Bruin Bites: Men's Tennis Wins Conference Tourney, Softball Continues to Roll

We'll turn back to continuing coverage of what we learned in spring football, and what the departure of Jordan Adams means for UCLA basketball in the future, but let's focus here on some of our Olympic sports. The regular season has ended or is drawing to a close, and conference tourney time is upon us, with NCAA's coming up next month.

--- First, our men's tennis team had an excellent week, capping it off with a victory over Southern Cal to claim the Pac-12 conference tournament title in Ojai. The Bruins started the week by smoking Oregon in the semi-finals 4-0 on Friday. Joseph Di Giulio and Clay Thompson started the match by beating their opponents 8-5 at #3 doubles, and when Marcos Giron and Mackenzie McDonald finished off their set at #1 doubles by the score of 8-6, UCLA claimed the doubles point. Karue Sell beat his opponent at #5 singles in quick fashion, 6-1 and 6-1 to put the Bruins up 2-0. Gage Brymer followed suit 6-2, 6-2 at #4 singles to put UCLA on the doorstep with a 3-0 margin. Marcos Giron clinched the match with his victory at #1 singles, 6-3, 6-4. The other matches were abandoned, with Clay Thompson up a set at #2 singles, and Mackenzie McDonald and Joseph Di Giulio down a set at #3 and #6 singles, respectively. That set the stage for Saturday's finale between #5 UCLA and the top-ranked Trogans. Adrian Puget and Karue Sell got the Bruins off to a quick start with an 8-3 win at #2 doubles. But $C countered with an 8-3 win at #3 doubles. This left it up to the #1 doubles match, where Giron and McDonald came through 8-5 over the #1 ranked doubles team in the country, to give UCLA the doubles point. $C roared back by taking the #1 and #2 singles matches, to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Brymer then finished his match at #4 singles with a 6-2, 6-4 win, to even the overall match at 2-2. Puget finished his match next, at #6 singles, 6-4, 6-1. The Bruins were knocking on the door, up 3-2. Seconds later, Sell won his match in a 2nd set tiebreaker, 6-3, 7-6, and the Bruins were the winners of the Pac-12 tournament title, by the score of 4-2. This was the 4th meeting of the season to date, and each team has won twice ($C 4-3 in February at National Indoors, UCLA 5-2 later in February at home in a non-conference match, $C 4-2 on 4/18 in the final match of the regular conference season, UCLA 4-2 in the conference tournament final). Next stop for the UCLA is the NCAA regionals on May 10-11.

--- The women's tennis team also traveled to Ojai for the Pac-12 tourney. This was a singles and doubles tournament, not a team format. Freshman Jennifer Brady won the tournament singles title, as she won all 5 matches on the way to the crown without dropping a single set. Her win over her opponent from Southern Cal in the tournament final was by the impressive score of 6-4, 6-0. Our athletic director would obviously be more excited if a score of 6-0 was a doughnut instead of bagel, but we are thrilled. The next action for the top ranked Bruins will be in the NCAA regionals on May 9-10.

--- Turning to softball, #2 ranked UCLA had a busy week, winning all 5 games to move to 44-4 on the year, 15-3 in conference play. UCLA swept a doubleheader on Monday over Long Beach State. There was plenty of drama, particularly in the opener. Long Beach State took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st. The Bruins bounced back with three runs in the top of the 2nd, on a 3 run homer by Ally Carda.  Long Beach took the lead again 5-3 in the bottom of the 2nd, and UCLA tied the game again in the top of the 5th. The Bruin runs scored on a ground rule double by Gabrielle Maurice and a sac fly by Jessica Hall. Long Beach scored again in the bottom of the 6th. The Bruins were down 6-5, and needed one to tie and two to take the lead. UCLA decided that there had been enough back and forth, and scored five runs in the top of the 7th. The key hit which put the Bruins up for good was a 2 run single by Carda, to give her five RBI's in the game.The final score was UCLA 10, Long Beach State 5. The second game had Long Beach up 1-0 going to the 4th inning. At that point, the Bruins went on a tear, scoring at least one run in every inning thereafter on their way to an 8-1 victory. Stephany LaRosa and Gabrielle Maurice hit homers for UCLA. The Bruins then traveled to Berkeley for a three game series. After Friday's rainout, there was a doubleheader on Saturday, with the Bruins winning both games. Game one was a mercy rule 11-1 crushing in 5 innings, with home runs by Delaney Spaulding and Maurice. Game two was much closer, with the Bruins taking a 7-2 lead to the 4th inning, and hanging on for a 9-7 win. Mysha Satakura hit two homers UCLA, with Alyssa Tiumalu and Jessica Hall also hitting long balls for the Bruins.

--- Sticking with softball, on Sunday, UCLA completed the three game sweep with a 3-2 win. The Bruins rallied from a 2-1 deficit with single runs in the 6th and 7th innings to claim the victory. Delaney Spaulding knocked in the tying run with a double, and Jessica Hall knocked in the go-ahead run with a sac fly, as the Bruins completed a very satisfying week. UCLA takes an 11 game winning streak into this weekend's home three game series against Stanford. Friday's game will be on the Pac-12 network, and Saturday's game will be on ESPNU.

--- In the pool, the #2 ranked Bruins came up just short against #1 ranked Stanford, 6-5 in the MPSF championship game on Sunday. The score was tied 3-3 after the 1st period. UCLA led 5-3 at half time. The score was tied at 5 at the end of 3 periods, and Stanford scored the only goal of the 4th period. UCLA goals were scored by Kodi Hill, Alys Williams, Kelly Ronimus, Becca Dorst and Emily Donahue. Donahue's shot to send the game to OT was blocked at the buzzer. Sami Hill had 10 saves in goal for UCLA. To reach the finals, UCLA beat Cal State Bakersfield 12-3 in the quarterfinals on Friday, and the Bruins beat ASU 10-7 in the semis on Saturday. Rachel Fattal scored 4 goals in the ASU game, Emily Donahue added two more, and four other Bruins chipped in a goal each. Hill had 11 saves in the ASU game. Next up for the Bruins will be the NCAA tourney, beginning May 9 at $C.

--- Finally, in golf, the conference tourneys found the women finishing 4th, and the men finishing 7th. The highlight of the three days action was freshman Alison Lee posting the low score in the tournament. Lee became the first Bruin women golfer to win the individual title since 2007. Hats off to Alison. The women's three day tournament was extremely close, as 1st place Stanford only beat UCLA by two strokes, with Arizona and $C sandwiched in a tie for 2nd one stroke off the pace. On the men's side, there was much greater disparity over the four days, as the Bruins finished 51 shots off the pace, but only 10 shots out of 4th place. Next up for both squads will be NCAA regionals. The women's regionals begin May 8, and the men's regionals begin May 15.

That is your round-up for Tuesday morning. Please add any thoughts or observations in the comment section below. It is looking like a solid spring on the Olympic Sports front.

GO BRUINS