They say pressure makes diamonds.
A trip to the Bay will test who can take the heat and who cracks under pressure.
No. 14 UCLA men’s tennis (2-1) will face No. 3 Stanford (4-0) at the Arrillaga Tennis Center on Saturday and No. 23 California (4-2) at the Hellman Tennis Complex on Sunday in the Bruins’ first away matches of the season.
UCLA opened the season by sweeping UC Irvine and New Mexico 7-0 and 4-0, respectively, before falling to UC Santa Barbara 4-1. Stanford, meanwhile, enters the weekend undefeated, riding four consecutive victories and boasting the program’s highest ranking since 2018.
The Cardinal are coming off of an ACC tournament championship and a national semifinal appearance at the NCAA championships, where the Bruins’ postseason run ended in the quarterfinals.
Saturday’s contest presents an early opportunity for UCLA to measure itself against one of the nation’s top programs before entering conference play.
In the two teams’ most recent meeting in February 2025, Stanford swept UCLA 4-0, claiming the doubles point early before singles wins sealed the victory. The two schools are historic competitors, with UCLA holding a 77-59 all-time record despite recent losses.
“They (Stanford) are expected to beat us,” said UCLA head coach Billy Martin. “We’re playing at their place, it’s our first road trip (and) I’ll see how some of the younger guys perform in a hostile environment.”
As for Cal, UCLA leads with a more decisive 103-18 overall record and most recently won 4-2 in May 2025. Cal started its season off strong with four back-to-back wins but fell to Oklahoma 4-2 and USC 4-1 shortly after.
With history in mind, UCLA’s roster features multiple established contributors across the lineup.
UCLA’s squad is anchored by the quartet of redshirt junior Emon van Loben Sels, sophomore Rudy Quan, junior Spencer Johnson and senior Aadarsh Tripathi. Quan was named to the 2026 Big Ten Men’s Tennis Players to Watch list after clinching singles and doubles bids to the 2025 NCAA Individual Championships.
Individually, the Bruins are focused on growth and resilience. After the Santa Barbara defeat, Johnson outlined his approach to Saturday’s game, emphasizing the importance of staying healthy after injuries limited his play last year.
“(My goal is) just try to stay healthy, because I got injured last year. So that’ll probably help more than anything,” Johnson said.
Tripathi similarly reflected on last year’s match against the Cardinal, where nerves ran high, but said this year would be different.
“We’ll talk, we’ll regroup and we’ll figure out what ways we can come back stronger,” Tripathi said.
Junior Andy Nguyen has also emerged as an early-season highlight after transferring from Irvine, and he was a First Team All-Big West selection in both singles and doubles during his two years before UCLA.
Despite the stats, the team stands ready for the competition.
“All of these matches are going to get us tough with lessons learned,” Martin said. “Hopefully, we get some really good wins and some confidence builders. If you don’t put yourself out on the line to potentially lose, you won’t have those great wins.”
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