Pac-12 News

There were two notable retirement’s after this season in terms of Pac-12 head coaches: Utah’s F.D. Robbins and Stanford’s John Whitlinger.

Replacing Coach Robbins is current Utah Assistant Roland Brateanu a former Ute himself who took home multiple titles during his playing days while Utah was still in the MWC.

The hiring for Stanford was definitely a big role that needed to be filled. The team as of late has not been the tennis powerhouse that they were known to be. Replacing coach Whitlinger will be former Cardinal Paul Goldstein. Goldstein took home 4 consecutive national titles for the Cardinal back in his playing days and enjoyed a solid professional career. I’m excited to see what Paul has to offer Stanford on a coaching standpoint because everyone knows he already has what it takes to win it from a player’s standpoint.
Paul’s press-release can be viewed here.

I also would like to welcome the new addition for next year’s squad Martin Redlicki. Redlicki is a blue chip recruit who has been ranked as high as 3 on Tennisrecruiting.net. He is currently playing in Oklahoma City on the Futures circuit where he recently defeated Illinois’ #1 Jared Hiltzik. He has also teamed up with now teammate Mackie McDonald in doubles.

Wrap-up (Better late than never?)

Wow,

I know you are all probably saying, “Now you decide to post this?”

Well, as we all know NCAA did not go the way Bruin nation was hoping for this year. After defeating Ohio State we were defeated by a pumped-up and deep Oklahoma Sooner team. Head Coach John Roddick assembled a great team of individuals that were ready to battle. Despite being defeated by the Bruins in the National Indoors tournament they came to play in the NCAA tournament. It was definitely a battle to say the least and I still go to sleep thinking about that amazing (although not going our way) Georgia evening at the Dan Magil Tennis Center. Unfortunately if you did not get to see or hear, the match ended with Oklahoma taking two third set tie-breakers on Courts 1 and 6 to defeat the Bruins 4-2, the only match going unfinished was Gage’s where I believe he was on serve 2-3 in the third.

At the end of the team tournament the last team standing was (as much as it hurts) the Trojans. Always a strong team every year put up by Coach Peter Smith. Seeding wise (#1) they were the NCAA committee’s pick to win it all.

As Coach Billy always says, “Well, life goes on…” Although the boys were unable to seal the deal this year it was definitely another great season for the Bruins.

Our Big 3 Freshman (Mackie, Gage, and Joe) really stepped up this year and show a lot of promise for the upcoming years.

Senior Clay Thompson clinching the number one position throughout most of the season while playing in almost always dominating fashion was a surprise to me and probably everyone else in Division 1 tennis. It was a pleasure to see him peak in his college tennis career in his final season. I will miss the big guy next year and wish him the best as he transitions to his pro career.

Senior Adrien Puget, wow. Despite undergoing major knee surgery last summer this guy showed everyone (especially Coach) that he was ready to play. I mean c’mon, even I admit that I had some skepticism with him even being able to be match ready (for any match) this season. Coach definitely tested Adrien with his first “come-back” match, which was by no means a warmup match against USC. Adrien showed amazing poise and character this season going undefeated in Singles play and losing only one doubles match all season. Adrien will be back in the fall to finish up classes so I don’t think we have gotten rid of him just yet.

Junior Marcos Giron played unbelievable tennis throughout the season and it showed in the NCAA individuals where he took home the national title and the year end number one ranking. Him and Clay were definitely neck and neck in a heavyweight bought throughout the entire season.

Congratulations to our Women’s team for taking home UCLA’s 111th title! It was good to leave Athen’s on a good note for Bruins Nation after Kyle was able to clinch a crazy match against the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Gameday Vs. Ohio State

Light rain has continued to fall over Athens all morning. The bruins are awaiting confirmation by the NCAA committee to play either outdoors at Dan Magil or indoors at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. The confirmation should come around 1 PM. Coach Billy is preparing the team to play at Georgia Tech.

Boys grabbed a light warmup today at the hotel and are grabbing lunch right now.

From the view outside the hotel window it does not look like the light drizzle is planning on stopping anytime soon. I think the odds are we head to Georgia Tech. Unsure of live stream video and live scores at Georgia Tech but I will try to keep you guys posted.
The USC vs. UNC match will be commencing soon as well as the Baylor vs Virginia match. The Baylor vs. Virginia match has been moved to the Georgia Tech Indoor courts in Atlanta. I know there are indoor cameras at those courts but I do not believe the NCAA is utilizing them for these matches.

Update: Bruins are headed to Atlanta to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes on the campus of Georgia Tech. First serve is scheduled at 6:45 PM Eastern Time

Elite 8 Preview

Bruins sweep the Tennessee Volunteers  4-0 after a great showing from the guys in singles. Bruins took all 6 first sets. Clay took the sealed the final first set breaker in dominating fashion. Gage was first to finish and looked great coming off the court. Senior Captain Adrien Puget was able to take down Fickey and is looking in great form coming into NCAA’s. The battle to clinch was between Karue and Marcos. Seconds after Puget clinched Marcos was able to seal the bruins a spot in the Elite 8.

Bruins will play Ohio State in the Elite 8 after they had a thrilling finish to their Round of 16 match. Similar to the Buckeyes match against UVA in the indoor finals the fate went down to Metka’s hands. Metka was down 4-1 in the deciding set and all looked dismal for the bucks before Alford (FL) allowed him to claw his way back into the match. Alford was able to scrounge up two match points in the tiebreaker but Metka was able to persevere and setup an Elite 8 matchup with the Bruins.

All the men’s teams have the day off today.

The bruins have not met the buckeye’s this year but they have met every year for the last three years with the Bruins taking the previous 2 meetings. It will definitely be a thrilling matchup tomorrow.

Another exciting matchup will be Baylor vs. Virginia and surprise team UNC vs Oklahoma. Both match-ups could be a big tossup.

 

 

Gametime vs. Tennessee

Bruins have taken the practice court here at McWhorter! It looks like great weather,  hopefully not as cold tonight as it was for the Women’s matches last night. 

Underway here in Athens for the Round of 16!!
Bruins take a big doubles point against Tennessee. Great playing from Clay and Joe. Adrien and Karue coming in clutch saving Marcos and Mackie from some match points.

Singles underway now!

Bruins snag all six first sets! Clay playing a close and entertaining one against Reese.

Stay tuned for updates!
Go Bruins!

Round of 16 Mid-day Update

Halfway through today and some quick sub 3 hour matches have completed. 

SC takes down Columbia 4-0. 

Texas took down the Cal Bears 4-1 in a match that I thought would be a lot closer. Congratulations to Cal on a solid season and making it to the final site here in Athens representing the Pac-12.  

The late morning matches featured the reigning champion UVA taking down Notre Dame 4-1. The match featured a CLOSE doubles point that UVA snuck out with on Courts 2 and 3, both with a 8-6 scoreline. Styslinger was the lone cavalier to go down today in straights sets 6-2 7-5. 

On the McWhorter courts Baylor took out the Fighting Illini 4-0. 

On right now are the host team UGA taking on UNC. A HUGE crowd showing up in Athens as always. 

On the McWhorter courts 2nd seeded Oklahoma is taking on Kentucky. 

Bruins are scheduled to play on the McWhorter courts at 7PM (EST) against the Tennessee Volunteers. While the higher 3rd seeded Ohio State Buckeyes take on 14th seeded Florida on the main courts. 

Bruins grabbed a hit on the IM courts earlier today and are resting in the hotel rooms getting ready for today’s FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS!

Stay tuned as I will be live blogging throughout today’s match!

GO BRUINS!

 

As the season draws closer and closer to the historic Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Georgia I decided to dust off the keyboard and update you all on this year’s Championships.

 

This year’s draw can be found here:

 

http://i.turner.ncaa.com/dr/ncaa/ncaa7/release/sites/default/files/external/gametool/brackets/tennis-men_d1_2013.pdf

 

The following are the 16 Seeds and Host sites for this years Championships as per the NCAA committee:

1. USC
2. Oklahoma
3. Ohio State
4. Virginia
5. Baylor
6. UCLA
7. North Carolina
8. Texas A&M
9. Texas
10. Georgia
11. Duke
12. Illinois
13. Notre Dame
14. Florida
15. Kentucky
16. Columbia

The Following were the Automatic Conference Bids:

• South Florida (American Athletic)
• George Washington (Atlantic 10)
• Virginia (ACC)
• East Tennessee State (Atlantic Sun)
• St John’s (Big East)
• Montana (Big Sky)
• Winthrop (Big South)
• Ohio State (B10)
• Baylor (Big 12)
• Cal Poly (Big West)
• UNC-Wilmington (Colonial)
• Tulsa (Conference USA)
• Green Bay (Horizon)
•  Columbia (Ivy)
• Marist (MAAC)
• Ball State (Mid-American)
• South Carolina State (Mid-Easter)
• Drake (Missouri Valley)
• Boise State (Mountain West)
• Bryant (Northeast)
• Jacksonville State (Ohio Valley)
• UCLA (PAC-12) 
• Army (Patriot)
• Texas A&M (SEC) 
• Elon (Southern)
• Texas A&M-CC (Southland)
• Alcorn State (SWAC)
• Denver (Summit)
• Louisiana-Lafayette (Sun Belt)
• San Diego (WCC)
• Idaho (WAC)

Maybe the most surprising win here is the San Diego over Pepperdine. Pepperdine has haunted San Diego for some time but San Diego was finally able to take home the WCC Conference title this year from Steinberg.

The at large bids as determined by the NCAA:

• USC
• Oklahoma State
• Michigan
• Vanderbilt
• Virginia Tech
• Texas
• Mississippi
• Illinois
• Notre Dame
• Northwestern
• Ole Miss
• Penn State
• Wake Forest
• Louisville
• Florida
• Florida St.
• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• North Carolina State
• Oregon
• Georgia
• Stanford
• Kentucky
• Clemson
• Purdue
• Harvard
• Auburn
• Oklahoma

Great to see other Pac-12 schools (Oregon and Stanford) getting at large bids into this year’s tournament.

Also nice to see Penn State, a school flying under the radar but receiving an at large bid due to ranking.

Number of Schools By Conference:

• American Athletic – 3
• Atlantic 10 – 1
• Atlantic Coast – 9
• Atlantic Sun – 1
• Big East -1
• Big Sky -1
• Big South – 1
• Big 10 – 6
• Big 12 – 5
• Big West – 1
• Colonial 1
• Conference USA – 1
• Horizon – 1
• Ivy – 2
• MAAC – 1
• Mid American – 1
• Mid-Eastern – 1
• Missouri Valley – 1
• Mountain West – 1
• Northeast – 1
• Ohio Valley – 1
• Pac-12 – 5
• Patriot – 1
• SEC – 10
• Southern – 1
• Southland – 1
• SWAC – 1
• Summit -1
• Sun Belt – 1
• WCC – 1
• WAC – 1

It did not occur to me how strong the SEC conference was with 10 schools represented in this year’s championships. The ACC is not too far behind with 9 teams.

 

Now that you have all that information digested, lets talk regionals: 

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USC: Idaho, Oklahoma State, Michigan

I don’t see USC having much trouble in their regional. Hanfmann and Sarmiento have been playing great tennis. Also, don’t count out Quiroz who has been a rock for them at three all season.  I think the biggest challenge in their regional would be against Oklahoma State, the second highest ranked team in their regional. Look for this year’s number one overall seed to get by their regional.

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Vanderbilt: Virginia Tech, East Tennessee State, Columbia

If all goes well for the top two highest ranked teams in this regional, it should be a fun one against Columbia and Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt received the at large bid and Columbia is coming into the tournament by way of the Ivy League conference. Columbia has had a solid season with only one loss at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs back in January.

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Texas: Marist, Mississippi State, Lousiana-Lafayette

I’m predicting to see Texas take on Mississippi State here. Mississippi State (being not as big of a powerhouse as they were last year when they had top ranked freshman Romain Bogaerts) should still put up a good fight against the Longhorns.

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Texas A&M: Alcorn, Texas Tech, Cal

By far one of the trickiest regionals of the tournament. Cal is a solid team with notable wins over TCU and Tulsa. I got to see Texas Tech earlier this year and they are a team full of great competitors. This first round match would be the one I would like to go out and watch. Texas A&M is certainly the favorite here but I see Cal and Texas Tech in the mix for this regional.

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Baylor: Texas A&M-CC, Stanford, Tulsa

The first round match of Stanford and Tulsa could be an interesting one. With Stanford’s early loss in this year’s Pac-12 tournament to Oregon I’m sure those guys are hungry to end their season on a better note. I do not see Baylor getting challenged too much in this regional, they are a top 5 team that is deserving of their seeding, especially with their win over the Bruins earlier this year.

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Illinois: Ball State, Drake, Memphis

Memphis was a strong team that made it to the Sweet 16 last year. I’m surprised that they have not had as great a year though (especially with all the upperclass men they have). Coach Davidson and his bulldogs had their regional at UCLA last year and he is no doubt building a great program over there. Last time Memphis and Drake met this year the Bulldogs ousted them 4-3. I like the Bulldogs in that first round match. The fighting Illini are coming off a 2-4 loss to Ohio State. Not all was lost though, their 1 and 2 players (Hiltzik and Gosea) both took down Kobelt and Pollanen respectively to earn the only 2 points for the Illini . Both were really great wins for them.  I like Illinois in this regional.

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Notre Dame: Green Bay, Northwestern, Ole Miss

I have not seen Ole Miss or Northwestern play this year but I do know that this is a streaky Ole Miss team that could win or lose depending on the day. But this year’s team does have a 4-3 victory over 8th seed Texas A&M so they could cause some trouble with Notre Dame in their regional.

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UVA: Army, UNC-Wilmington, Army, Penn State

The defending champions are clearly still in great form this year with a 23-2 record. Their only losses coming to them by way of  Ohio State and UCLA in 4-3 clinchers. Honestly do not see UVA having much trouble getting out of this regional. The singles results of their top 3 this year are almost spotless: Domijan is on a 14 match win streak, Frank is on an 8 match win streak, and Freshman Thai-Son Kwiatkoswki is on a 15 match win streak. Definitely don’t bet against UVA in this regional.

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Ohio State: Bryant, Wake Forest, Louisville

The Indoors National Champions were given an ‘okay’ regional. Wake Forest would be the team to watch out for here. Headlined by sophomore Romain Bogearts. The Deacons defeated their first round matchup Louisville earlier this year 5-2. They also have notable close losses to top 15 teams: Texas, Notre Dame, and Duke. Wake Forest could definitely make this an interesting regional.

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Florida: St. John’s, Florida State, South Florida

Florida did not make it out of their regional last year when they were defeated by Denver. I don’t see Coach Shelton wanting to repeat that this year. The Gators have a 4-2 over rival Florida State earlier this year. I like Florida here as long as they don’t repeat what happened last year.

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Duke: Winthrop, Tennessee, Elon

I see Duke and Tennessee making their way to their first round match-ups. The second round could be interesting. Duke and Tennesse met earlier in February and Tennessee took them out 4-2. It definitely doesn’t help that Duke’s Michael Redlicki isn’t playing either. Tennessee has had some bad losses as of late with 0-4 losses to UGA, Florida, and Texas A&M. They are also coming off of a first round loss to Ole Miss in the SEC conference tournament.

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UCLA: Cal Poly, San Diego, Boise State

I definitely don’t want to say much here. But, all four teams here got into the tournament by way of their automatic conference bids, so they are all coming off of wins. I want to make a note that Pepperdine is no where to be found in this year’s tournament after Brett Massi and his Torreros took them out in the West Coast Conference Tournament.

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North Carolina: South Carolina State, South Carolina, George Washington

I can’t say I have seen much of any of these teams play this season. George Washington is coming in by way off the auto bid from the Atlantic 10 conference and have their biggest win this season against #50 VCU. They also have a 4-0 loss to Wake Forest. South Carolina is definitely overshadowed by all the other schools in the SEC. This is a great team with good victories over Harvard (4-0), USD (4-3), Ole Miss (4-2), and Vandy (4-1). I see South Carolina and North Carolina fighting here to make their way to Athens.

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Georgia: Oregon, North Carolina State, Jacksonville State

I have to say its great to see another PAC-12 team in the mix here. Oregon is coming off a good win over Stanford in the PAC-12 tournament where they eventually lost to the Bruins in the semifinals. UNC State is definitely a great team with wins over Notre Dame and Wake Forest. A win over UGA though could be tough against the Athens’ crowd.

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Kentucky: Denver, Clemson, Purdue

I guess I would not count out Denver in this regional because of what they did to Florida last year. Kentucky has had a great season with wins over Ohio State, Texas A&M, and Ole Miss. I would not be surprised to see them in Georgia.

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Oklahoma: Harvard, Montana, Auburn

The overall #2 seeded Oklahoma has been a great team all season behind their 1 and 2 players Alcorta and Alvarez. Coach Roddick has built a solid program this season and are definitely one of the favorites to go deep into the tournament this year.

 

Hopefully I was able to give you some insight on this year’s tournament. It’s definitely going to be a fun one (like always).

 

Until Regionals!

 

GO BRUINS!

 

-Raymond

Sherwood Cup (Almost) Roundup

It has been a really great showing for the Bruins in the 13th annual Sherwood Collegiate Cup hosted by the beautiful Sherwood Country Club in Westlake, CA.

Some notable people missing from the draw: Raymond Sarmiento (plantar fasciitis), Yannick Hanfmann (knees), and our  senior co-captain Adrien Puget (knee rehab)

A really great showing from two of our freshmen, Mackie McDonald and Gage Brymer.

Some notable wins:

Gage Brymer (UCLA) def. Max de Vroome (USC) 3-6, 7-6, 6-2

Also Mackie’s win over the tournament’s second seed Julien Lenz.

Mackenzie McDonald (UCLA) def. Julien Lenz (Baylor) 6-4, 6-4

Another Freshman, Joe DiGiulio fell JUST SHORT in a tightly contested three set match with Quiroz. It was a great match that Joe can take a lot from.

Roberto Quiroz (USC) def. Joseph Di Giulio (UCLA) 4-6, 7-6, 7-5

An interesting match that many people were anticipating was Clay’s match against Connor Farren. It was a tough match for both players as they struggled in each other’s service games. Clay was able to pull out strong in the third.

Clay Thompson (UCLA) def. Connor Farren (USC) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3

The semifinals was an all bruin occasion that ended earlier today with Marcos and Clay both coming through in straight sets over the two freshmen.

Clay Thompson (UCLA) def. Gage Brymer (UCLA) 6-4, 6-3

Marcos Giron (UCLA) def. Mackenzie McDonald (UCLA) 6-4, 6-4

Should be a battle tomorrow morning against the number one ranked player in the nation against the eleventh.

Marcos received a main draw wildcard into the Maui Challenger that begins Tuesday and will be playing a Lucky Loser/Qualifier. Some former bruins also in that challenger are Nick Meister and Daniel Kosakowski.

And finally, the season begins this Wednesday against UC Irvine at 2 PM!!

Goodbye to Max!

Max finished off his UCLA academic career this fall and will be heading back to France to pursue his professional career. Could not have asked for a better guy to have on the team and I am definitely going to miss always being mistaken for him.
But seriously Maxi its been a blast having you around and I wish you the best of luck in your pro career!

Once a BRUIN always a BRUIN!!

Photo courtesy of UCLA Athletics

End of Fall Quarter

What a great fall quarter for the Bruins! It was headlined by Senior Clay Thompson taking the USTA/ITA National Indoors title
at Flushing Meadows, New York by way of winning the consolation title at All-Americans in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Clay lost just one match all fall.

Also a big Fall for Junior Marcos Giron who helped Team USA win the Master’U Championships in France along with Mitchell Frank (UVA), Peter Kobelt (OSU), Robin Anderson (UCLA), Sabrina Santamara (USC), and Lauren Herring (UGA). They defeated Russia in the finals 7-0. Team USA dropped only 2 matches all tournament in route to their victory. Giron also took the consolation title in singles at the USTA/ITA National Indoors tournament along with a finalist trophy in dobules consolation with Freshman Mackie McDonald.

On campus earlier this fall the bruins took both titles at the Southern California Intercollegiate Tournament hosted by USTA and UCLA. Freshman Mackie Mcdonald and RS Sophomore Karue Sell defeated fellow bruins, Freshman Joe DiGiulio and Junior Ryoto Tachi in the finals 8-4. Clay took the singles final by defeating Mackie in the finals.

Sophomore Seth Stolar destroyed consolation draws this Fall! He took both the Regional Indoors Qualifying Consolation trophy and the Souther California Intercollegiate trophy this quarter.

Karue also took the consolation title at the Battle of the Bay Classic in San Francisco

Some Notable Bruins in the Pros:
Nick Meister won a 10K Futures in Merida, Mexico
Daniel Kosakowski took the La Habra Open earlier this month, his first tournament after battling a shoulder injury.

Recruiting:

Wanted to welcome our first NLI for next year, Austin Rapp. Austin is a five-star recruit out of Palm Desert High School in California.

Other News:

I wanted to give a shout out to the UCLA Women’s Soccer team who managed to win UCLA’s record setting 110th national championship, it is also the first championship in the program’s history! GO BRUINS!!

Currently most of the guys and some of the gals are training on campus with the USTA. Down in Westwood this week are Clay, Marcos, Mackie, and Gage for the Bruins. Joining them are Jared Hiltzik (ILL), Winston Lin(COL), Austin Smith (UGA), and Nathan Pasha (UGA). The women are Robin, Kyle, and Chanelle along with Lauren Herring (UGA), and Sabrina Santamaria (USC)

Also excited to see LA PUGE next quarter! Adrien has been rehabbing his knee that he had surgery on at the beginning of the quarter. Needless to say the pictures have been very promising!! Looking forward to seeing the big guy back here in Westwood!

Promise the updates will get better winter quarter!

GO BRUINS!

All photos courtesy of UCLA Athletics/UCLA Men’s Tennis