NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships : UCLA, UC Irvine Win, but USC Is Eliminated

Second-seeded UCLA and fourth-seeded UC Irvine advanced to the quarterfinals of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. men’s tennis tournament Saturday at the University of Georgia.

UCLA defeated Utah, 5-1, and UC Irvine edged the University of San Diego, 5-3.

Unseeded USC was eliminated by Georgia, 5-1.

The Bulldogs (19-5) will play Irvine (25-6) today. The Anteaters have 12 consecutive victories and have won 20 of their last 21 matches.

“Before the tournament I told people I thought San Diego could be the spoiler,” Irvine Coach Greg Patton said. “I thought they might spoil our dreams. Now we have a chance to play Georgia. Welcome to the Bulldog Dome. This is the epitome. For years I’ve been coming here and I’ve envied the teams that got to play Georgia. I think we can win. I believe in this team. We’re mature. These people are going to know who UC Irvine is.”

A shoulder injury to No. 6 singles player, Mike Cadigan, put a damper on Irvine’s chances. He is out of the tournament and will be replaced by junior Mike Saunders.

UCLA’s victory moved Bruin Coach Glenn Bassett into a tie with Furman’s Paul Scarpa as the country’s winningest active coach with 493 victories. He can move into first with a victory in today’s quarterfinals against Texas Christian, which defeated Kentucky, 5-2, to advance.

Top-seeded Stanford defeated Miami, 5-1, and, in a rematch of last year’s championship bout, will face Louisiana State today. Stanford defeated the Tigers, 5-2, to win the 1988 title. LSU defeated Clemson, 5-3, to advance. Third-seeded California survived two marathon singles matches and held off Oklahoma State, 5-2. South Carolina advanced by beating Alabama, 5-2.