Conference Highlights
UC Santa Cruz is independent (non-conference affiliated), which allows us to play one of the most competitive schedules in the country.
Post Season Highlights
UC Santa Cruz Men's Tennis
Team History
The Team
Under coach Bob Hansen's direction, UC Santa Cruz Men's Tennis has become one of the most dominant tennis programs in the country. The Slugs have been to the Final Four of the NCAA Division III National Team Championships nineteen times in the last twenty-two years and have reached the finals thirteen times. They have won seven NCAA national team championships.
The Slug's first NCAA National Championship came in 1989 in a barn burner against rival Swarthmore College. The title was an exclamation point to a 20-1 season which included wins over 10 Division I scholarship program. After coming up short in the finals three times, the Slugs second National Championship came in 1995 with a 4-1 victory over defending champion Washington College. Although the Slugs returned their entire National Championship team from 1995, the 1996 Championship proved to be an uphill fight when Noah Rippner, ranked #3 in singles and #1 in doubles nationally, had to leave the team for medical reasons. The team overcame what looked like an insurmountable deficit to a tough Gustavus Adolphus team in the semi-finals, down 1-0 and down a set in four of the six singles matches. The Slugs pulled through beating Gustavus and then Emory in the finals for their "Back to Back" National Championship in 1996. The Slugs returned to the winners circle in 1998 by defeating host Williams College by a score of 4-2. After being close many times the Slugs won number 5 in thrilling fashion at home if front of our fantastic fans in 2005. This marked the first time since going to a team format that any team won the triple crown as the Slugs won the team and the individual singles and doubles NCAA National Championships.
In 2007 the Slugs again made history by becoming the first team ever to win the ITA National Team Indoor Championship and then win the NCAA Team Championship. These team championships were made even sweeter as the Slugs also won the NCAA singles and doubles titles for the quadruple crown. In 2009 the team came from back in the pack with a mid season ranking of 8 to win four NCAA tournament matches 5-0 including the final in route to winning the NCAA Team Championship in dominating fashion.
Individual Players
UCSC also has a tradition of dominance in the NCAA Individual Championships. During this impressive run in the team tournament, UCSC has produced 111 All-American selections. UC Santa Cruz won its first NCAA Individual Championship in 1994 when Ron Ward and Jonathan Harper won the National Doubles Championship.
UCSC's first singles national championship came in the fall of the 1995-96 season as Josh Vining captured the Rolex Division III National Singles Championship. He and teammate Bryan Shapiro also won the Rolex Division III National Doubles Championship. That same year, Josh and Bryan won the NCAA National Division III Doubles Championship, defeating teammates Jonathan Harper and Brian Cummings in the all-Slug final. 1998 produced another all Slug final as Brian Cummings and Thomas Oechel defeated Josh Goodley and Peter Gladkin in a close three set match. Thomas and Brian won the National Rolex Small College Championships in Memphis the following year and then won their second NCAA National Doubles Championship. Thomas Oechel became UC Santa Cruz's first NCAA Singles Champion when he defeated teammate and doubles partner Brian Cummings in the 1999 NCAA singles final. In 2000 Thomas Oechel and Peter Gladkin won every Div lll doubles match they played. They won the Rolex Division lll National Doubles and NCAA Doubles Championships. In the Fall of 2000, our doubles success continued as Derek Fitzpatrick and Nick Cunningham won the Naional Rolex Small College Div lll Doubles Championship and advanced to the final of the Rolex Small College Super Bowl. At the NCAA Individual championships, Nick and Derek won the Doubles Championship, and Derek won UCSC's second NCAA Singles Crown.
Recently, Matt Seeberger rewrote the record book by winning back to back NCAA singles titles in his freshman and sophomore seasons. In 2005 he did it all by leading the team to the NCAA Team Championship and then won the NCAA singles title and the doubles championship with partner Matt Brunner to cap a triple crown at home. In 2006 Matt won his second NCAA National Doubles Championship with partner Shane Templeman. In 2007 Matt Seeberger became the NCAA individual career leader in individual titles as we won the singles and teamed with Max Ortiz to win the NCAA doubles title. These championships gave Seeberger six individual NCAA championships during his four-year career.
Tournament Highlights
- 7 NCAA Team Championships ('09, '07, '05, '99, '96, '95, '89)
- 13 appearances in the NCAA Team Championship Finals (Div. III Record)
- 3 ITA National Indoor Team Championships ('10, '07, '00)
- 1 NCAA Triple Crown (Team, Singles, and Doubles title in the same year) - 2005
- 1 NCAA Quadruple Crown (Triple Crown + National Indoors championship) - 2007
- No other team has either of these achievements
- 10 NCAA doubles titles (Div. III Record)
- 5 NCAA singles titles
Individual Achievements
- 121 All-American selections
- 3 ITA Small College National Singles Championships
- 5 ITA Small College National Doubles Championships
- 9 Ojai Singles Championships
- 4 Ojai Doubles Championships
Coaching Achievements
Bryce Parmelly has been a long time fixture in the Slug Tennis Program. He was a doubles All-American ranked as high as #2 in the country. He was a member of the 2005 NCAA National Championship team and then was an assistant coach for the 2007 and 2009 NCAA National Championship Slug Teams. He also coached the 2007 and 2010 ITA National Indoor Team Champion Slug Tennis Teams. In his first year as Head Coach for the Slugs Coach Parmelly led his team to the finals of the 2012 ITA National Indoor Championships this past February.
