UCLA
Loyola Marymount
No. 6 UCLA Prevails Against LMU, 5-2
January 23, 2018 | Men's Tennis
LOS ANGELES -- The No. 6 UCLA men's tennis defeated Loyola Marymount, 5-2, Tuesday at Los Angeles Tennis Center. The win improved the Bruins' record to 4-0, while the Lions dropped to 0-1.
The reigning Pac-12 Doubles Team of the Year, Martin Redlicki and Evan Zhu, picked up its first win of the dual-match season with a 6-3 decision over the Lions' duo of Charles Boyce and Lucas Moenter. Almost simultaneously, the UCLA pair of Austin Rapp and Keegan Smith dispatched LMU's Nick Borchenko and Gabriel Diaz Freire, 6-2, to clinch the doubles point.
In singles play, Zhu got matters started on Court 2 with a straight-set win over Moenter, 6-3, 6-2, to quickly put the Bruins up 2-0. No. 1 Redlicki endured a fight from the Lions' Diaz Freire in the first set, but ultimately proved too strong for the sophomore from Spain, 7-5, 6-1. Ben Goldberg cruised through the first set against Borchenko on Court 5, but needed to fight through a back-and-forth second-set tiebreak before recording the clincher, 6-2, 7-6 (5).
Austin Rapp and Errol Smith played the match of the day, as the veterans needed two tiebreaks to decide a winner. The Bruin proved superior after one set, but Smith took the second thanks to a 7-4 win in the tiebreak. Then, in the 10-point third-set tiebreak, Smith triumphed by a slim 10-8 margin to put the Lions on the board.
On Court 3, No. 55 Logan Staggs of the Bruins went to a first-set tiebreak against LMU's Lucas Moreno before falling, 7-3. Staggs rebounded, though, topping Moreno in the subsequent sets for a final tally of 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3. That left the final match on Court 6, where the Lions' Diego Nava took the first set from Bruin Connor Hance. Hance answered with a 6-3 second-set win to set up another tiebreak. With all eyes on the two freshman, Nava recorded the Lions' second win of the day, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (6).
The Bruins will host ITA Kick-Off Weekend this weekend, when UC Davis, UCF and Utah State come to town. UCLA will take on the UC Davis Saturday at 1 p.m., following a 9 a.m. contest between UCF and Utah State. Sunday, the losers of Saturday's matches will face off at 9 a.m. before the winners battle at 1 p.m. for a trip to the ITA National Indoor Championships.
Tennis Match Results
Loyola Marymount vs UCLA
Jan 23, 2018 at Los Angeles, CA
(Los Angeles Tennis Center)
#6 UCLA 5, Loyola Marymount 2
Singles competition
1. #1 Martin Redlicki (UCLA) def. Gabriel Diaz Freire (LMU) 7-5, 6-1
2. Evan Zhu (UCLA) def. Lukas Moenter (LMU) 6-3, 6-2
3. #55 Logan Staggs (UCLA) def. Lucas Moreno (LMU) 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-3
4. Errol Smith (LMU) def. Austin Rapp (UCLA) 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 1-0 (10-8)
5. Ben Goldberg (UCLA) def. Nick Borchenko (LMU) 6-2, 7-6 (7-5)
6. Diego Nava (LMU) def. Connor Hance (UCLA) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6)
Doubles competition
1. Martin Redlicki/Evan Zhu (UCLA) def. Charles Boyce/Lukas Moenter (LMU) 6-3
2. Austin Rapp/Keegan Smith (UCLA) def. Nick Borchenko/Gabriel Diaz Freire (LMU) 6-2
3. Maxime Cressy/Bryce Pereira (UCLA) vs. Diego Nava/Ethan Prost (LMU) 5-3, unfinished
Match Notes:
Loyola Marymount 0-1
UCLA 4-0; National ranking #6
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (2,1,5,4,3,6)
T-2:25
Players Mentioned
