UCLA men’s tennis proceeds to Pac-12 finals after sweeping Oregon
Junior Maxime Cressy clinched the win for UCLA over Oregon in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament. The Bruins will advance to the finals and will face the winner of the USC-Stanford matchup. (Keila Mayberry/Daily Bruin staff)
By Angie Forburger
April 27, 2018 4:11 p.m.
For the second straight year, the Bruins advanced to the Pac-12 finals.
No. 1 seed UCLA men’s tennis (25-2, 8-0 Pac-12) swept No. 4 seed Oregon (17-9, 4-4) in the semifinals of the Pac-12 championships on Friday, marking the team’s second consecutive sweep of the tournament.
The Bruins struck first in doubles as senior Martin Redlicki and sophomore Evan Zhu took home a 6-3 win on court one over Oregon’s Cormac Clissold and Thomas Laurent.
The Ducks’ court two pair of Ty Gentry and Simon Stevens defeated junior Maxime Cressy and freshman Bryce Pereira, leaving the doubles point up to court three.
After trailing 6-5 to Armando Soemarno and Charles Roberts, senior Austin Rapp and freshman Keegan Smith came back to take the match 7-6 and give UCLA a 1-0 lead.
In singles, the Bruins won the first set on five different courts, with the only opening set loss coming from Redlicki on court one.
Smith was the first to earn a singles win over the Ducks, defeating Akihiro Tanaka 6-3, 6-2 on court three.
UCLA’s freshman Connor Hance quickly followed with another straight-set win on court six, taking down Oregon’s Riki Oshima 6-1, 6-4.
The clinching point came from the hands of Cressy, who took home the Bruins’ third straight-set win of the day on court five over Clissold.
UCLA will either face No. 3 seed USC or No. 2 seed Stanford on Saturday. The Bruins fell to the Trojans in last year’s Pac-12 finals.
