Men's tennis to host NCAA Regionals; two Bruins selected at-large for singles championships

This weekend will mark the 19th time that UCLA has hosted the men’s tennis NCAA Regionals, since the NCAA decided to have teams qualify for the championships through regionals rather than just handing out automatic bids to 16 or 18 teams.

The system is set up so that the top teams get to host the tournament as a reward for having a good regular season.

Coach Billy Martin fondly recalled the first NCAA Regionals, which took place back in his first year as coach.

“It came down to the last match on court No. 6, third set tiebreaker, against a kid from Pepperdine who was really good,” Martin said. “I could barely watch… but Eric Lin ““ a great player for us ““ pulled out the tiebreaker and we got to go down and made it all the way to the (semifinals).”

The Bruins will have two, and possibly three, players in the upcoming NCAA Singles Championships later this month.

Redshirt senior Nick Meister and sophomore Adrien Puget were picked as at-large selections for the tournament, while sophomore Clay Thompson is currently a third alternate.

“This is the first time I have been able to compete in the individuals for singles,” Meister said. “It’s really encouraging. I’m proud of myself.”

Both of the players were appreciative of the honor and are eager to do damage in the tournament.

“I didn’t expect it. I’m playing fourth or fifth this year, so I don’t play many guys who are ranked really high,” Puget said.

“I’m going to practice hard this week and next week to try to have a good chance over there to make something good happen.”

Hall of Fame for Pasarell

Former Bruin tennis player Charles Pasarell, a three-time All-American who won an NCAA championship in singles and doubles his senior year, was recently elected to the UCLA Hall of Fame as a part of the 2012 class.

Martin, who has known Pasarell for almost his entire tennis career, was very excited for Pasarell and described him as one of UCLA’s all-time greats.