Men’s tennis looks to step up play at ITA kickoff weekend
Junior Austin Rapp is one of four Bruins undefeated this season in singles. He swept both of his matches against Grand Canyon and UCSB at court six while dropping only seven games combined. (Daily Bruin file photo)
By Hanson Wang
Jan. 26, 2017 9:40 p.m.
UCLA men’s tennis didn’t lose its first doubles point last year until its sixth match, against then-No. 1 Virginia.
It happened in the second dual match of this season against unranked UCSB.
And although coach Billy Martin said the Gauchos are a strong doubles team, especially at the top court, the Bruins said they are far from reaching their potential.
“We’ve been focusing on doubles the last couple days,” said associate head coach Grant Chen. “Hopefully we’ll be able to play a little bit better and get that doubles point this weekend.”
Starting Saturday afternoon, No. 6 UCLA (2-0) will host New Mexico (0-3), Boise State (1-2) and Lamar (2-1) in the annual Intercollegiate Tennis Association Kickoff Weekend. The winner of the four-team bracket also advances to the ITA Division I National Men’s Team Indoor Championship in mid-February.
Junior Austin Rapp has stood out so far with a 2-0 singles record at the No. 6 spot, but in doubles, he’s 1-1 with his partner, senior Joe Di Giulio. The two began playing together extensively over the summer and in fall tournaments, Rapp said, getting a head start on building their on-court relationship.
Standing at 6-foot-4, Rapp also has an advantage when it comes to serving.
“Our best games are definitely when I’m serving and he’s at net closing hard,” Rapp said. “It works really well and (Di Giulio’s) good at the net. He plays really well in the deuce court and I play better on the ad (court).”
The Bruins’ top doubles team – junior Martin Redlicki and freshman Evan Zhu – also went through growing pains against the Gauchos, losing 6-3. Since Zhu was a January admit, the pair have only practiced for three weeks, and Redlicki said the most important goal for the freshman is to gain experience.
“It’s always tough coming in January, just jumping right into dual season,” Redlicki said. “The biggest thing with Evan is gonna be getting a little bit of confidence in the college game under his belt. Once he finds his footing and finds his range, I think him in singles is going to be one of the better players in college for his position.”
For singles, three Bruins are listed in the top 100 – No. 11 senior Gage Brymer, No. 87 sophomore Maxime Cressy and No. 90 Di Giulio, while the Lobos, Broncos and Cardinals all have none.
After losing Mackie McDonald to the pro tour and Karue Sell to graduation, UCLA needed to fill two spots in its starting lineup. Di Giulio and Cressy, so far, have done so with wins at No. 4 and No. 5 singles, respectively.
“We’ve shown a lot of maturity in losing two of our top guys from last year, and guys having to step up and fill bigger roles,” Redlicki said. “Moving forward, in order for us to be successful, guys have to continue doing that. It’s early in the season, I know, but hopefully we can stay on the same trajectory, and I think we can do a really good job this year.”
