Men’s tennis earns No. 1 seed, both UCLA teams to host NCAA regionals
Last year, then-freshman Marcos Giron was the only Bruin to score a point against the Trojans in the NCAA semifinals.
By Tyler Drohan
May 2, 2013 12:00 a.m.
Last season, the UCLA women’s tennis team was awarded the No. 1 seed for the NCAA tournament and proceeded to stroll through the tournament all the way to the title game before coming up short against No. 2 Florida. This time, it’s the men’s turn to try to top that.
On Tuesday, it was announced that the UCLA men’s tennis team (24-1) was awarded the top seed for the men’s NCAA tournament for the first time since 1999. The Bruins ascended to the No. 1 ranking in the country last week and solidified their spot by winning the Pac-12 Championships in Ojai, Calif., last weekend, knocking off the four-time NCAA defending champion, the USC Trojans.
Last year, it was then top-seeded USC who knocked off No. 4 seed UCLA in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament with only then-freshman Marcos Giron taking a point for the Bruins in the 4-1 defeat. Giron is UCLA’s top-ranked singles player, checking in at No. 18 in the country, followed by junior Adrien Puget and sophomore Dennis Novikov at No. 24 and No. 25, respectively.
Also on Tuesday, the UCLA women’s tennis team (16-5) was awarded the No. 7 seed in the NCAA tournament, a far cry from last year’s top spot.
Both the men and women earned the right to host their own NCAA regional, which will take place May 10-12 at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
The Bruin women closed their regular season in disappointing fashion, dropping their final match of the year 6-1 on the road against the Women of Troy, who are the No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament. However, freshman Kyle McPhillips had a strong individual showing at this past weekend’s Pac-12 Championships, winning the singles title.
McPhillips is currently UCLA’s second-highest ranked player, coming in at No. 40 in the nation. Sophomore Robin Anderson is the top Bruin singles player, at No. 3 overall.
