Trojans deflate men’s tennis at Pac-10s

Monday, April 29, 1996

By Mark Shapiro

Daily Bruin Staff

When it came down to the team competitions this season, USC
couldn’t hold a candle to the firepower of the UCLA men’s tennis
team, as the Bruins rolled to two victories. At this weekend’s
Pacific 10 Championships, however, the Trojans were able to exact
some measure of revenge.

In a tournament with no team competition, just a singles and
doubles draw, the Trojans were responsible for knocking three of
the four Bruins out of the first flight singles competition.

Cecil Mamiit, ranked second in the nation, edged senior Heath
Montgomery in a tough three-set match. Montgomery, who is not
ranked nationally, gave Mamiit quite a scare before finally
succumbing in their first-round matchup. Sophomore Matt Breen also
took a tumble at the hands of a Trojan, losing to senior Adam
Peterson in yet another three-set match. Although both players lost
in the first round, they managed to give opponents who play two or
three spots above them in dual-match play a run for their
money.

"Heath played really well and so did Breen," UCLA head coach
Billy Martin said. "For them to hold their own against those
opponents really makes me happy. Heath really played his best
tennis of the season."

Senior Srdjan Muskatirovic, who was the highest ranked Bruin in
the tournament at No. 19 in the nation, retired in the third set of
his second round match. After taking his first rounder in three
sets, an old hip injury began bothering him and so, at 2-1 in the
third set, Muskatirovic called it a tournament rather than risk
further injury.

"We both felt that it was not worth pushing," Martin said. "It
was his second match of the day and we didn’t want to get
aggravated and be a problem at NCAAs."

The torch bearer for the Bruins this weekend would be Eric
Taino, who, like he did at the Rolex Championships earlier this
season, put together one of his best runs of the year. He charged
through his early-round matches into a semifinal matchup with
Peterson. This time, Taino’s run would end in the semifinals as
Peterson came out on top.

"Taino played extremely well but Peterson played a flawless
match, probably the best I’ve ever seen him play," Martin said.

In the second singles draws, for players who play below the
fourth position on their respective rosters, the Bruins boasted
another semifinalist in the form of freshman Vincent Allegre, who
raced through the draw until he fell to Stanford’s Ricky Becker,
who has been his nemesis this season. Junior Jason Thompson, who
had fallen out of the regular singles lineup in recent weeks,
forged through to the quarters where he was upended by Stanford’s
Grant Elliot.

After winning his first-round match, Eric Lin also fell victim
to a Trojan, losing to Kyle Spencer in the second round and Jay
Jackson, in his first singles action of the season, fell in his
first-round match as well.

In the first flight of doubles play, Breen and Taino fell in the
first round to the Arizona team of Hogland and Wagner in a grueling
three-setter, and Lin and Thompson were edged by Paul Goldstein and
Jim Thomas from Stanford, who make up the No. 2 doubles team in the
nation.

In the second flight, the team of Jackson and Darren Miller got
through to the second round and Montgomery and Allegre fell in the
first round.

FRED HE/Daily Bruin

USC senior Adam Peterson knocked UCLA’s Eric Taino out of the
Pac-10 Championships in the semifinals.