The moment the UCLA men’s tennis team has waited nearly a year for has finally arrived.
After the loss to Virginia in last year’s national championship, the Bruins have a new opportunity to reach the finals of this year’s NCAA tennis tournament. From this point forward, every match for the Bruins will be win or go home. With the stakes of every match raised and the goal of another NCAA championship within sight, assistant coach Grant Chen described the upcoming tournament as “the beginning of the end.”
On Saturday, the UCLA men’s team will host Cal Poly at home in the first round of the NCAA tennis tournament.
UCLA has not faced Cal Poly in the regular season this year, but freshman Joseph Di Giulio is familiar with one of the Mustangs’ best players, Ben Donovan, who trained with Di Giulio during their final two years of high school at Advantage Tennis Academy.
“We know each other pretty well,” Di Giulio said. “So it will be interesting to catch up with him and compete against him in NCAAs.”
UCLA is seeded No. 6 in the tournament with a record of 22-3, while Cal Poly enters with a season record of 11-12. But with the win-or-go-home nature of the tournament, the team is not taking any match lightly.
“Cal Poly will be ready to play, so we have got to handle it one match at the time,” Chen said.
For many of the Bruins, this will be their first experience in the NCAA tournament. Although the team returns a number of upperclassmen from last year’s squad, it also holds three freshmen in the starting lineup.
However, after coming off a win in the Pac-12 tournament, UCLA has already proved that it has the maturity to thrive in tournament-style play.
“Coming off the wins in Ojai and practicing hard this week, I feel that I am playing well,” said freshman Gage Brymer. “I’m pumped heading into the tournament.”