![\"(Purvi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/sp.mten_.wrap_.2.2.26.B.PS_.jpg\")
Junior Spencer Johnson prepares to hit the ball. (Purvi Singhania\/Daily Bruin)<\/p>\nThe winner raised his arms in triumph for a brief moment.<\/p>\n
A crowd of nine converged upon him, sweeping him off his feet and tackling him to the ground.<\/p>\n
The pack helped the victor stand before waltzing in a circle around him. They bellowed a rhythmic chant that echoed through the warm Berkeley air.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s only one Emon!\u201d<\/p>\n
No. 14 UCLA men\u2019s tennis (3-2) suffered a 4-2 loss to No. 3 Stanford (6-0) Saturday at the Arrillaga Tennis Center Taube Pavilion in Stanford, California, before defeating No. 23 California (5-4) 4-3 at Hellman Tennis Complex in Berkeley on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The Bruins\u2019 fate against the Golden Bears was decided by a third-set tiebreaker in which No. 20 redshirt junior Emon van Loben Sels defeated Timofey Stepanov 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4). The final set ebbed and flowed \u2013 van Loben Sels held a 5-2 lead before relinquishing four consecutive games to go down 5-6.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a nervous wreck during this match,\u201d said coach Billy Martin. \u201cIt was like a roller coaster ride. If hadn\u2019t seen it, I wouldn\u2019t have believed it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bruins stood on court two, knees tensed in anticipation as they awaited their fate. It was a moment junior Andy Nguyen described as \u201csurreal.\u201d<\/p>\n
But van Loben Sels said he had steeled his mind to be ready for the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been in the same situation before, and I knew I could get through it again,\u201d the redshirt junior said. \u201cConstantly reminding myself that I can do it and that I\u2019ve worked so hard for this helps me gain self belief, no matter what the score is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Van Loben Sels also won both of his doubles matches over the weekend, playing alongside senior Gianluca Ballotta in the northern California back-to-back slate.<\/p>\n
It marked the latest shift in the doubles lineup, with Martin splitting up the nation\u2019s No. 19 pair of van Loben Sels and junior Spencer Johnson, pairing van Loben Sels with Ballotta, and Johnson with senior Aadarsh Tripathi.<\/p>\n
It was an early yet familiar adjustment, as each pair had played at least ten matches together and clinched the doubles point in UCLA\u2019s Big Ten title victory over Ohio State last season.<\/p>\n
Junior Spencer Johnson prepares to hit the ball. (Purvi Singhania\/Daily Bruin)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all met as a team,\u201d Martin said. \u201cEmon and Spencer, maybe two of our absolute best doubles players. \u2026 This way, it splits it a little bit and allows them to play with other players and maybe try to pull them through it. \u2026 Odds are we might continue doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bruins were also sparked by the efforts of Nguyen, who claimed the first straight-set victory of his UCLA career defeating Cal\u2019s Lenn Luemkemann 6-4, 6-3.<\/p>\n
The UC Irvine transfer went 20-4 in singles play last season, but entered Sunday\u2019s match with a 1-2 singles record at UCLA.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always tough losing matches,\u201d Nguyen said. \u201cBut the best players are always able to come back and believe in themselves after. I told myself that it will work out and to focus on progression and believing in the next match and to let it just happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nguyen said that his early-season slump could be attributed to the adjustment period that comes with playing for a new school. But the junior added that Sunday\u2019s win may mark a turning point in his season.<\/p>\n
Martin echoed that sentiment.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been just not himself out on the tennis court,\u201d Martin said. \u201cWe\u2019re planning on him replacing some great players that we lost. I think he\u2019s felt that pressure and it\u2019s been a burden on him, but today, he really turned it around. He was a lot looser, played a lot better, played more of Andy Nguyen tennis that he\u2019s capable of playing.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Sunday\u2019s match, Nguyen reflected on his first road trip with his new squad. Music blared in the background as he spoke, marking the beginning of UCLA\u2019s celebration.<\/p>\n
This time last year, he was anchoring a team over 50 miles south of Westwood.<\/p>\n
Now, he was celebrating the Bruins\u2019 first third-set tiebreaker of 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve been so welcoming,\u201d Nguyen said. \u201cWe push ourselves to be the best but, also, we keep it fun and we keep it pretty mellow. So I\u2019m just really grateful to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The winner raised his arms in triumph for a brief moment. A crowd of nine converged upon him,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-450567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}