UCLA men’s tennis to take on familiar Pac-12 foe in round of 16

The Bruins have played 24 dual matches so far this season against a variety of opponents. But no face is more familiar than the Cardinal’s.

No. 3-seeded UCLA men’s tennis will take on Stanford for the fourth time this season in the 2016 NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Championship round of 16 at 5 p.m. Friday in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The Bruins (24-2, 7-0 Pac-12) have beaten the Cardinal (16-10, 4-3) in all three of their meetings this season – at home, away and a neutral site.

“Clearly what we’ve been doing against Stanford has been working for us,” said sophomore Martin Redlicki. “I just think that we’re really strong up and down the line. So I think we should be looking pretty good in this match.”

UCLA beat Stanford 4-1 at their last meeting in the Pac-12 championship semifinal in Ojai, California. But that matchup and the two previous meetings showed that the Bruins are not invincible – doubles has remained the team’s kryptonite.

“We obviously have to play a little bit better – execute better,” said coach Billy Martin. “We’ve just got to go out there and be a little bit pissed off that we’ve lost three times to them in doubles. I hope the guys have a little bit more pride in themselves and (are) not so stupid to think that we can always count on winning four singles.”

The usual suspects – Stanford’s No. 23 duo of Maciek Romanowicz and Tom Fawcett – will be hungry for another victory against Redlicki and junior Mackie McDonald on court one. Romanowicz and Fawcett cruised 6-2 past the two Bruins in their last meeting in Ojai. McDonald and Redlicki downed the Stanford pair 6-3 at their first meeting in February, but trailed 4-5 in their second meeting in April before the point was clinched on another court.

“I think it’s going to come down to more how we play than how Stanford plays,” Redlicki said. “So I think if we can come out to a strong start, and we can come out playing well, I think our chances are really good.”

The Cardinal’s singles lineup is nothing to scoff at either. Juniors Gage Brymer and Joe Di Giulio have both lost to Stanford players in singles this season. McDonald, Redlicki and sophomore Logan Staggs have had unfinished third set matches. Coaches had to submit lineups before the start of the tournament, so the matchups will be largely the same as the Pac-12 championships. One slight modification can be found on courts five and six, where Staggs will face Sameer Kumar and Di Giulio will face Romanowicz – a reversal of their last meeting.

“Obviously we match up well with them in singles – that’s the good news,” Martin said. “But we’ll just have to be really ready. It’s do or die – we don’t want to take anything for granted.”

Stanford is also coming off an impressive 4-3 second round upset against No. 14 Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois. After dropping the doubles point, the Cardinal sustained key victories in singles at courts four, five and six and a clutch three-setter at court one to propel them past the Wildcats.

Stanford finished the regular season ranked No. 29 and was unable to break the top-15 threshold for the entirety of this year, making their appearance in the round of 16 that much more impressive. Only No. 30 SMU is ranked lower. Additionally, this is the farthest Stanford has advanced in the tournament since the 2011-2012 season when they fell to then-No. 2 Virginia in the quarterfinal.

“It’s nice having the reassurance that we’ve been able to play them, been able to have success against them multiple times during the year,” Brymer said. “I’m sure that they’re pretty hungry to get a win off us, especially at this stage.”

Then-No. 1 Oklahoma ended No. 16-seeded UCLA’s season in a 4-3 third round shootout at the 2015 NCAA Tournament in Waco, Texas. If the Bruins beat the Cardinal, it will be their 14th appearance in the quarterfinal since the tournament expanded to a 64 team format in 1999.