UCLA men’s tennis sweeps UC Irvine 7-0 in final nonconference matchup
Senior Gage Brymer said he missed several opportunities that would have made his 7-5, 7-5 win over UC Irvine’s Sebastian Heim a bit easier. (Amy Dixon/Daily Bruin)
By Dylan Dsouza
March 31, 2017 3:07 p.m.
The score isn’t always indicative of the quality of performance.
The No. 10 UCLA men’s tennis team (11-4) swept unranked UC Irvine (6-11) 7-0 at home in its final nonconference match on Wednesday afternoon. The Bruins remained undefeated in their home nonconference schedule, finishing 8-0.
But despite not dropping a single set in the entire match for the first time all season, coach Billy Martin did not think the team played particularly well. Both teams were coming off a 10-plus day gap since their last matches.
“They were not moving very well and their timing was off,” Martin said. “That’s to be expected. This is a match where everyone is rusty.”
[Related: Men’s tennis extends at-home win streak with victory over Duke]
With 33 years of college coaching experience, Martin said he deliberately scheduled an easier opponent. The Anteaters are winless away from home and do not have any nationally ranked players. This was only the fourth match all season the Bruins played against a team without at least one ranked player.
Martin also said that the main difference between the ranked teams and unranked teams is the level of play at courts five and six. The singles matches on courts one, three and four had two tiebreakers and were the last to finish. On the other hand, junior Austin Rapp and sophomore Maxime Cressy breezed to 6-3, 6-1 and 6-1, 6-2 victories on courts five and six, respectively.
[Related: Men’s tennis bests Baylor with improved doubles, singles game]
Freshman Evan Zhu was critical of his own performance despite a 7-6(5), 6-3 victory on court three.
“I got a little complacent,” Zhu said. “I got up early and lost my focus a little bit, but I was able to regain it.”
In dual matches where there is a significant ranking gap between the teams, Zhu said he cannot judge his own performance based on the score alone. Instead, he said he looks at a range of factors including how well he’s hitting the ball, how much he’s moving his opponent, his aggression level and his own movement.
Using this sort of subjective criteria, Martin believed Zhu did not have a great game and has room for growth.
“He played a couple of good games and then just went on a mental vacation out there,” Martin said. “We talked a little bit out there and he’ll be better for it.”
Similarly, UCLA’s top-ranked player, senior Gage Brymer, also struggled with consistency and was visibly frustrated multiple times during the match.
“I would have a good point and then I would have an unforced error,” said the No. 11-ranked singles player. “I missed a few opportunities that would have made the win a little easier for me.”
UCLA was still without senior Joseph Di Giulio, who is nursing an arm injury and has been out since mid-February. Martin is optimistic that Di Giulio, who was ranked No. 90 at the time of his injury, will be able to come back towards the end of the season.
The Bruins will open their Pac-12 conference schedule with back-to-back matches on Friday and Saturday against Washington and No. 23 Oregon respectively.
