March 14, 2013

LOS ANGELES - Both the UCLA men's and women's tennis teams are in action this week at the Los Angeles Tennis Center, as three home matches will take place over the next four days.

MEN
In its only match of the week, the third-ranked Bruin men's tennis team (13-1) hosts No. 21 Tulsa (8-5) on Thursday at 4:00 p.m. It marks the final non-conference home match for UCLA this year. The Bruins are coming off of a 6-1 victory over Baylor last Sunday in Waco, Texas. After dropping the doubles point, UCLA cruised in singles action, winning all six matches.

UCLA vs. Tulsa LIVE STATS

Sophomore Marcos Giron moved up to a career-high No. 8 nationally in singles this week, as the ITA released new team and individual rankings on Tuesday. Two other Bruins in the top 30 are No. 24 Adrien Puget and No. 28 Dennis Novikov. Dennis Mkrtchian and Clay Thompson are also ranked in singles, checking in at No. 51 and No. 116, respectively. In doubles, Puget and teammate Karue Sell are ranked No. 29 this week. Giron and Novikov are at No. 62. As a team, UCLA moved down one spot from No. 2 to No. 3 this week. Complete rankings can be found here:

ITA Rankings
Team | Singles | Doubles

Giron and Novikov were involved in a 15k futures tournament this week in Calabasas. Giron received a wild card in singles, downing Ohio State's Blaz Rola, 6-3, 7-6(5) in the first round. Giron fell in the second round to Korea's Min Cho, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5. More information about the tournament can be found HERE.

WOMEN
The fifth-ranked UCLA women's tennis team (9-2) opens up Pac-12 Conference play this week, hosting Utah (7-3; 1-1 Pac-12) and Colorado (6-6; 1-1 Pac-12) at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. Action begins on Friday when the Bruins and Utes square off at 1:30 p.m. UCLA will return to action on Saturday, hosting the Buffaloes at Noon. Live stats for both matches can be found HERE.

UCLA is coming off just its second loss of the 2013 season, as No. 12 USC came into the Los Angeles Tennis Center last week and escaped with a 4-2 victory. Fortunately for UCLA, the match did not count in the Pac-12 standings, as the league showdown between the two teams will take place on April 18 at USC.

Following its loss to the Trojans, UCLA fell from No. 3 to No. 5 in the latest ITA rankings released on Tuesday. Individual rankings were also released on Tuesday and the Bruins have six players ranked in singles led by Robin Anderson at No. 5. She is followed by No. 58 Kyle McPhillips, No. 85 Catherine Harrison, No. 86 Pamela Montez, No. 90 Kaitlin Ray and No. 95 Chanelle Van Nguyen. UCLA's ranked doubles teams are:

12. Anderson/Skylar Morton
24. McPhillips/Morton
28. Courtney Dolehide/Montez
64. Anderson/Montez

Complete rankings can be found here: Team | Singles | Doubles

Unlike the UCLA men's tennis team, the Bruin women will not have the week off for finals off from competition. Instead, the team leaves next Thursday for road matches against Washington State (March 22) and Washington (March 23). Following this weekend, the Bruins have just two home matches remaining (Stanford on March 29 and Cal on March 30).