A rain delay and venue change didn’t phase the Bruins.
No. 2-seeded UCLA men’s tennis (29-2, 8-0 Pac-12) defeated No. 15-seeded Michigan 4-2 (25-9, 8-2 Big Ten) at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s indoor facility to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.
The poor weather conditions of the tournament have dispersed many of the Sweet 16 matches across the indoor tennis facilities at Wake Forest University and UNC at Chapel Hill.
The Bruins struck first, with No. 29 doubles pair senior Martin Redlicki and sophomore Evan Zhu thwarting the Wolverines’ Myles Schalet and Connor Johnston 6-4 on court one.
Court three’s duo of junior Maxime Cressy and freshman Bryce Pereira followed suit, winning 6-4 to secure the doubles point.
In singles, UCLA took four out of six of the first sets.
Redlicki triumphed over Michigan’s Alex Knight 6-4, 6-2 to get the first singles win of the day on court and put the Bruins up 2-0. Redlicki served out an ace in his first set and closed out his match on a winning serve.
The next point was decided by Cressy, who defeated Michigan’s Carter Lin 6-3, 6-4 on court five.
UCLA dropped both matches on court four and court two. Both senior Logan Staggs and Zhu dropped their first sets by 6-2, and 6-1 respectively. Senior Logan Staggs was the first to fall 2-6, 4-6 to Mattias Siimar. Zhu fell shortly after to Leo Hua on court two.
Up a break, freshman Keegan Smith clinched the match 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 over Schalet with his third ace of the game.
UCLA will play No. 7-seeded USC on Sunday in the quarterfinal. The last time the teams met, the Bruins clinched the Pac-12 title 4-1.