Men’s tennis falls short at USTA/ITA Southwest Regional

Despite a few strong runs, UCLA men’s tennis saw its hopes of wining both the singles and doubles draws at the USTA/ITA Southwest Regional Championships come to an end on Monday.

A round away from reaching Tuesday’s finals in the Pepperdine-based tournament, the doubles team of junior Dennis Mkrtchian and senior Clay Thompson had its run cut short by USC junior Roberto Quiroz and senior Ray Sarmiento, the top-seeded team in the tournament. They were joined in their semifinal loss by freshman Mackenzie McDonald, who had his hopes of winning the singles tournament end after losing a set for the first time in his collegiate career.

“I’m bummed, I definitely feel like I have the game to beat the guy, I just didn’t put the pieces together,” McDonald said. “But obviously, I’m happy with my result. I mean, semifinals as a freshman in regionals, probably the toughest region in the country — SoCal — that’s very good, no doubt about it.”

However, Monday did see one Bruin play through without a loss: sophomore Seth Stolar. Although the second-year player did lose in the first round of the tournament, he rallied back from his early defeat to win the consolation draw, making him the third Bruin this year to do so.

“I’m happy that I came back strong after my terrible first match,” Stolar said. “I was really, really upset, but instead of letting that anger sit with me, I used it as motivation to play even harder for my next few matches. I feel like I found my rhythm.”

All things considered, coach Billy Martin said he felt pleased with his team’s performance in the five-day tournament and thinks the Bruins are getting closer to being ready for spring play.

“I can’t say like I’m feeling really unhappy or feeling like we’ve got to get out here and work so much harder; our conditioning looked pretty good,” he said. “I feel that it puts us right on track to be where we want to be.”

But McDonald still has work he’d like to accomplish before he and Thompson head to Flushing Meadows, N.Y., for the ITA Men’s All-American Championships.

“I want to work on my forehand a lot, I want to make sure it’s very solid,” McDonald said. “I mean, I hit big forehands but I want to hit them big ten times in a row if I need to on a point.”