Waves enter LATC seeking revenge
By Daily Bruin Staff
Jan. 30, 1995 9:00 p.m.
Waves enter LATC seeking revenge
M. tennis readies for Pepperdine, one
year after bouncing them in Region VIII
By Mark Singerton
UCLA faces No. 10 Pepperdine today at the Los Angeles Tennis
Center in what should be their toughest match of the early
season.
The fourth-ranked Bruins will have to be mentally prepared for
the Waves, who look to avenge last year’s loss to UCLA in the
Region VIII Championships, where UCLA defeated them 4-3 to advance
to the NCAAs. With the match tied at 3-3, Bruin sophomore Eric Lin
pulled off a crucial 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 win over the Waves’ Troy Budgen
for the team victory.
Budgen and his teammates will look to up-end the favored Bruins,
who are coming off a hard-fought 6-1 victory over UNLV Saturday.
UCLA will have to play better tennis against Pepperdine however, if
they hope to remain undefeated.
The Waves enter the match on a three match winning streak. On
Friday they edged the University of Alabama, Birmingham 4-3, and
followed with a 5-2 victory over Alabama. The Waves finished
matters with a 6-1 romp over 11th-ranked Miami.
Sophomore Loren Peters knows his team must be extremely focused
for this match.
"It was important for us to get the win (today)," Peters said
after Saturday’s victory. "It gives you a lot more confidence when
you’re playing the next match. We’re going to need that against
Pepperdine."
The Bruins will need plenty of focus considering the talent
Pepperdine has. The Waves are led by Charles Auffray, who cruised
past the Miami’s Srdan Muskatirovic 6-2, 6-0 last weekend.
Muskatirovic was the No. 1 player in the country.
On the flip side, Robert Janecek comes off a three-set loss to
UNLV’s Roger Petterson. But the senior star isn’t worried about
today’s match.
"I’ll be ready," Janecek said Saturday. "It can’t get much worse
match-wise for me than this particular one."
Head coach Billy Martin and his players have looked forward to
this match for the past week, and know that a win today would give
them a solid footing in the Pac-10.
"This is a huge match for us, and we know they’re going to come
in here fired up to beat us, especially after what we did to them
last year," Martin said. "They’re going to be very hungry. But they
better be prepared to play really well if they expect to come in
here and beat us because we defend our territory pretty well."
