{"id":535846,"date":"2026-03-12T16:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T16:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/535846\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T16:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T16:05:11","slug":"ucla-mens-tennis-to-host-usc-in-rivalry-rematch-after-narrow-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/535846\/","title":{"rendered":"UCLA men\u2019s tennis to host USC in rivalry rematch after narrow loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Losing is never easy.<\/p>\n

Losing to your biggest rival hurts even more.<\/p>\n

But that was the reality the last time the Bruins faced the Trojans \u2013 suffering a narrow defeat at David X. Marks Stadium. <\/p>\n

Now riding a three-game winning streak, the Bruins will face their crosstown rivals once again, bringing a chance for redemption. <\/p>\n

UCLA men\u2019s tennis (8-3, 2-0 Big Ten) will host No. 25 USC (10-3, 2-0 Big Ten) on Friday afternoon at the Los Angeles Tennis Center for another rivalry match-up \u2013 the second of the season and first in official conference play. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to play USC again,\u201d said redshirt junior Emon van Loben Sels. \u201cI hope we can take them out this time.\u201d <\/p>\n

Despite singles victories from van Loben Sels, junior Spencer Johnson and sophomore Rudy Quan, the Bruins ultimately fell to the Trojans 4-3 in their Feb. 21 affair. <\/p>\n

And while UCLA carries a newfound win streak, USC holds one of its own, boasting six-straight wins heading into the match. <\/p>\n

\"(Purvi(Purvi Singhania\/Daily Bruin)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m quite happy with where we\u2019re at now, and look forward to playing the Trojans again at our place and hopefully redeeming the tough loss that we had over there,\u201d said coach Billy Martin. \u201cBut they\u2019re a good team. I don\u2019t want to sit and think that we\u2019re going to absolutely beat them just because it\u2019s at home, but we\u2019d love to have another crack at them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bruins didn\u2019t escape their crosstown rivals at the 137th Pacific Coast Men\u2019s Doubles championship, either.<\/p>\n

The top-seeded duo of Johnson and senior Aadarsh Tripathi advanced to the final round against USC\u2019s Branko Djuric and Andrin Casanova on March 1, but failed to clinch the trophy, losing 6-4, 6-4.<\/p>\n

But with the rivalry\u2019s near 100-year history, the Bruins have their fair share of victories.<\/p>\n

The Bruins\u2019 most recent rivalry win came last season, when they defeated the Trojans 4-2 on May 9 in the NCAA Super Regionals. The victory marked UCLA\u2019s first Super Regional appearance in six years and punched its ticket to the NCAA quarterfinals in Waco, Texas \u2013 while also serving as the squad\u2019s only win over USC that season.<\/p>\n

Since their last match-up, UCLA swept its road-trip stretch against San Diego, Indiana and Purdue \u2013 a string of victories that reflect the squad\u2019s ability to perform despite cross-country travel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going from hotel to hotel and flying,\u201d Martin said. \u201cIt makes you have to focus.\u201d<\/p>\n

As they prepare for another clash with the Trojans, the Bruins are leaning on the character they\u2019ve built off the court this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think (a lesson learned is) just having confidence within myself and having trust within myself, as much as my teammates and my coaches have in me,\u201d Tripathi said. \u201cHaving that within myself is something I\u2019ll carry on for next week and for the rest of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Losing is never easy. Losing to your biggest rival hurts even more. But that was the reality the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-535846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}