UCLA and Oklahoma have plenty of history, but not in the regular season.
From 2014 to 2016, Oklahoma took UCLA men’s tennis out of the NCAA Championships for three consecutive years. In 2015, the No. 1 Sooners were the favored team against the No. 16 Bruins. The next year, No. 11-seeded Oklahoma triumphed over No. 3-seeded UCLA.
No. 3 UCLA (15-2, 2-0 Pac-12) will get another chance against No. 13 Oklahoma (12-1) on Thursday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
“That’s going to be a big, big test for us, there’s no doubt about it,” said coach Billy Martin. “We’ve got to be extra ready to play tough.”
Back in February, Oklahoma upset then-No. 5 Texas A&M and has not faced a top-20 opponent since. UCLA has not played Oklahoma during the regular season since 2014, when the Bruins trounced the Sooners 4-2.
“They’re not going to be afraid,” said senior Logan Staggs. “We need to play with a sense of urgency and not give them any points.”
Oklahoma boasts multiple ITA/Oracle ranked players such as Ferran Calvo, ranked No. 40 in singles, and Jake van Emburgh at No. 85.
This past Sunday the Bruins dropped the doubles point against Washington for the first time since Feb. 4, with losses from senior Martin Redlicki and sophomore Evan Zhu on court one, and junior Maxime Cressy and freshman Bryce Pereira on court three.
This will be the Bruins’ first home match in two weeks, since beginning conference play in the Pacific Northwest. They will also get a 12-day break after battling the Sooners. Freshman Connor Hance said playing fewer matches will allow time to fine-tune his skills.
“(Just) work on my serve a little bit (and) maybe do some footwork drills,” Hance said.
Martin said that the Bruins came out flat at the start of the Washington match, and he looks for his team to have more energy to sustain its undefeated home record this season.
“I think the guys just need to be a little bit more fired up,” Martin said. “I think we’ll be more comfortable at home on our courts.”