UCLA THROUGH TO LAST FOUR IN WOMEN’S AND MEN’S NCAA TOURNAMENTS BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 19th May 2014

UCLA THROUGH TO LAST FOUR IN WOMEN'S AND MEN'S NCAA TOURNAMENTS BY RICKY DIMON

epa04192074 Japanese tennis player Kei Nishikori's shadow is silhouetted on the court as he serves the ball against Croatian Ivan Dodig during their men's singles first round tennis match of the Mutua Madrid Open played at Caja Magica complex in Madrid, Spain, on 05 May 2014. EPA/EMILIO NARANJO |

The NCAA tennis championships often have a distinct California flavor. This year is no different even though the event is being held across the country at the Dan Magill Tennis Center in Athens, Ga.

Half of the final four teams in both the men’s and women’s draws hail from California. UCLA is still alive in both tournaments, joined by Southern California on the men’s side and by the Stanford women. The USC men have won the national title 20 times (including the first one ever held in 1946) and in four of the last five years. Stanford’s women have won the championship 17 times (including the first one ever held in 1982), including in two of the last four years. The UCLA women last triumphed in 2008 and they finished runner-up to Florida in 2012, also in Athens.

In Saturday’s quarterfinals, the Lady Bruins got past Duke 4-2. They had lost to the Blue Devils 4-3 at the indoor championships in February, but a measure of revenge was gained this time around. UCLA took the doubles point and never looked back, ultimately clinching when Catherine Harrison won her No. 5 singles match 5-7, 6-1, 6-3.

“I thought we competed extremely well, and we had to in order to beat a team like Duke because they definitely have a great team,” said head coach Stella Sampras Webster. “Overall I’m just really pleased and proud of my team. We remembered [the indoor] match; it’s hard to forget those type of matches. When we saw the draw we wanted to get to this point because we saw it as an opportunity to get back what we lost.”

The UCLA men are looking to go one step further than last year, when they came within a single point of winning it all before succumbing to Virginia. They made progress toward that goal on Sunday, beating Ohio State 4-2. Gage Brymer sealed the victory with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win at No. 4 singles.

On opposite sides of the bracket, UCLA and USC are one round away from a potential final between Pac-12 rivals. USC had little trouble advancing past Texas in the quarterfinals on Sunday. The Trojans lost the doubles point but won four straight singles matches to advance.

Although USC’s path to the semis was a routine one, it was also unique in that it featured a brother vs. brother battle along the way. USC’s Michael Grant and Columbia’s Booie Grant–from Santa Barbara, Calif. by way of London, England–did not actually face each other, but their respective teams squared off in the round of 16. Booie, a freshman, watched his brother (a 6-1, 6-0 winner at No. 6 singles) and the Trojans take down the Lions 4-0.

Michael, a senior ranked just outside the top 100 in the NCAA men’s singles rankings, is the boyfriend of WTA player Olga Govortsova. The Belarusian is ranked 99th in the world, peaked as high as No. 35 in 2008, and owns eight career doubles titles.

Topics: NCAA tennis, Ricky Dimon, Sports, Tennis News, Ucla

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10sBalls_com says:

May 19, 2014 at 8:46 am

UCLA THROUGH TO LAST FOUR IN WOMEN’S AND MEN’S NCAA TOURNAMENTS BY RICKY DIMON (@RD_Tennistalk) – http://t.co/TFf8R3Uyc2 #tennis #UCLA
RD_Tennistalk says:

May 19, 2014 at 8:51 am

RT @10sBalls_com: UCLA THROUGH TO LAST FOUR IN WOMEN’S AND MEN’S NCAA TOURNAMENTS BY RICKY DIMON (@RD_Tennistalk) – http://t.co/TFf8R3Uyc2…
WpgDavisCup says:

May 19, 2014 at 4:10 pm

UCLA through to last four in Women’s and Men’s NCAA tournaments | 10sBalls http://t.co/g3wMwPZgBT #collegetennis