UCLA
Cal Lutheran
Pac-12-Leading Bruins to Close Regular Season
April 18, 2017 | Men's Tennis
LOS ANGELES -- The No. 8 UCLA men's tennis team wraps up the regular season this week with visits from a pair of Los Angeles-area foes. First up for the Bruins is a previously unscheduled non-conference date with the Division III Kingsmen of Cal Lutheran on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. UCLA will then conclude conference play with crosstown rival No. 6 USC Friday, also at 3:00 p.m. The winner of Friday's match will take the Pac-12 regular-season crown and hold the top spot at next week's Pac-12 Championships. Both of this week's matches will take place at Sunset Canyon Tennis Courts.
Cal Lutheran, a member of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC), currently holds a record of 5-15 (1-5 in conference play). The Kingsmen are led by 24th-year head coach Mike Genette, who has coached 11 players to NCAA All-American honors and guided Cal Lutheran as far as the quarterfinals in the 2015 NCAA Division III Tennis Championships. UCLA has never faced Cal Lutheran.
In their most recent match, the Kingsmen fell to SCIAC-leading and third-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 8-1. Cal Lutheran earned its lone point on Doubles Court 1, where its team of Dara Kashani and Jake Haffner dispatched the Stags' Jake Berber and Glenn Hull, 8-6.
Following Cal Lutheran's first meeting with the Bruins will be the 127th in the crosstown rivalry between UCLA and USC since 1967. The Bruins and Trojans have already split two meetings this season, as UCLA claimed a 4-3 victory at the ITA Indoors in Charlottesville, Va. (Feb. 17), while USC recorded a home non-conference victory, 4-1 (March 9). The Bruins hold a 78-48 record against the Trojans.
With their home sweep of Utah and Arizona, the Bruins are in sole possession of first place in the Pac-12 with a 5-0 record. A close second are the Trojans, who possess a 5-1 mark after wins over the same teams. UCLA was rained out of its April 7 visit to California.
When the Oracle/ITA rankings were announced Tuesday, two members of the No. 8 Bruins found themselves in the latest installment of the singles list. Gage Brymer (No. 21) and Martin Redlicki (No. 57) posted victories last week, and each has now topped the 20-win mark for the season. In doubles, the team of Redlicki and Evan Zhu continues to go strong, as the pair capped the week with a 6-2 win over Arizona's Will Kneale and Oliver Plaskett, 6-2, to improve to 15-3 on the campaign. Redlicki-Zhu is now ranked No. 12.
USC maintained its No. 6 spot in the rankings, and is represented by a pair of singles players and two doubles duos on their respective lists. No. 22 Brandon Holt is 31-8 on the year, while No. 79 Logan Smith holds a 21-15 record. In doubles, the team of Holt and Riley Smith rose to No. 10 in the rankings with a record of 22-5, while Nick Crystal and Laurens Verboven, holding a 20-5 mark, checked in at No. 85.
The USC match will also mark the final home date for five Bruin seniors. Brymer, Joseph Di Giulio, Michael Guzman, Travis Martin and Nishanth Yamani will be recognized Friday.
Players Mentioned
