIF/USTA Southern California Regional Championships in the latter of those seasons. The Wolverines captured the Mission League team championship in each of his three completed seasons and prevailed at the prestigious National High School Tennis All-American Team Invitational in 2019.
"Timo and his siblings came to my camp for many years," Martin said. "I watched him develop as a good, top Southern Cal junior, to playing for Harvard-Westlake and having an incredible high school career there. I am excited to have him."
A 4-star prospect according to TennisRecruiting.net, Li and partner Sacha Pritzker won the CIF doubles championship at the 2018 Ojai Valley Junior Tournament. The pair also claimed the Mission League doubles title that year, giving Li his second in as many tries. The Valley Village, Calif. native also seized the Boys' 14 doubles crown at the 2017 Easter Bowl and reached the semifinal round of the Boys' 16 draw two years later. Earlier this year, Li won the Boys' 18 singles titles and sportsmanship award at the Fullerton Junior Closed Tournament (Level 2).
"I am familiar with Sam and Timo as LA kids and they are great students, so I think they're going to be great teammates and fit into our profile really well," Martin added.
Feit and Li make it a trio of newcomers for the Bruins, who received a signed National Letter of Intent from Stefan Leustian (Sacramento, Calif. / Connections Academy) in November 2019.
