Last weekend, the UCLA men’s tennis match against Stanford was canceled at a 1-1 tie because of rain, but poor weather will not be an issue for the Bruins this weekend at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships.
The tournament, hosted by Texas A&M; in Houston, begins Friday and concludes on Monday. The Pac-12, SEC, ACC, Big 12 and Big 10 conferences will all have multiple teams competing in the tournament. Of the 16 teams entered in the tournament, UCLA is seeded second overall behind defending National Indoor champion Virginia.
UCLA is set to play Pepperdine in the first round on Friday. The winner will move on to face either Illinois or Oklahoma on Saturday.
The Bruins are no strangers to success in indoor competition. Since the tournament was founded in 1973, UCLA has amassed a total of 10 appearances and seven indoor national titles, second only to Stanford’s 12 titles. The last time the Bruins won a National Indoor championship was in 2001 when they upset the then top-ranked Stanford Cardinal 4-2.
The Bruins enter the tournament with four nationally ranked singles players, including the top-ranked singles player in the nation, senior Clay Thompson, who won the men’s singles title at last year’s tournament.
Among the rest of UCLA’s ranked players is fifth-ranked junior Marcos Giron, as well as freshman Gage Brymer, ranked No. 26, and freshman Mackenzie McDonald, ranked No. 51. Giron and McDonald are also the No. 9 doubles team in the nation.