Men’s tennis nears end of fall play with SoCal intercollegiate, ITA championships
Senior Ben Goldberg advanced the furthest for UCLA men’s tennis at the Southern California Intercollegiate Championships held at USC. Goldberg won his opening two matches before falling in the quarterfinals, 6-2, 6-2. (Daily Bruin file photo)
By Andreas Papoutsis
Nov. 11, 2019 6:38 p.m.
The fall preseason is coming to a close.
UCLA men’s tennis sent three players to compete in the Southern California Intercollegiate Championships at the Marks Tennis Stadium at USC from Thursday through Sunday. At the same time, junior Keegan Smith traveled south to participate in the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships in Newport Beach, California.
Neither camp of Bruins was able to advance beyond the quarterfinals of either tournament’s main draw.
Southern California Intercollegiate Championships
Redshirt junior Connor Rapp suffered an early defeat in the round of 32 at the intercollegiate championship. His 6-3, 6-1 defeat to USC’s Bradley Frye sent him to the consolation bracket to face Brigham Young’s Sam Tullis and Concordia’s Yassine Smiej.
Both consolation opponents withdrew before Rapp had a chance to take the court again.
Sophomore Eric Hahn won his opening round matchup, defeating Pepperdine’s Robert Shelton 3-6, 7-6, 6-3. He fell to San Diego’s August Holmgren in the following round, surrendering a 6-3, 7-5 loss.
“There were some really good players in the tournament,” said coach Billy Martin. “They got my attention for sure.”
Senior Ben Goldberg began his campaign with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Biola’s Derek James. Goldberg has recorded an opening-round victory in his last three tournament appearances.
“He’s probably had the most impressive preseason play of any of our guys,” Martin said. “He’s showing that he’s playing as good of tennis as he has ever played.”
His tournament continued with a 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 win over Pepperdine’s Adrian Oetzbach in the round of 16. After dropping the second set, Goldberg came back from a 2-0 deficit in the third to clinch a spot in the quarterfinals – advancing further than any Bruin in the tournament.
“Given what happened last week to me at the (Jack Kramer Fall Invitational), where I had a lot of match points against a top player, I just focused on not getting rattled,” Goldberg said. “It was a huge roller coaster, but I was never really rattled.”
Goldberg’s campaign came to an end in the quarterfinals, falling to Arizona’s Alejandro Reguant 6-2, 6-2.
“I finished late the night before and it was a quick turnaround in the morning,” Goldberg said. “He was clicking on all cylinders but I know his game and I’ll be ready for him in the season.”
Junior Connor Hance, who made his return to tennis last weekend after a 10-month foot recovery, had to withdraw from the tournament due to food poisoning. Martin also withdrew sophomore Patrick Zahraj due to injury. Neither player saw action this weekend.
Oracle ITA National Fall Championships
Assistant coach Rikus De Villiers traveled to Newport Beach to coach Keegan Smith at the ITA championship.
Smith opened the tournament with a 6-4, 6-0 round of 64 victory over Louisville’s Tin Chen. He lost in the subsequent round, conceding a 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 loss to Notre Dame’s Richard Ciamarra.
“He’s a little disappointed in losing to that kid from Notre Dame,” Martin said. “It wasn’t a bad loss, but we’re certainly hoping he would have a little bit better success.”
While the rest of the team has wrapped up fall tournament play, Smith will travel to Urbana, Illinois, on Monday to compete in the JSM Challenger at the Atkins Tennis Center.
