Slowly but surely, the Bruins are climbing.
The No. 4 UCLA men’s tennis team most recently asserted its place at the top of the national rankings with a strong showing at the ITA Division I Men’s Team Indoor Championships last weekend, reaching the semifinal before losing to now- No.1 UNC.
“It means that other people feel that we are capable to compete against all the top schools and that we’re obviously a pretty good team,” said coach Billy Martin. “Negatively, I always worry from a coaching standpoint that guys will start to think, ‘Oh hey, we’re good and maybe don’t need to be working as hard’ and relying on talent, or supposed talent, instead of really working hard and being upset that we were (No.) 15 when we started the season.”
The Bruins (7-2) will take on the UC Irvine Anteaters (5-3) in their next dual match Saturday, giving them match experience for meetings against Stanford and USC in the weeks to come.
The Bruins have dominated the Anteaters in previous meetings, not giving up a single point to the team since Feb. 3, 2011.
“I think that we should beat them 7-0. That’s a reasonable and good goal that we should have,” said junior Mackie McDonald. “I definitely don’t want to take the match lightly. I don’t think that we should take anything lightly – keep pushing through, dominate.”
Although the Bruins are favored, the Anteaters have a serious threat in Sebastian Heim – the No. 67-ranked singles player in the country.
Heim is having a standout season thus far, going 6-0 in dual matches. Heim was awarded Big West Player of the Week last week after beating New Mexico’s Hayden Sabatka, though the Anteaters fell to the Lobos 4-3.
“(He’s a) very good player. Obviously he’s improved since last year when we played them,” Martin said. “We’re going to have to be absolutely on guard and know that that’s going to be a very tough opponent.”
But Heim will face a test in the nation’s No. 34 singles player McDonald at the No. 1 singles spot. McDonald, last week’s Pac-12 Player of the Week, is coming off an undefeated weekend in both singles and doubles at ITA Division I National Men’s Team Indoor Championship. It was announced Thursday the he was named to the All-Tournament Team for his performance.
“So far my season has been short – coming back from the wrist injury – but I’m happy I’ve been able to come back so fast and have some good wins and some good matches quick,” McDonald said. “I definitely think that I’ve had a lot of experience playing matches so when I did come back I’m really ready and prepared against these guys.”
The Bruins have dominated doubles this season, going 7-2 for dual-match points. The No. 12-ranked duo of McDonald and sophomore Martin Redlicki will likely continue at the No. 1 doubles spot after an undefeated weekend. But the certainty of the rest of the doubles lineup is unsure.
Martin has been experimenting with different combinations, and may introduce new players into the doubles lineup to gain important match experience against a lower-caliber team.
Martin placed freshman Maxime Cressy with senior Karue Sell as the No. 3 doubles spot for the Bruins last weekend against Texas A&M and UNC. Cressy and Sell performed well together, helping the Bruins to a crucial doubles point against UNC.
“We got in the swing really fast. It was a really big surprise for me that I found out I was playing with him,” Cressy said. “We played really well together and we clicked already. It was a really exciting time for me.”
Cressy replaced junior Joseph Di Giulio as Sell’s partner.
Sophomore Austin Rapp sprained his ankle against UNC last weekend and will likely be resting this match, opening up new spots for singles and doubles. Rapp played at the No. 6 spot for singles and the No. 2 and 3 spots for doubles last weekend.