UCLA men’s tennis coach Billy Martin didn’t get the effort he expected from his team.
In a midweek matchup against No. 14 USC (13-2), No. 13 UCLA men’s tennis (8-4) lost to its crosstown rivals 4-1 Thursday. With this loss, the Bruins have split both meetings against the Trojans this season.
“I’m upset that we lost. A couple guys had very poor games. (Juniors) Martin Redlicki and Austin Rapp played very poorly,” Martin said. “If (freshman) Evan Zhu could’ve pulled out the second set, it would’ve been an interesting match.”
The Bruins were hampered by USC’s strong start, where the Trojans took four out of six first sets.
Redlicki and Rapp both struggled in their singles matches, losing 6-4, 6-3 and 6-2, 6-1 respectively, and the lone Bruin victory came from senior Gage Brymer, who beat fellow Nick Crystal 7-5, 6-2.
Soon after Brymer’s win, however, Zhu lost the match-deciding point to Logan Smith on court three 6-4, 7-5.
“I got off to a slow start in the first set, came back in the second set but wasn’t able to come back,” Zhu said. “In the end I lost by a couple games.”
On the doubles side, the Bruins lost their fifth doubles point in as many matches.
Martin changed his doubles lineup, pairing Brymer and Rapp at court two and freshman Ben Goldberg and sophomore Maxime Cressy at court three. The changes however, did not bear fruit as Brymer and Rapp lost 6-1, while Goldberg and Cressy fell 6-3.
[Related: Men’s tennis reaches semifinals at Pacific Coast Doubles Tournament]
“I thought Max and I came out with really good energy and we were very pumped up and played very well in the beginning but we got bad breaks,” Goldberg said. “I thought there were a couple points that didn’t go our way for us and that was the reason we lost.”
The rival Trojan crowd was a factor in some of the Bruins’ poor performances, with Martin saying that the environment was a good learning experience for his younger players.
“It was a very vocal USC crowd. The fans smell blood and a couple of the guys were intimidated,” Martin said. “It’s a good learning curve for our young freshmen.”
[Related: Men’s tennis struggles to find successful doubles combinations]
Up next, UCLA hosts the No. 9 Baylor Bears (13-2) at the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center tennis courts Saturday.
After the USC loss, the Bruins said they are going to focus more on the doubles side of the game, looking to find success and pick up their first doubles point in six dual matches.
“There’s not going to be any changes,” Goldberg said. “This was (our) first dual match together and we need to keep working hard and we’ll be ready for Baylor.”