Thursday, March 28

Men’s tennis gets off to a rocky start at ITA Indoors


The No. 3 UCLA men’s tennis team had a rough outing at the ITA National Team Indoors this past weekend, losing two out of three matches, including a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of No. 1 USC.

The Bruins began the Team Indoors Friday with a solid 4-1 victory over No. 10 Kentucky. UCLA won the doubles point and then closed out the match with three singles victories, including straight set wins by senior Matt Brooklyn and junior Nick Meister, who is ranked No. 118 in the nation.

But the Bruins did not enjoy the same luck one day later, as they dropped a 4-2 decision to No. 4 Tennessee. UCLA lost the doubles point, and the Volunteers clinched the match when No. 22 ranked Rhyne Williams took down Meister in three sets, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

However, with the loss, the Bruins were set for a showdown with crosstown rival and No. 1 USC. But Sunday’s match against the Trojans turned out to be far from a showdown, as the Bruins were swept 4-0.

After capturing the doubles point, USC either won or led in five of the six singles matches. Surprisingly, USC’s Steve Johnson, ranked No. 1 in the nation, wasn’t needed for the Trojans to defeat the Bruins, as Johnson did not compete in doubles and did not finish his singles match, in which he was leading junior Holden Seguso, 6-4, 4-3.

At court three, the Trojans’ Jaak Poldma, ranked No. 116, easily defeated Meister, 6-0, 6-3. And in the fourth position, USC’s Peter Lucassen defeated Brooklyn in straight sets as well, 6-3, 6-1.

Next up, the Bruins come home to take on San Diego State Saturday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center at 1 p.m.


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