STANFORD, Calif. – A five-match win streak for the Cardinal and a six-match win streak for David Wilczynski came to an end Sunday afternoon as No. 19 Stanford fell 4-2 to No. 10 UCLA in the final regular season home match.
The Cardinal (13-5, 3-1 Pac-12) suffered its first loss of the season to a top-10 team after going a perfect 3-0 against No. 6 Cal, No. 8 Texas and No. 5 USC.
Doubles went Stanford's way as the Cardinal wrapped up 6-4 wins in the Nos. 2 and 3 spots to take a 1-0 lead headed to singles.
"We played the best doubles that we have all year," stated the Taube Family Director of Men's Tennis Paul Goldstein, "unfortunately we've played solid doubles the last six times we've faced UCLA and haven't been able to emerge with a win."
Tom Fawcett dominated No. 15 Gage Brymer at the No. 1 spot with a 6-2, 6-1 win, but the Bruins (14-4, 4-0 Pac-12) surged back in singles taking three straight wins at Nos. 5, 2 and 4 to take a 3-2 lead.
It came down to David Wilczynski in the No. 3 position with the Cardinal riding a six-match win streak. UCLA's Evan Zhu jumped out to a 6-4 lead in the first set, but Wilczynski rallied back in the second to push it to the tiebreak. Ultimately, Zhu was able to finish the win, clinching the match in the tiebreak to close the 4-2 win.
"Tom was fantastic today against an amazing opponent," continued Goldstein, "I was also proud of how William Genesen fought back at six. David Wilczynski has been a rock for us and rallied back from being down against a tough Evan Zhu. We're a young team, and that showed today, though we're looking to finish at least top-16 in the regular season and have the chance to refocus and elevate our game this week against some tough opponents in the Northwest."
Stanford travels this week to the Pacific Northwest to face No. 35 Washington and No. 25 Oregon with matches on Friday and Sunday afternoon.
No. 10 UCLA 4, No. 19 Stanford 2
DOUBLES
1) Fawcett/Yale Goldberg (STAN) tied No. 7 Redlicki/Zhu (UCLA) 4-4, susp.
2) No. 69 Genender/Kumar (STAN) d. Brymer/A. Rapp (UCLA) 6-4
3) Sutter/Wilczynski (STAN) d. Cressy/Goldberg (UCLA) 6-4
Order of Finish: 2, 3
SINGLES
1) No. 17 Tom Fawcett (STAN) d. No. 15 Gage Brymer (UCLA) 6-2, 6-1
2) No. 42 Martin Redlicki (UCLA) d. Sameer Kumar (STAN) 7-6 (5), 6-4
3) Evan Zhu (UCLA) d. David Wilczynski (STAN) 6-4, 7-6 (5)
4) Logan Staggs (UCLA) d. No. 110 Michael Genender (STAN) 6-3, 7-5
5) Austin Rapp (UCLA) d. Brandon Sutter (STAN) 6-4, 7-6 (6)
6) William Genesen (STAN) led Maxime Cressy (UCLA) 4-6, 6-0, 3-2, susp.
Order of Finish: 1, 5, 2, 4, 3