Men’s tennis players fall short in SoCal Intercollegiate Championships
Junior Maxime Cressy finished in the quarterfinals of the Southern California Intercollegiate Championships this weekend. The tournament was hosted at USC. Cressy was a semifinalist in the event last year. (Daily Bruin file photo)
By Melissa Zhang
Oct. 30, 2017 11:44 p.m.
A trio from UCLA men’s tennis competed across town at the Southern California Intercollegiate Championships this weekend. None were able to make it past the quarterfinals.
Junior Maxime Cressy, freshman Connor Rapp and redshirt freshman Keegan Smith represented UCLA at USC. Senior Austin Rapp was also scheduled to play but sat out after suffering an injury two days before the event.
Cressy finished in the semifinals at last year’s event, defeating USC’s then-48th-ranked Logan Smith and winning every set in his first three matches before falling to Nick Crystal of the Trojans.
The junior came into 2017’s tournament as the No. 5 seed and defeated Jonathan Star from UC Davis 7-6, 7-5 in the round of 32.
Cressy continued the tournament by beating Myles Schalet of Michigan 6-1, 6-4 in the round of 16. The Bruin finished in the quarterfinals the next day after a 6-1, 6-3 loss to USC’s Tanner Smith.
Keegan Smith arrived at Marks Stadium as the No. 4 seed and was the second Bruin to make it past the round of 32, taking down Jens Sweaney of the Trojans 6-1, 6-2. Keegan Smith’s run also came to an end in the quarterfinals as the rookie fell 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 to Logan Smith of the Trojans.
Michigan’s Gabe Tishman denied Connor Rapp 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 from progressing any further from the Round of 32. The redshirt freshman sat out last season and holds a 2-3 record over the 2017 fall tournaments.
On the doubles side, Cressy and Smith joined forces to play as the top-seeded pair in the tournament, but didn’t end up playing because of the first match’s start time coming too close to the end of Keegan Smith’s final singles match.
The duo also competed together at the USTA/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Southwest Regional Championships where they reached the Round of 16.
UCLA has a series of fall tournaments up next, with Bruins competing across three different tournaments in California and Nevada.
