Mark Twain once said history does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.

The Bruins proved themselves to be rhymesters this weekend – but whether they can disprove the first half of Twain’s assertion will be determined at April’s end.

No. 22 UCLA men’s tennis (13-5, 7-2 Big Ten) fell 4-0 to No. 1 Ohio State (20-3, 7-1) Friday before responding with a 6-1 trouncing of Penn State (14-10, 2-7) Saturday in a two-match conference homestand at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.

The weekend series mirrored a two-match sequence from last season when then-No. 27 UCLA fell 4-0 to then-No. 3 Ohio State on April 4 before rebounding to defeat Penn State 4-0 two days later. The Bruins gained redemption April 27 by upsetting the then-No. 1 Buckeyes 4-3 to secure a Big Ten title.

“We were a little intimidated, quite honestly,” coach Billy Martin said on the Bruins’ Friday performance. “But the bottom line is – after we got our fannies whooped – we realized, ‘Hey, that’s a good team, but they’re not that much better than us.’ And on a given day, if we were really ready – mentally, physically – we can give them a much better battle than we gave them.”

UCLA started off slow in doubles against Ohio State, missing numerous serves and failing to extend rallies. This trend continued on the singles front, where UCLA won just two of its 11 completed sets.

The perspective on the loss varied across the roster.

Redshirt freshman Cassius Chinlund said the Bruins do not need to pivot their approach and should continue maintaining their style of play, while No. 25 redshirt junior Emon van Loben Sels emphasized steady improvement and fine-tuning aspects of play.

Martin said his team’s growth process began against Penn State and compared his team’s weekend efforts to UCLA’s 2025 experience.

“I told them this match today (Sunday) was going to be a character match,” Martin said. “We can hang our head and feel sorry for ourselves, or we can say, ‘The rest of the season starts tomorrow’ – I feel they answered that question for me.”

The 33rd-year head honcho opted to rest the top two players in his singles lineup, No. 61 junior Spencer Johnson and No. 90 sophomore Rudy Quan, on Saturday. He shifted the rest of the lineup up and inserted sophomore Leo von Bismarck into the lineup for the first dual match of his career.

The Bruins opened their match against the Nittany Lions by clinching the doubles point before winning five of their six singles matches in straight sets.

UCLA’s singles run was kicked off by Chinlund, who defeated Nittany Lion David Lindsay 6-2, 6-1 on court four to extend his dual match season record to 12-3. Chinlund, who is 7-1 in his last eight completed matches, spoke on the team’s emotional resilience in the face of adversity.

“We had three guys out, two guys out in singles,” Chinlund said. “Took a lot of guts, took a lot of firepower, took a lot of will, took a lot of passion to win that match today. Even though it seemed pretty easy for a lot of guys, I know that that wasn’t necessarily so easy.”

Van Loben Sels played the first court one dual match of his career, defeating Michael Wright 6-4, 6-3. His win Saturday extended his team-best winning streak to 11 singles matches.

Despite the team’s box score dominance, the 2025 Big Ten Tournament Most Outstanding Player said the squad could have played even stronger against Penn State.

“We still could have brought a lot more energy,” van Loben Sels said. “We were pretty quiet and tame, but that’s something we can all work on as well. We need to be a lot more intense and louder and want it more – even if we’re playing teams who are, on paper, worse than us. Because anything can happen.”