UCLA men’s tennis to face matchup against USC in home game
Evan Zhu was victorious for the Bruins in singles on court one against Portland on Friday. The sophomore paired with Austin Rapp and took home a doubles win as well. (Anna Moreno-Takegami/Daily Bruin)
By Justin Auh
Feb. 27, 2018 12:43 a.m.
The Bruins split last year’s series against their crosstown rivals with each team winning 12 total points apiece.
No. 4 UCLA men’s tennis (12-2) will host No. 9 USC (7-2) on Tuesday in the teams’ first matchup of the season.
While the match will not count toward conference standings, the Bruins aim to begin a new win streak against the Trojans after losing their most recent duel 4-3 in last year’s Pac-12 championship.
“I always tell my team that if I have to get you fired up to play a match against USC, something’s wrong,” said coach Billy Martin. “I don’t even have to worry about getting them jazzed up for it.”
USC is coming off a 2-1 showing in the ITA indoor championships. Like the Bruins, the Trojans’ lone defeat was to No. 1 Wake Forest.
Both teams went undefeated in doubles play at the ITA indoor championships. At court one, USC will be led by sophomores Brandon Holt and Riley Smith, the 25th doubles team in the nation.
In singles, No. 3 senior Martin Redlicki will face No. 8 Holt, his seventh-straight ranked opponent, at court one. Redlicki finished 1-1 against Holt last season.
At court three, No. 102 sophomore Evan Zhu is slated to play junior Logan Smith, who won two of three dual matches against Zhu last season.
“(Smith’s) a good player, but I’m just trying to focus on how I play,” Zhu said. “I want to be aggressive – I want to move him (across the court) and be the one dictating the points.”
However, at number two singles, No. 68 freshman Daniel Cukierman remains the biggest mystery for the Bruins.
“The only player we really haven’t gotten to know too much is (Cukierman),” Martin said. “I recruited him (from Israel) and tried to get him to come here, but it didn’t work out. He’s certainly solid.”
Cukierman is 6-1 in singles dual matches thus far, most recently defeating No. 40 Emil Reinberg of No. 11 Georgia in three sets.
Even with small changes to their lineups, both teams are very familiar with each others’ play styles.
“We know their strengths and weaknesses all throughout singles and doubles, and they know ours,” said senior Austin Rapp. “We’re going to prepare well knowing that, and I’m sure they will (as well).
In a battle of evenly matched teams, Martin said the Bruins can emerge victorious as long as they maintain the same intensity and focus of recent weeks.
“A lot of the (dual) matches will be matchups from before, so there’s no hiding anything from a coach’s standpoint,” Martin said. “It’s just about who will come out and be able to execute better on that particular day.”
