UCLA tennis player Karue Sell wins consolation draw at Battle in the Bay Classic
By Zachary Lemos
Oct. 14, 2013 1:42 a.m.
For the second time in two tournaments, UCLA men’s tennis has seen a player fall in the first round of competition only to rally and win the consolation draw.
After losing early at the Battle in the Bay Classic, sophomore Karue Sell turned around and won each of his next four matches and ultimately the entire consolation draw, just as teammate senior Clay Thompson did at last week’s ITA All-American men’s tennis championships.
“I was playing well before I came; I just had a bad match in the first round. After that first round I started playing like I had been before,” Sell said. “I was expecting to play good tennis, but the lack of matches (over the summer) made it tough to finish well.”
Looking past wins and losses, assistant coach Grant Chen said the weekend’s tournaments were more about athletes getting playing time than anything else.
“One of the points of all these tournaments is to improve a player’s individual rankings, but really also for the players to get a lot of matches under their belt to help us get ready for the team portion of the competition which begins in January,” Chen said. “Losses are always difficult, but I think we keep the big picture in mind knowing that our goal isn’t to peak in October, it’s to peak in May.”
The need for frequent tournaments could be credited to UCLA’s late start on the quarter system – where other teams have been practicing together since early August, the UCLA men’s tennis team has been practicing together for less than a month and any opportunities to compete are well-heralded.
Even Sell saw the tournament as more of a way to shake off early-season rust than anything else.
“I didn’t play any tournaments in the summer so I need to get some matches under my belt. I played like five or six matches here,” he said.
