The UCLA men’s tennis team, ranked 15th nationally, secured a 4-2 win over No. 24 Pepperdine in Malibu on February 7. The match, held at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center, was decided by Rudy Quan’s performance in both doubles and singles play.
Quan, paired with freshman Bengt Reinhard for the first time in dual doubles action, clinched a key victory on Court 3. The duo defeated Pepperdine’s Maxi Homberg and Gustavo Ribeiro de Almeida in a close tiebreaker, winning 7-6(7). This result gave UCLA an early advantage after the teams split results on the other two doubles courts.
In singles competition, Cassius Chinlund put UCLA ahead by defeating David Fix 6-1, 6-2 on Court 6. Pepperdine responded with wins from Gustavo Ribeiro de Almeida and Aleksa Pisaric on Courts 5 and 4. However, Spencer Johnson turned the momentum back to UCLA with a comeback victory over Edward Winter (1-6, 6-2, 6-4) on Court 1.
The decisive point came from Quan in singles as well. After trailing in his third set against Homberg, Quan won four consecutive games to secure a 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 victory and clinch the match for the Bruins.
With this win, UCLA improved its season record to 4-2 while Pepperdine moved to 5-3. The Bruins will next host UNLV at Los Angeles Tennis Center on February 16 at 1 p.m. PT.
Match details:
Singles winners for UCLA included Johnson (Court 1), Quan (Court 2), and Chinlund (Court 6). In doubles play, Ballotta/van Loben Sels won on Court 2 and Quan/Reinhard secured their match on Court 3.
