The No. 12 UCLA men’s tennis team took down the SMU Mustangs 4-0 on Saturday and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 4-0 on Sunday in the ITA Men’s Kick-Off Weekend. The wins qualified the Bruins for the 2016 ITA Division I National Men’s Team Indoor Championship on Feb. 12 at the University of Virginia.
“(SMU and Georgia Tech) were two tough teams this weekend so to be able to go to the Indoors is always great,” said junior Gage Brymer. “I think we have a really good chance of doing well there as well.”
Brymer, who is co-captain alongside junior Mackenzie McDonald, recorded strong wins over the weekend, especially in singles play. On Saturday, Brymer defeated SMU’s Markus Kerner 6-4, 6-2, helping the Bruins take a 3-0 team lead over the Mustangs. On Sunday, Brymer handled Georgia Tech’s Carlos Benito 6-2, 6-3 to give the Bruins a 3-0-team lead over the Yellow Jackets.
Brymer also competed in doubles over the weekend with sophomore Austin Rapp. Despite trailing 3-4 against SMU’s Ronald Slobodchikov and Arkadijs Slobodkins when doubles concluded on Saturday, Brymer and Rapp dominated Georgia Tech’s Christopher Eubanks and Cole Fiegel on Sunday, winning the match 6-3 and giving UCLA its first team point of the day.
“I don’t think my serve was as good this weekend as it has been,” Brymer said. “I’m going to focus on that for this next coming weekend. Really going to try and get a lot of serves in and be hitting them well.”
In doubles play, freshman Maxime Cressy gained more important match experience in his second and third dual-match appearances. Cressy and sophomore Martin Redlicki defeated SMU’s Kerner and Samm Butler 6-2 on Saturday and Georgia Tech’s Andrew Li and Nathan Rakitt 6-4 on Sunday.
“I really enjoyed this experience,” Cressy said. “I feel (Redlicki and I) are a really good doubles team. I think we clicked right away together in practice and we had some great doubles matches against these three teams. I really like Marty as a doubles partner.”
McDonald, an All-American and last year’s Pac-12 Player of the Year, was a noticeable absence from the Bruins’ lineup over the weekend, who was expected to return this weekend and play his first dual-match of the season. According to coach Billy Martin, McDonald is still resting an injury, although the specifics of that injury were not reported.
“I was really worried about the doubles point, especially with Mackie McDonald not in our lineup,” Martin said. “I mean we’re losing probably our best singles and doubles player. So that worried me.”
McDonald has not yet been cleared to play by the team doctors.
Multiple Bruins went undefeated over the weekend, notably junior Joseph Di Giulio, who had significant victories in both singles and doubles play.
In doubles play, Di Giulio and senior Karue Sell defeated SMU’s Hunter Johnson and Yates Johnson 6-3. In singles play, Di Giulio beat Georgia Tech’s Fiegel 6-2, 6-4 on Sunday.
No. 500: Read about Billy Martin and last week’s 500th career dual match victory.
“Joe Di Giulio I think played one of his best college career matches,” Martin said. “Today he stuck with the game plan start to finish. So I’m as happy as anything about Joe not just winning, but winning the correct way that I think’s going to make him the best player, or most formidable player, for UCLA.”
The Bruins, now 3-0, will host the No. 6 ranked Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday and the No. 21 ranked Florida Gators on Sunday.