Three days after returning from a road trip through Utah and Arizona, the No. 5 UCLA men’s tennis team flat-out dominated UCSD, winning 5-0 in a Wednesday afternoon match that at times seemed like no more than a warm-up for UCLA’s highly-ranked matchup against USC on Friday.
Playing without senior Clay Thompson and freshman Mackenzie McDonald, two hallmarks of their singles lineup, the Bruins nonetheless faced few stumbling blocks en route to dismantling their Division II competition.
The team began by cruising to a quick victory to steal the doubles point. Junior Marcos Giron and sophomore Karue Sell blew by their opponents, winning 8-0. Their victory was quickly followed up by that of freshmen Joe Di Giulio and Michael Guzman, who won their match 8-3. On court No. 3, freshman Gage Brymer and redshirt sophomore Ryoto Tachi faced early resistance before tying their match up, 5-5.
The absence of Thompson and McDonald allowed several players to move up in the singles lineup, and others to move from the bench into starting roles. According to Thompson, who looked on from the sidelines, the match was an excellent chance for players up and down the lineup to develop valuable experience.
Brymer was one of the players who moved up, rising from his normal No. 4 singles spot to No. 2. In that role, he defeated his opponent handily, winning 6-0, 6-2.
“Today’s match was great,” Brymer said. “I hadn’t seen much of (my opponent) before, but I got a decent look at him when playing doubles, and was able to identify some good things there. I think that really helped me play well in singles.”
He quickly shifted to talking about how this match would help the team gain confidence for Friday’s matchup, indicating where most of the team’s focus was on this day.
Coach Billy Martin seconded this, framing his thoughts on the match in the perspective of how the victory would help the team get ready for Friday. In particular, he believed that the match helped the team get acclimated to Los Angeles after playing the last week at a high elevation.
“I really wanted the guys to return to their comfort zone before Friday,” Martin said. “The thin air of Utah and Arizona really affected the flight of tennis balls, and I didn’t want the guys to feel any lasting effects of that during this week’s layoff. They responded well, and I think this really helped them get ready for USC.”