M. tennis defeats Arizona in close call
By Daily Bruin Staff
March 10, 1996 9:00 p.m.
M. tennis defeats Arizona in close callBy Mark Shapiro
Daily Bruin Staff
The UCLA men’s tennis team went on the road this weekend for the
first time all season and learned a lesson in just how valuable the
home court advantage is.
Facing Arizona and Arizona State over the weekend, the Bruins
squeaked out a pair of 4-3 wins to stay undefeated on the year.
Friday’s match pitted the top-ranked Bruins (15-0) against the
24th-ranked Wildcats in Tuscon. This time around, however, the
‘Cats gave UCLA all it could handle.
The Bruins entered the match without the services of No. 1
singles player Justin Gimelstob, who was playing in a pro
tournament. The Bruins also had to contend with the rigorous
conditions in Tuscon, namely the altitude, which played havoc with
the ball.
The match started poorly when Arizona swept UCLA’s vaunted
doubles lineup to take the doubles point. From there, however, the
makeshift singles lineup tightened up and took four of the six
singles matches.
Junior Srdjan Muskatirovic posted yet another victory when
called upon to move to the top spot, taking down Jan Anderson 7-6,
6-0. Eric Taino also posted a decisive victory at the second spot,
beating Chris Jenkins 6-3, 6-3.
Junior Jason Thompson, who has had his struggles recently, fell
at the three position, losing 6-1, 6-3 to Henrik Wagner. Heath
Montgomery fared no better at the fourth spot, falling to Tom
Haugland 6-2, 7-5.
Matt Breen and Vincent Allegre picked up the slack at the fifth
and sixth spots respectively to clinch the victory.
With the return of Gimelstob to the singles lineup for
Saturday’s match against No. 33 Arizona State, the Bruins hoped to
have an easier time of it against a team that they hammered earlier
this season at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. Instead of another
rout, the Bruins pulled out a squeaker.
The match was a role reversal from the day before, as the
doubles shone while singles struggled. UCLA took the first point by
sweeping the three doubles matches to lead off the match.
Gimelstob, in his first collegiate match in two weeks, dropped
the first set but came back to defeat Oscar Bustos 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
At the second position, Muskatirovic dropped his first match of the
season to Sergio Elias, 7-5, 6-3. Taino also lost his first match
of the year as he was upset by Tsolak Gevorkian, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Montgomery was unable to stem the tide as he fell to Paul Reber
at the fourth position 7-5, 6-4. Allegre stopped the bleeding with
a 6-1, 6-0 thrashing of Wolf von Lindenau. At No. 5, Matt Breen
pulled out a 6-7, 7-6, 7-5 victory over Dave Critchley to save the
Bruins from their first loss of the season.Comments to
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