UCLA Loses to Tennessee

UCLA’s men’s tennis team ended its season Sunday with a 4-1 loss to Tennessee in the quarterfinals of the NCAA championships at Athens, Ga.

Tennessee (22-5) advanced to today’s semifinals against Virginia Commonwealth, a 4-3 winner Sunday over Illinois.

Sunday’s defeat marked only the eighth time since the current team format was adopted in 1977 that UCLA failed to reach the semifinals. The Bruins were playing without senior Brandon Kramer, who is part of the Bruins’ No. 1 doubles team and also the No. 2 singles player, because of a wrist injury suffered three days before the playoffs began.

UCLA and Tennessee split the first two doubles matches before Tennessee’s Adam Carey and Mark Parsons defeated Jong-Min Lee and Chris Sands, 9-7. It marked the first time UCLA lost a doubles point since April 8 against California.

Freshman Erfan Djahangiri recorded UCLA’s only singles victory, defeating Tate Roberts, 3-6, 6-1, 6-0.

Tennessee’s Peter Handoyo defeated Jean-Julien Rojer, 6-0, 6-1, and Paul Podbury beat Lassi Ketola, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, before Mark Fitzpatrick clinched the match with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Chris Sands.