UCLA
USC
Bruin Comeback Falls Short in Pac-12 Final
April 29, 2017 | Men's Tennis
OJAI, Calif. โ The top-seeded UCLA men's tennis team rallied from a 3-1 deficit against third-seeded USC, but came up just short in the final of the Pac-12 Championships, 4-3. The match was ultimately decided on Court 1, where the Bruins' Gage Brymer and the Trojans' Brandon Holt battled down the stretch.
In doubles, the Trojan team of Rob Bellamy and Jack Jaede topped Maxime Cressy and Ben Goldberg on Court 3, 6-2, to set the tone. Martin Redlicki and Evan Zhu assured the large Bruin contingent that they would not go quietly, though, as the seventh-ranked duo lived up to its standing with a 7-5 victory over the Trojans' top team of Brandon Holt and Riley Smith. For the second week in a row, it came down to Court 2, and specifically the matchup between UCLA's Austin Rapp-Joseph Di Giulio and USC's Nick Crystal-Laurens Verboven. This time, though, it was the Trojan duo that picked up the win, thanks to a tiebreak.
USC looked poised to jump on UCLA in singles, as well, with four first-set wins. It was Redlicki who picked up the first win in singles, though, as the junior posted a straight-set win over Crystal on Court 2, 6-1, 6-3. The little bit of momentum the Bruins garnered with that win, however, went back the way of the Trojans with the next two points. Zhu dropped his Court 2 decision to Logan Smith, who topped the freshman by a 7-5, 6-1 margin. Shortly thereafter, Thibault Forget put the Bruins on the brink of elimination with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Di Giulio on Court 5.
That was when the match took a turn. After dropping the first set, UCLA's Logan Staggs posted a 7-5 second set to send his match against Jack Jaede into a third and final set. There, Staggs rolled to a 6-0 win to trim the Bruins' deficit to one. Almost instantaneously, Cressy topped Riley Smith on Court 3, 7-6, 6-4, to knot the overall score at three apiece with Court 1 still pending.
After splitting the first two sets, Brymer and Holt traded games throughout the third. Ultimately, Holt captured the set and match for the Trojans, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.
The NCAA.com Selection Show will air at 2:00 p.m. (PT) on May 2.
No. 3 USC 4, No. 1 UCLA 3
DOUBLES:
1. Martin Redlicki/Evan Zhu, UCLA def. Brandon Holt/Riley Smith, USC 7-5
2. Nick Crystal/Laurens Verboven, USCย def. Austin Rapp/Joseph Di Giulio, UCLA 7-6
3. Rob Bellamy/Jack Jaede, USC def. Maxime Cressy/Ben Goldberg, UCLA 6-2
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
SINGLES:
1. Brandon Holt, USC def. Gage Brymer, UCLA 2-1 (7-5, 3-6, 6-4)
2. Martin Redlicki, UCLA def. Nick Crystal, USC 2-0 (6-2, 6-3)
3. Logan Smith, USC def. Evan Zhu, UCLA 2-0 (7-5, 6-1)
4. Logan Staggs, UCLA def. Jack Jaede, USC 2-1 (3-6, 7-5, 6-0)
5. Thibault Forget, USC def. Joseph Di Giulio, UCLA 2-0 (6-2, 7-5)
6. Maxime Cressy, UCLA def. Riley Smith, USC 2-0 (7-6, 6-4)
Order of finish: 2, 3, 5, 6, 4, 1
Players Mentioned
