Feb. 18, 2012

Charlottesville, Va. - After falling to Duke in Friday's opening round of the 2012 ITA National Team Indoors, the eight-ranked UCLA men's tennis team rebounded with a victory on Saturday, posting a 4-0 shutout over No. 20 Tennessee in a consolation match at the Boar's Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Va. With the win, UCLA improves its record to 9-1 on the season. The Bruins will round out play in Virginia with another consolation match on Sunday, facing Pac-12 rival Cal at 3:30 p.m. (PST).

Similar to its first-round match against Duke, the Bruins were able to pull out a very close doubles point against the Volunteers on Saturday. After the teams split wins at the court Nos. 1 and 3, the point came down to the No. 2 position, where UCLA's Alex Brigham and Marcos Giron edged Brandon Fickey and Edward Jones, 9-8(6).

Already with a big win in doubles, Giron gave UCLA a 2-0 lead in singles action when he downed Hunter Reese, 6-3, 6-3 at court No. 3. Fellow freshman Dennis Mkrtchian, playing at court No. 6, gave the team a 3-0 advantage with a 7-6, 6-1 win over Taylor Patrick.

The match was eventually clinched at court No. 5, where Maxime Tabatruong registered a 6-2, 6-4 win over Jones.

"I thought we came out more adjusted today, but we were also not playing as strong of a team," said UCLA head coach Billy Martin. "Tennessee lost five of their top six guys, so nobody expected them to recover from that. It was great to get the doubles point against them, and I thought we played really well in singles. Now we are just looking forward to tomorrow."

UCLA and Tennessee have now met at the Indoors in each of the last three years. The Bruin win on Saturday snapped a two-match Indoor losing streak to the Volunteers.

#8 UCLA 4, #20 Tennessee 0
ITA National Team Indoors (Consolation)
Feb 18, 2012 at Charlottesville, VA (Boar's Head Sports Club)