The Bruins stand alone at the top of the Pac-12.
No. 4 UCLA men’s tennis (19-2, 4-0 Pac-12) swept No. 3 Stanford (16-2, 3-1) and California (8-6, 1-2) this weekend to remain the only undefeated team in conference play.
After falling to the Cardinal 4-3 earlier this season in Palo Alto, the Bruins tied up the series with a 4-0 victory on Friday.
“Losing up there gave us a lot of motivation,” said coach Billy Martin. “Revenge is a powerful motivator.”
UCLA conceded the doubles point in the first match, so the team focused on improving its doubles play heading into the rematch.
Junior Maxime Cressy and freshman Bryce Pereira earned a 6-3 victory at court three to get the Bruins started.
At court two, senior Austin Rapp and freshman Keegan Smith defeated their opponents 6-4, securing the doubles point for UCLA.
“Having a point ahead and(needing) just three singles matches instead of four against a team like Stanford makes a big difference,” Cressy said.
The Bruins carried their momentum into singles, winning five of their first six sets.
No. 45 Smith defeated No. 71 Sameer Kumar 6-3, 6-3 on court three to give UCLA its first singles point.
At court two, No. 102 sophomore Evan Zhu beat No. 50 Axel Geller 6-4, 6-4. Both Smith and Zhu avenged previous straight-set losses to their respective opponents.
Cressy completed the sweep for the Bruins, defeating Michael Genender 6-3, 6-2 at court five.
“We’re just a better team than when we played (Stanford) the first time,” said freshman Connor Hance.
Against California on Saturday, UCLA earned its third straight doubles point to jump out to a 1-0 lead.
Zhu and senior Martin Redlicki notched a 6-4 victory at court one. The pair was followed by Rapp and Smith, who also bested their opponents 6-4 at court two.
In singles play, the Bruins won all six of their first sets. Smith and Zhu won in straight sets to earn the team’s first two singles points for the second straight match.
No. 1 Redlicki clinched the second sweep in two days for UCLA, defeating No. 57 Billy Griffith 7-6, 6-4 at court one.
“No matter what happened against Stanford, we were going to be prepared to play two matches this weekend,” Martin said. “We did a good job not letting our guard down (against California).”
With the back-to-back victories, the Bruins extended their winning streak to eight games.
UCLA will travel to Marks Tennis Stadium to face No. 14 USC on Friday.