OJAI, Calif. – No. 1 UCLA was crowned the 2018 Pac-12 Men’s Tennis Tournament champions at Libbey Park in Ojai Calif., on Saturday after an exciting 4-1 victory over No. 3 seed USC. The Bruins earned their fourth Pac-12 title in the last seven years and avenged their runner-up finish to the Trojans in last year’s final. This is the fifth time the Los Angeles rivals have faced each other in the Pac-12 Championship with UCLA edging its rival for the third time.

"This feels pretty special because the last one hurt," said UCLA head coach Billy Martin, citing a narrow 4-3 loss to the Trojans in 2017. "We were talking about wanting to come up here and erase that memory and about the only way we felt we could do it was to win it this year. That was pretty important to us coming up here."

UCLA now receives the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship and will make its 42nd consecutive postseason trip. The Bruins own the most postseason appearances in the Pac-12 and have advanced to the round of 16 every year since 1977. 

UCLA (26-2) rolled through the Championship to extend its streak to 15 straight wins. The Bruins conceded only one point over three dual matches during the tournament, sweeping both the quarterfinals and semis before Saturday’s 4-1 victory.

The Bruins gained an early 1-0 lead as the doubles ignited the crowed with three exciting matches. USC grabbed the first match on court 2 and UCLA’s duo of Bryce Pereira and Maxime Cressy tied it up 1-1 with a 6-3 victory on court 3. The critical doubles point then came down to the wire on the top court as Martin Redlicki and Evan Zhu edged USC’s pair 7-5.

Redlicki continued the momentum for the Bruins with a quick two-set victory on the top court (6-3, 6-4). On court 5, Cressy was next to collect a singles point with a 6-1, 6-4 win to put UCLA up 3-0. Just as the Bruins neared a third tournament shutout, USC’s Daniel Cukierman bested Zhu on court two (6-3, 6-4). Freshman Connor Hance ultimately clinched the Pac-12 Championship for UCLA with identical 6-4 scores on court six.

"This is everything I've looked forward to in a college tennis career - kind of a dream come true to be honest," Hance said. “When I committed to UCLA that's all wanted to do was play USC and get that clinching match. I did it so I'm proud of myself and proud of my team for helping me get there."

The field for the 2018 NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship will announced on the NCAA.com Selection Show on Tuesday, May 1 at 2:30 p.m. PT. Martin believes this year’s team has what it takes to continue the Bruins’ storied history of postseason success.

"I never take anything for granted, I always worry about success making us complacent,” Martin said. “This is a great team; they're hard working and I think they're very hungry and determined. We've got great leadership, so I'm hoping we're going to be just as hungry going into the NCAAs as we have been the rest of the year."

2018 PAC-12 MEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS

SATURDAY RESULTS:

No. 1 UCLA 4, No. 3 USC 1

DOUBLES:
1. Martin Redlicki/Evan Zhu, UCLA def. Brandon Holt/Riley Smith, USC – 7-5
2. Jack Jaede/Laurens Verboven, USC def. Austin Rapp/Keegan Smith, UCLA.  – 6-2
3. Bryce Pereira/Maxime Cressy, UCLA def. Daniel Cukierman/Tanner Smith, USC – 6-3
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1

SINGLES:
1. Martin Redlicki, UCLA def. Brandon Holt, USC – 2-0 (6-3 6-4)
2. Daniel Cukierman, USC def. Evan Zhu, UCLA  – 2-0 (6-3, 6-4)
3. Keegan Smith, UCLA vs. Laurens Verboven, USC – 7-5, 4-3 Abandoned
4. Logan Staggs, UCLA vs. Thibault Forget, USC – 6-3 3-6 Abandoned
5. Maxime Cressy, UCLA def. Riley Smith, USC – 2-0 (6-1 6-4)
6. Connor Hance, UCLA def. Jake DeVine, USC  – 2-0 (6-4 6-4)
Order of Finish: 1, 5, 2, 6

THURSDAY RESULTS:

No. 4 Oregon 4, No. 5 California 2
DOUBLES:
1. Billy Griffith/J.T. Nishimura, CAL def Thomas Laurent/ Cormac Clissold, ORE – 6-3
2. Simon Stevens/ TY Gentry, ORE def. Can Kaya/Jack Molloy, CAL – 6-4
3. Armando Soemarno/ Charles Roberts, ORE def. Dominic Barretto/Ben Draper, CAL – 6-2
Order to finish: 3, 1, 2

SINGLES:
1. Thomas Laurent, ORE def. Billy Griffith, CAL – 2-1 (6-3, 7-6, 6-3)
2. Simon Stevens, ORE def. J.T Nishimura, CAL – 2-1 (6-2, 3-6, 6-1)
3 Akihiro Tanaka, ORE def. Ben Draper, CAL – 2-0 (6-3, 7-6)
4. Paul Barretto, CAL def. TY Gentry, ORE  – 2-1 (6-3, 2-6, 6-4)
5. Jacob Brumm, CAL def. Cormac Clissold, ORE – 2-1 (6-3, 6-3)
6. Bjorn Hoffman, CAL def. Riki Oshima, ORE – 2-1 (1-6, 6-3, 6-4)
Order to finish 5, 3, 6, 2, 4, 1.

No. 1 UCLA 4, No. 9 Arizona 0
DOUBLES:
1. Martin Redlicki/Evan Zhu, UCLA def. Igor Karpovets/ Aaro Pollanen, ARIZ  – 6-1
2. Austin Rapp/ Keegan Smith, UCLA vs Jonas Maier/ Alejandro Reguant – 4-3 Abandoned
3. Bryce Pereira/ Maxime Cressy, UCLA def. Carlos Hassey/ Filip Malbasic  – 6-1
Order to finish 1, 3

SINGLES:
1. Martin Redlicki, UCLA def. Igor Karpovets, ARIZ– 2-0 (6-2, 6-2)
2. Keegan Smith, UCLA def. Aaro Pollanen, ARIZ – 2-0 (6-0, 6-1)
3. Logan Staggs, UCLA def. Alejandro Reguant, ARIZ – 2-0 (6-3, 6-2)
4. Maxime Cressy, UCLA vs. Filip Malbasic, ARIZ (6-3, 3-3) Abandoned
5. Connor Hance, UCLA vs. Jonas Maier, ARIZ (6-2, 2-4) Abandoned
6. Austin Rapp, UCLA vs. Trent Botha, ARIZ (6-3, 3-2) Abandoned
Order to finish 2, 1, 3

No. 2 Stanford 4, No. Washington 2
DOUBLES:
1. Sameer Kumar/ Michael Genender, STAN def. Kawika Lam/ Enzo Sommer, WASH – 6-3
2. Tom Fawcett/ Axel Geller , STAN def. Piers Foley/Jake Douglas, WASH – 6-3
3. David Wilczynski/Eric Fomba, STAN vs. Jack Davis/ Mitch Stewart, WASH –5-2 Abandoned
Order to finish 1, 2

SINGLES:
1. Jake Douglas, WASH def. Tom Fawcett, STAN – 2-0 (6-2, 6-2)
2. Mitch Stewart, WASH def. Axel Geller, STAN – 2-0 (6-4, 6-1)
3. Sameer Kumar, STAN vs. Enzo Sommer, WASH – (6-4, 3-6, 3-3) Abandoned
4. Eric Fomba, STAN def. Jack Davis, WASH – 2-0 (6-1, 7-6)
5. David Wilczynski, STAN def. Piers Foley, WASH – 2-0 (6-0, 7-6)
6. Michael Genender, STAN def. Alexis Alvarez, WASH – 2-0 (7-5, 6-3)
Order to finish: 1, 2, 5, 4, 6

No. 3 USC 4, No. 6 Arizona State 0
DOUBLES:
1.Brandon Holt/ Riley Smith, USC def. Michael Geerts/ Tim Ruehl, ASU  – Abandoned
2. Jack Jaede/ Laurens Verboven, USC def. Makey Rakotomalala/Andrea Bolla, ASU  – 6-2
3. Daniel Cukierman/ Tanner Smith, USC def. Benjamin Hannestad/ William Kirkman, ASU  – 6-1
Order to Finish: 3, 2

SINGLES:
1. Brandon Holt, USC def. Michael Geerts, ASU  – 2-0 (6-4, 6-2)
2. Daniel Cukierman, USC def. Benjamin Hannestad, ASU  – 2-0 (6-3, 6-3)
3. Laurens Verboven, USC vs. Makey Rakotomalala, ASU  – (6-7, 0-1) Abandoned
4. Thibault Forget, USC def. Tim Ruehl, ASU  – (6-3, 3-1) Abandoned
5. Riley Smith, USC def. Andrea Bolla, ASU  – (6-3, 3-4) Abandoned
6. Jake Devine, USC def. William Kirkman, ASU  – 2-0 (6-3, 6-0)
Order of finish: 6, 1, 2

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25:

No. 9 Arizona 4, No. 8 Utah 2

DOUBLES:
1. Russell Benkaim/ Randy Cory, UTAH def. Igor Karpovets/ Aaro Pollanen, ARIZ – 6-4
2. Egbert Weverink/ Joe Woolley, UTAH def. Jonas Maier/ Alejandro Reguant, ARIZ – 6-4
3. Dan Little/ Azat Hankuliyev, UTAH vs. Carlos Hassey/ Filip Malbasic, ARIZ – und.
Order of finish: 2, 1

SINGLES:
1. Igor Karpovets, ARIZ def. Dan Little, UTAH – 6-4, 6-4
2. Aaro Pollanen, ARIZ def. David Micevski, UTAH – 6-2, 6-3
3. Santiago Sierra, UTAH vs. Alejandro Reguant, ARIZ – 6-4, 4-6, 2-2, und.
4. Filip Malbasic, ARIZ def. Egbert Weverink, UTAH – 6-3, 6-2
5. Randy Cory, UTAH def. Jonas Maier, ARIZ – 6-1, 7-5
6. Trent Botha, ARIZ def. Slava Shainyan, UTAH – 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
Order of finish: 4, 5, 2, 1, 6