National title hopes for UCLA men’s tennis ended in the NCAA semifinals Monday night against Oklahoma. Third-set tiebreaker losses for senior Clay Thompson and sophomore Karue Sell, on courts 1 and 6, ended a season that saw the Bruins ranked as a top-5 team throughout.
The match opened just as it had closed, with UCLA losing matches by no more than two games. Senior Adrien Puget tied the match at 1-1 with a straight-set win, but junior Marcos Giron fell shortly afterward in two sets to give the Sooners a 2-1 edge. Freshman Mackenzie McDonald closed out a 6-4, 6-4 match to knot the schools up once more.
But the Bruins would never score again. Sell could not close his match while serving at 5-3, and went on to score 5 points in his tiebreaker loss.
Thompson, who raced out to a 6-0 first set, dropped a 2-6 second set before bowing out 7-6(5) in his final match as a Bruin.
Gage Brymer held a 3-2 lead in the the third set, facing advantage Oklahoma, when the match ended.
Compiled by Emilio Ronquillo, Bruin Sports senior staff.