UCLA
San Diego
Bruins Advance to NCAA Round of 16
May 14, 2016 | Men's Tennis
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The second-ranked UCLA men's tennis team punched its ticket to Tulsa on Saturday afternoon with a 4-0 win over No. 28 University of San Diego in the NCAA round of 32. With the win, the Bruins improve to 24-2 and continue their quest for the 2016 NCAA title.
It was a back-and-forth battle in doubles play as both squads traded sets on courts 1 and 2. The Toreros struck first with a 6-2 win on court 2, then the second-ranked duo of Mackenzie McDonald and Martin Redlicki responded for the Bruins with a 6-4 win at the top of the lineup. The deciding point came from Maxime Cressy and Austin Rapp on court 3.
Down 4-3, the Bruin pair rallied to take a 5-4 lead. USD's Alexandros Araouzos and Jaan Kononov held to knot the score at 5-5. At deuce, Rapp served up an ace to give UCLA a 6-5 advantage. Unable to break the Torero pair, the set headed into the tiebreaker. Cressy and Rapp jumped out to an early 5-1 lead and never looked back. UCLA held a 1-0 advantage heading into singles play.
Bruins win the breaker 7-1 and UCLA takes the doubles point! pic.twitter.com/MNKVfvyD3d
— UCLA Men's Tennis (@uclatennis) May 14, 2016
“We were not looking good in doubles,” said UCLA head coach Billy Martin of the Bruins' slow start. “We got the job done at No. 1, but No. 2 was not having a good day. We started down on court 3, but those guys came back and pulled it out for us. I think that was a turning point for us momentum-wise.”
The Bruins carried this momentum into singles, rattling off three straight wins to clinch. No. 101 Karue Sell made quick work of Kononov on court 4, downing the Torero in straights. At the bottom of the lineup, Joseph Di Giulio followed suit with a straight-set win of his own. The clincher came from Logan Staggs on court 5 when he downed Romain Kalaydjian, 6-3, 6-2.
UCLA advances to the Sweet 16 with a 4-0 victory over USD!! Staggs with the clinch (again) pic.twitter.com/8UOhKadj3W
— UCLA Men's Tennis (@uclatennis) May 14, 2016
“We won the first two singles matches relatively easy,” said Martin of UCLA's momentum in singles. “I think Karue and Joe let that doubles loss carry over and they were fired up in singles. To me, that was an unbelievable turning point—those guys rebounding like that.”
Next up, the Bruins face either No. 14 Northwestern or No. 29 Stanford in the NCAA round of 16 in Tulsa, Okla.
“Northwestern is a very good team, and we've certainly played Stanford a lot this season,” said Martin of the Bruins' next match. “Northwestern has been a top team all year. It's kind of ironic because it's Logan's old team—so that will be interesting. It will be a very competitive match either way.
“We're just going to take it one match at a time, and hopefully do something special,” added Martin.
For updates on the UCLA men's tennis team, follow on Twitter at @uclatennis.
#2 UCLA 4, #28 San Diego 0
May 14, 2016 at Los Angeles, CA (Sunset Canyon Tennis Courts)
| Doubles competition |
| 1. #2 McDonald/Redlicki (UCLA) def. Petronijevic/Vittek (USD) 6-4 |
| 2. Angus/Page (USD) def. Di Giulio/Sell (UCLA) 6-2 |
| 3. Cressy/Rapp (UCLA) def. Araouzos/Kononov (USD) 7-6 (7-1) |
| Singles competition |
| 1. #6 Mackenzie McDonald (UCLA) vs. #65 Uros Petronijevic (USD) 7-6 (8-6), 2-1, unfinished |
| 2. #38 Martin Redlicki (UCLA) vs. #71 Jordan Angus (USD) 4-6, 6-1, 1-2, unfinished |
| 3. #58 Gage Brymer (UCLA) vs. Filip Vittek (USD) 7-6 (7-5), 0-2, unfinished |
| 4. #101 Karue Sell (UCLA) def. Jaan Kononov (USD) 6-0, 6-1 |
| 5. Logan Staggs (UCLA) def. Romain Kalaydjian (USD) 6-3, 6-2 |
| 6. Joseph Di Giulio (UCLA) def. Alexandros Araouzos (USD) 6-2, 6-1 |
| Match Notes |
| San Diego 24-8; National ranking #28 |
| UCLA 24-2; National ranking #2 |
| Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (4,6,5) |
| NCAA Round of 32 |
