UCLA
USC
No. 4 Bruins Down No. 9 Trojans
April 17, 2016 | Men's Tennis
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The fourth-ranked UCLA men's tennis team clinched the Pac-12 regular season title with its 4-2 win over ninth-ranked USC on Sunday afternoon. The Bruins close out the regular season with a 20-2 record overall and a perfect 7-0 mark in conference play.
That moment when you beat SC to clinch the Pac-12 regular season title! 🏆 #GoBruins pic.twitter.com/KtEpmZk8F6
— UCLA Men's Tennis (@uclatennis) April 17, 2016
“It means a lot to sweep USC this year,” said UCLA head coach Billy Martin of beating the Trojans at home and on the road. “This is a very good USC team. They're going to be very determined to beat us next week in Ojai should we play each other.”
Sunday's doubleheader with the women's teams kicked off with simultaneous doubles play. The Bruin men got off to a hot start, clinching the point at Nos. 1 and 2. After Austin Rapp and Maxime Cressy fell to Rob Bellamy and Jake DeVine, 6-1, at the bottom of the lineup, UCLA rallied with two straight wins at the top. Martin Redlicki held on court 1 as he and partner Mackenzie McDonald took the match over 42nd-ranked Nick Crystal and Laurens Verboven, 6-4. In a battle for the doubles point, Karue Sell held to take a 6-5 advantage. Sell and partner Joseph Di Giulio then broke Max de Vroome and Jack Jaede to win 7-5 and clinch for the Bruins.
DiGiulio/Sell break Jaede/DeVroome as they win 7-5 and Bruins take the doubles point! pic.twitter.com/sWciNED7Pj
— UCLA Men's Tennis (@uclatennis) April 17, 2016
The Bruins carried this momentum into singles play, winning four of six first sets. At the bottom of the lineup, Di Giulio blanked Bellamy, 6-0, to get things started. No. 58 Gage Brymer then downed Logan Smith, 6-2, as No. 45 Redlicki edged No. 43 Crystal, 7-5. On courts 4 and 5, No 86 Sell and Logan Staggs dropped their first sets to No. 106 DeVine and No. 120 Thibault Forget, respectively. On court 1, No. 8 McDonald trailed No. 19 de Vroome, 4-2, in the tiebreaker. McDonald rallied to win the breaker, 7-5, and take the first set.
The Trojans struck first in singles when DeVine handed Sell his first loss of the spring season. DeVine's straight-set win ended Sell's 16-match winning streak and evened the score at 1-1. Brymer and Di Giulio quickly responded for UCLA on courts 3 and 6, respectively, downing their Trojan opponents in straights. UCLA held a 3-1 advantage with three matches still playing.
USC's Forget then cut the deficit to 3-2 with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Staggs on court 5. At the top of the lineup, McDonald trailed de Vroome in the second set and Redlicki led Crystal in the third.
The clincher came from court 2 as Redlicki took the third set, 6-3, to give the Bruins a 4-2 lead. With the win, UCLA improved to 7-0 in Pac-12 play and secured the No. 1 seed at the Pac-12 Championships in Ojai next week.
“It was a great win for us,” said Martin. “It gives us momentum heading into the conference tournament next week in Ojai. There's a very good chance we could play the Trojans again. We'll have to get past an extremely tough Oregon or Stanford in the semifinals on Friday to possibly get a chance to play either USC or Cal, I think. It gives us momentum and keeps us in a positive mind frame.
“We can't get too self-satisfied though,” added Martin. We have to keep working hard—there's another month to go till NCAAs. The win certainly gives us hope that we're doing the right things and that we're at least one of the teams going into the tournament with a shot to possibly win it.”
Next up, the Bruins head to Ojai for the Pac-12 Championships. The tournament runs April 20-24 at the Ojai Valley Athletic Club. TV coverage of the event will be broadcast live April 22-24 on Pac-12 Network.
#4 UCLA 4, #9 USC 2
Apr 17, 2016 at Los Angeles, CA (Buntmann Family Tennis Center)
| Doubles competition |
| 1. #4 McDonald/Redlicki (UCLA) def. #42 Crystal/Verboven (USC-M) 6-4 |
| 2. Di Giulio/Sell (UCLA) def. de Vroome/Jaede (USC-M) 7-5 |
| 3. Bellamy/DeVine (USC-M) def. Cressy/Rapp (UCLA) 6-1 |
| Singles competition |
| 1. #19 Max de Vroome (USC-M) vs. #8 Mackenzie McDonald (UCLA) 6-7 (5-7), 5-6, unfinished |
| 2. #45 Martin Redlicki (UCLA) def. #43 Nick Crystal (USC-M) 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 |
| 3. #58 Gage Brymer (UCLA) def. #55 Logan Smith (USC-M) 6-2, 6-2 |
| 4. #106 Jake DeVine (USC-M) def. #86 Karue Sell (UCLA) 6-2, 6-0 |
| 5. #120 Thibault Forget (USC-M) def. Logan Staggs (UCLA) 6-3, 6-4 |
| 6. Joseph Di Giulio (UCLA) def. Rob Bellamy (USC-M) 6-0, 7-5 |
| Match Notes |
| UCLA 20-2; National ranking #4 |
| USC 15-5; National ranking #9 |
| Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (4,3,6,5,2) |
