UCLA Men's Tennis- NCAA Championships (16)
Opens in a new window For the first time since 1984 the UCLA men's tennis team captured the NCAA tennis title, as the seventh-seeded Bruins posted a 4-3 come-from-behind victory over top-seeded and undefeated Baylor in the NCAA Final on May 24. With the win, UCLA (27-3) snapped Baylor's 57-match winning streak, the second longest in NCAA history. With the match tied a 3-3, UCLA's No. 3 singles player Kris Kwinta clinched the win for the Bruins, registering a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Baylor's Lars Poerschke. Kwinta served out the match leading 5-4 in the third set. When Poerschke's forehand sailed long on match point, Kwinta threw his racquet over the fence before being mobbed by teammates. UCLA has now snapped the longest and second longest winning streaks in NCAA history. In 2004, the Bruins ended Illinois' run of 64-straight victories with a 4-2 win in the NCAA Semifinals.
Opens in a new window UCLA won its 15th NCAA men's tennis title by ousting Stanford 5-4 in a match that went down to the wire in Athens, Georgia. The Bruins and the Cardinal split their six singles matches and the first two doubles matches. That left it up to the number-one doubles team of Michael Kures and Mark Basham, who edged Stanford's John Letts and Jim Grabb 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. Basham posted a 24-8 record in singles as UCLA won 30 of 33 dual matches. He was 6-0 in singles and doubles in the NCAA tournament. Jeff Klaparda finished the season 24-5 in singles, while Kures went 23-4.
Opens in a new window The Bruins coasted past Pepperdine 5-1 in the title match to win their 14th NCAA team championship in Athens, Georgia. Marcel Freeman played the number-one singles slot for UCLA and compiled a 34-12 record. He reached the semifinals in individual play at the NCAAs and finished the season as the top-ranked singles player in the final rankings compiled by the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Association. Teammate Robbie Venter finished fifth. The Bruins won 30 of 33 dual matches and captured their second consecutive Pac-10 title.
Opens in a new window Fritz Buehning and Blaine Willenborg each won singles matches, then teamed to win the decisive doubles match as UCLA beat Trinity of Texas 5-3 in the NCAA team finals in Athens, Georgia. The Bruins held a 4-2 lead after singles play, then clinched the match when Buehning and Willenborg beat Trinity's top doubles team of John Benson and Tony Giammalva in straight sets. UCLA went 26-2 and won the national title despite fielding the youngest and most inexperienced team in coach Glenn Bassett's 13-year tenure. The 11-man varsity squad included four freshman, three sophomores and four juniors, with no seniors.
Opens in a new window After surviving a scare from Lewis University in the semifinals, UCLA swept local rival Pepperdine in the finals (15-11, 15-11, 15-7) to win the NCAA title in Hawaii. Adam Naeve was named the tourney's most outstanding player and was joined on the All-Tournament team by Brandon Taliaferro and Fred Robins. Naeve and Taliaferro also earned first-team All-America honors. The Bruins went 28-4, defeated USC for the 12th consecutive time and won their sixth consecutive MPSF Mountain Division title. Al Scates was named national coach of the year for the fifth time.
Opens in a new window Billy Martin's singles title sparked UCLA to its eleventh national team championship in competition in Corpus Christi, Texas. Martin became only the second freshman to win the NCAA title (the Bruins' Jimmy Connors was the first in 1971) when he rallied from two sets down to beat SMU's George Hardie. Martin also teamed with Brian Teacher to reach the doubles final. UCLA outdistanced second-place Miami 27-20 at the NCAAs. The Bruins also won the Pac-8 title and breezed to a 19-0 record in dual-match play.
Opens in a new window UCLA returned its entire national-championship squad from 1970 and added newcomer Jimmy Connors, so it was no surprise that the Bruins won the NCAA title again in 1971. The 18-year-old Connors emerged as a star and defeated Stanford's Roscoe Tanner to become the first freshman ever to win an NCAA men's singles title. Connors reached the final by defeating teammate Haroon Rahim in the semis. Another Bruin, defending-champion Jeff Borowiak, reached the semifinals before falling to Tanner. But Haroon and Borowiak teamed to win the doubles crown. UCLA finished the season 17-0 in dual-match play, giving head coach Glenn Bassett his first undefeated squad.
Opens in a new window Jeff Borowiak won the NCAA singles title, and the Bruins won their ninth national tennis team championship. Borowiak and Haroon Rahim, a Davis Cup star from Pakistan, led a lineup loaded with talent from top to bottom. Two other international stars, Argentina's Elio Alvarez and Modesto Vazquez, joined Jeff Austin and Mike and Bob Kreiss to give UCLA formidable singles and doubles options. The national title was the Bruins' first under fourth-year coach Glenn Bassett.
Opens in a new window Davis Cup star Arthur Ashe led the Bruins to a dominating performance at the 1965 men's tennis championships at UCLA. Ashe helped the Bruins compile a remarkable 31 points, far ahead of second-place Miami, which had only 13. He won the NCAA singles title, then teamed with Ian Crookendon (a Davis Cup player for New Zealand) to win the doubles title, beating UCLA teammates Dave Reed and David Sanderlin in the final. Elty Brown and Gino Tanasescu joined Ashe, Crookenden, Reed, and Sanderlin in the Bruins' singles lineup.
Opens in a new window Ozzie Volstad, an All-Tournament selection as a freshman when UCLA won the national title in 1984, was the outstanding player of the 1987 tourney, which the Bruins capped by beating arch-rival USC in three games, 15-11, 15-2, 16-14, in the final at Pauley Pavilion. Volstad and Jeff Williams earned All-America honors as UCLA won its last 27 matches to finish with a school- and collegiate-record-tying 38 victories against three defeats. Volstad, Williams, and Arne Lamberg were named to the All-Tournament team. Al Scates was named the national coach of the year for the second time in four seasons.
Opens in a new window Ineligible for the NCAA title from 1957-59, UCLA returned to the national scene with a vengeance, winning the championship with a squad made up entirely of sophomores and juniors. NCAA singles champion Larry Nagler, Allen Fox and captain Norm Perry led the Bruins, who ran their dual-match winning streak to 27 before a heartbreaking loss to Lamar Tech. Included in the streak was a 5-1 rout of powerful Trinity of Texas. Nagler and Fox teamed as NCAA doubles champions. UCLA's national team championship was its fifth in J.D. Morgan's 10 years as coach.
Opens in a new window UCLA edged USC by one point to win its fifth national team title in seven years at the NCAA championships in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Senior captain Joe Blatchford, Greg Garman and Dwight Makoff returned from the 1955 team that tied for third at the NCAAs, and were joined by varsity newcomers such as Mike Franks, Johnny Lesch, Franklin Johnson and Johnny Cranston. Mike Green was a transfer from Modesto Junior College's national-championship team. The Bruins won the Pacific Coast Conference Southern Division dual-match title by sweeping six matches from USC, Stanford and California.
Opens in a new window Coach J.D. Morgan's squad forged UCLA's first undefeated season and won the school's fourth national championship in five years. Co-captains Bob Perry and Ron Livingston were the stars. The two teamed to win the national doubles title. Perry, who played in the Davis Cup for the United States, advanced to the singles final. Livingston, who also played basketball for the Bruins, finished the season as college tennis' third-ranked player.
Opens in a new window The Bruins earned their second consecutive NCAA title under J.D. Morgan, their third in four years. UCLA's top players included Bob Perry, Larry Huebner, Ron Livingston, Dick Doss and Jim Read. The Bruins' only setbacks came to a team of southern California all-stars and a narrow 5-4 defeat to California in the decisive match for the Pacific Coast Conference title.
Opens in a new window None of the top three and only two of the top six players were back from head coach J.D. Morgan's first team in 1951, but the Bruins went on to win the 1952 NCAA title, their second in three years. The infusion of talent was led by Bob Perry, the top-ranked junior in the nation, who emerged as the team's star. He was joined by fellow newcomers Ron Livingston and Jimmy Read. Captain Keith Self and Larry Huebner were the returning veterans.
Opens in a new window Herb Flam won the NCAA singles title, then paired with Gene Garrett to win the doubles crown, as UCLA captured its first national title in tennis. Flam, the Bruins' co-captain (along with future head coach Glenn Bassett), finished his four-year career without ever losing a collegiate match. Bassett and Jack Shoemaker both reached the round of 16 in individual play. Coach Bill Ackerman's squad lost only two matches all season.