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!!

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

Sherwood Collegiate Cup Wrap Up

The finals of doubles and singles at Sherwood both saw bruins and trojans in action

The singles final was Junior Captain Adrien Puget v. Junior Ray Sarmiento (USC)

This was a tightly contested match that ended up favoring SC 4-6,6-3,7-5. Not a bad showing from Adrien considering it was first taste of competition since nationals in Athens, GA last year.

The doubles final featured Sophomores Dennis Novikov and Marcos Giron vs. Eric Johnson and Emilio Gomez (USC)

This match was also very tightly contested as the scoreline states but ended up favoring the Bruins 8-7 (4).

No doubt a great showing from the bruins and a good warmup to the start of the season

Fall Tournament Wrap Up Post

Two bruins just came back after wrapping up play in the prestigious ITA National Indoors tournament.

Dennis Mkrtchian was defeated by Ole Miss Rebel Nik Scholtz in a tough battle 6-3 5-7 6-3

Fellow sophomore Marcos Giron played Cameron Silverman (ELON) and had a tough three set match in which he eventually prevailed 7-5 3-6 7-6 (3)

In Marcos’ next match he saves two match points over Toledo of Minnesota 2-6 7-5 6-3.

Unfortunately, Giron lost a well fought battle to Henrique Cunha of Duke after taking the first set. 6-7 7-5 6-3

Several bruins competed in the SoCal Intercollegiate Tournament here at UCLA as well.

RS Freshmen Karue Sell, who is also celebrating his birthday today fell int he Round of 16 against eventual champion Andre Dome of Cal Poly

Senior Warren Hardie also fell in the round of 16 to Ben Recknagel of UCSB

Dennis Novikov was seeded 2 in the tournament but was upset by Michael Grant of USC in the quarterfinals

In doubles action Novikov teamed with Sell but lost in the Semi’s to Kalaydjian and Pugliese of USD.

MG, ITA Southwest Regional Champ

Big congratulations to sophomore Marcos Giron for winning the ITA Southwest Regional Qualfying this past weekend at UCI. Marcos did not drop a set in route to his championship. Marcos was unable to compete in this tournament last year because of the wrist he injured in All-Americans the tournament before. Great to see him off to a good start this year! The finals features him and his teammate and former roommate and Dennis Mkrtchian. With this win Marcos earns a bid into the prestigious ITA national indoors tournament in Flushing Meadows, NY.

Go bruins!