The Bruins will play against regional opponents for the first time this season.
UCLA men’s tennis will be competing in the ITA Regional Championships at Pepperdine from Wednesday to Monday.
In Division I tennis, the champions of the doubles and finalists of the singles in the ITA regionals qualify for the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships in Surprise, Arizona. Seven Bruins will be competing in regional play this week, including sophomore Keegan Smith.
Coach Billy Martin said Smith has a chance to win the singles main draw against regional opponents while the rest of the team gains experience from early season play.
“(Smith) is going to play and I feel he is capable of winning the tournament so I’m excited for him to play the tournament this year,” Martin said. “We have seven total guys in singles and three teams in doubles so, besides (Smith), it’ll be a day-by-day competition to see how far they go.”
Smith featured earlier this fall season at the Saint Francis Health System ITA Men’s All-American Championship, where he competed in the main draw. Smith defeated Yuta Kikuchi of California in straight sets before falling to the No. 2 player in the nation, Nuno Borges, in the second round.
UCLA men’s tennis will be sending Smith, sophomores Connor Hance and Bryce Pereira and redshirt sophomore Connor Rapp to the regionals. One of the freshmen being sent will be making his debut and the others will be competing for the first time since the UC Santa Barbara Classic at the beginning of October. Freshmen Eric Hahn, Mathew Tsolakyan and Max Wild will be competing across singles and doubles.
Pereira said he was excited to begin play after recovering from injury and will be playing with Smith in doubles.
“We’ve been practicing together this week,” Pereira said. “We actually played a few tours over the summer together, we had a rough one but the team we played was very good. We’ve had previous experiences playing together through juniors before we came to college.”
The Bruins started the season later than many of the other semester-system schools across the nation, and Hance said the team has to hit the ground running in competition.
“I didn’t really play too much over the summer so I’m really just getting back into it,” Hance said. “I feel like I’m ready for ITA regionals. I didn’t have the best first tournament back, but I’m feeling good and acclimated to competing.”
The Bruins will be competing for three straight weeks in the Southwest following ITA regionals, including a trip to Las Vegas for the Larry Easley Memorial Classic. Martin said the tournaments allow him to scout regional opponents and set his lineup.
“Some of these schools we might not see again until conference play in March and April – such as Arizona State and Arizona,” Martin said. “Especially their young freshmen that I might have never seen before. I’ve also got to see how our guys are playing because, come January, I have to make a lineup decision.”
UCLA will finish the ITA regional match play Monday at the latest and will next play at the Southern California Intercollegiate Championships starting Oct. 26.