There is no repellent for the injury bug.

And the Bruins got bit early this season.

Senior Giacomo Revelli had a slow start to the dual-match season after injuries plagued him in the fall.

The team caught the flu during its trip to Boston for ITA Kickoff Weekend.

And reigning Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year Spencer Johnson went down with injury, keeping him out of the lineup from Feb. 2 until April 11.

But No. 21 UCLA men’s tennis (11-8, 9-2 Big Ten) sprang back to life after its 2-6 start – the worst ever since coach Billy Martin took the helm in 1994 – going 9-2 since.

With injuries consistently troubling the team this year, it could be entertaining to witness what a full roster can accomplish heading into the postseason.

“(We lost) five unbelievably close matches against top-20 ranked opponents: (Texas) A&M, Stanford, Cal, Pepperdine, USC – it was like boom, boom, boom,” Martin said. “These kids have not given up hope and have really fought back, found a way to win.”

While the Bruins didn’t feature in the nation’s top 20 in the latest ITA rankings, they still have two regular-season matches to prove themselves deserving of hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament.

UCLA will head to the Midwest to round out its inaugural regular season in the Big Ten, taking on Wisconsin (9-10, 3-8) on Friday at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin, before an affair with Nebraska (14-7, 7-4) on Sunday at Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.

“It’s tennis, so you got to be able to adjust on the fly and know what we got to do out there,” said No. 23 freshman Rudy Quan, who became the Bruins’ highest-ranked singles player Tuesday and earned his third Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor Wednesday. “The good thing about the team is we’ve already been through a lot of adversity.”

And if No. 28 Johnson is back on the singles court this weekend, the Bruins might be as close to 100% as they’ve been at all year.

“I don’t think we’ve had a match for two and a half months where we haven’t had one or two guys injured, banged up, whatever you want to call it,” Martin said. “Looks like things are looking better for us as far as guys being healthy, and we’ll have a full squad to go for our conference tournament and for NCAA championships.”

Johnson, a 2024 All-American who was ranked the No. 13 singles player in the nation before his injury, played his first doubles match since February on Friday.

Coupled with Quan against Michigan, the tandem was struck with a 6-1 loss. However, on Sunday, Johnson paired up with junior Aadarsh Tripathi to secure a 6-3 win in their doubles set against Michigan State.

“I saw a much-improved Spencer (on Sunday compared to Friday), which I anticipated,” Martin said. “You forget what it’s like to be out there in the competition with everybody watching you, and you want to win for your team and for yourself and everything else. You don’t take two months off and come back sharp right away.”

The Bruins’ match in Madison begins Friday at 3 p.m., while things will kick off in Lincoln on Sunday at 10 a.m.

“We’ve improved a lot,” said senior Alexander Hoogmartens. “We’ve just been winning, that’s all that matters.”