Men’s tennis upset by Oklahoma in NCAA championship quarterfinals
UCLA men’s tennis’ quarterfinal match against No. 11 Oklahoma came down to a duel between junior Joseph Di Giulio and the Sooners’ Andre Biro. Di Giulio lost 6-3, dropping six out of the last seven games in the third set. (Hannah Ye/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By Charles Levin
May 22, 2016 11:10 p.m.
TULSA, Okla. — Red filled the stadium.
“Boomer Sooner, Boomer Sooner! OK, U!” roared the crowd.
Not every great season can have a fairy-tale ending and for the Bruins, the volume of the fans sure didn’t soften the blow of that sudden realization.
No. 11-seed Oklahoma upset No. 3-seed UCLA 4-3 in the NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Championship on Sunday evening for the second year in a row, the third year in a row their season ended at the hands of Oklahoma.
The Bruins ended their season with a 25-3 overall record and Pac-12 regular season and tournament titles.
“I’m so proud of these guys,” said coach Billy Martin. “It’s so tough to win this tournament but we’ve had an incredible season – we’ve accomplished all but this last goal. It’s disappointing but still, these kids have given 110 percent.”
The match came down to the sixth singles matchup between junior Joseph Di Giulio and Oklahoma’s Andre Biro. Di Giulio started the match well, taking the first set 6-4, and even led 4-1 in the second. But Biro managed to steal the second set 7-5, and Di Giulio couldn’t hang on in the third.
Biro broke him, and clinched the match with a 6-3 set victory.
“It’s just a shame that we really probably should have won that number six in two sets,” Martin said. “Those are tough ones to let go. I don’t know if he was starting to feel fatigued then or what, but he just really dropped his level. But looking back on it, that’s probably the one that we let get away, that came back to bite us.”
But Di Giulio’s singles match wasn’t the only one the Bruins could have won to turn the result in their favor. Freshman Max Cressy and sophomore Austin Rapp dominated Oklahoma’s Biro and Austin Siegel in the third doubles matchup 6-1, but UCLA’s first and second doubles teams fell to Oklahoma’s No. 24-ranked Axel Alvarez and Andrew Harris, and Alex Ghilea and Spencer Papa.
“I think that me and Alex (Ghilea) were starting to play some of our best doubles,” Papa said. “We have kind of struggled throughout the season, but we have been practicing for the last couple of weeks, just focusing on doubles, and it paid off today.”
In singles however, junior Mackie McDonald, sophomore Martin Redlicki and senior Karue Sell all fought to close wins on their respective courts to give the Bruins three valuable points.
“In the singles, UCLA fought incredibly hard,” said Oklahoma coach John Roddick. “They just played tremendous. You have to give UCLA a lot of credit for how they competed. It was an incredible effort by both teams.”
The loss marked not just the end of a season, but also the end of an era for Sell and redshirt senior Ryoto Tachi.
“I just wanted to leave with a bang, leave playing well and proving to myself that I could do better than I did last year and I could do better than I did my first two years,” Sell said. “It was a great season for me. We lost but I ended up with a win and I’m very happy with my season. I leave with a good taste in my mouth.”
Email Levin at clevin@dailybruin.com or tweet @Charles_J_Levin.
