Bruins use Roadrunners to tune up skills
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 10, 2001 9:00 p.m.
MEN’S TENNIS vs. College of the
Desert Today 2:30 p.m. Los Angeles, Calif. LATC
By Greg Schain
Daily Bruin Contributor Marcin Rozpedski is returning to the Los
Angeles Tennis Center today for the first time since leaving the
Bruins after the 1998-99 season. Except instead of holding a
racquet, he’ll be holding a clipboard as head coach of
College of the Desert. Rozpedski left UCLA after compiling a 23-2
singles record playing at No. 5 and No. 6 singles for the Bruins
during his junior year. “Marcin was a great player. He was
very steady and one we could count on,” senior Jean-Noel
Grinda said. “He was definitely one of the leaders of the
team.” Rozpedski didn’t come back his senior year
because of personal reasons. “He got married, had a baby,
that kind of stuff,” said John Marman, the Athletic Director
at College of the Desert. After working a year at the Ritz-Carlton,
Rozpedski was offered the head coaching job for this season at the
College of the Desert, which has won three community college state
championships in a row. He is doing a fine job so far, leading the
Roadrunners to a 17-2 record and a No. 1 ranking in the California
junior college poll. Their only losses have come to Yale and BYU,
both of which are Division I schools. But the Roadrunners could be
in for a third loss today, as they meet the No. 1 UCLA men’s
tennis team (16-1 overall) at 2:30 this afternoon at the LATC. The
Bruins are hungry for a win after suffering their first loss of the
season to Stanford last Friday. “The Stanford match is over,
and we are not gonna talk about that anymore,” Grinda said.
“We need to concentrate on College of the Desert.”
Besides looking to improve their overall record, the Bruins are
using this match as practice for No. 12 Washington and unranked
Oregon, who visit the LATC this weekend. “Washington is a
pretty good team, so we could certainly use this as a tune
up,” UCLA Assistant Head Coach Jason Sher said. Grinda shares
his coaches sentiments about today’s match. “Out of the
three matches this weekend, College of the Desert is definitely the
least important,” he said. Today’s match will be
significant in that it is freshman Tobias Clemens’ first
match since sustaining a sprained foot on March 6 at USC. Sher and
UCLA Head Coach Billy Martin have been cautious with Clemens. He
has been able to run for the past couple of weeks, but the coaches
have only allowed him to play in non-match environments because
they want to make sure he is well for the upcoming NCAA Regional
tournament next month. Clemens has been working out and hitting
daily for the past two weeks, so he shouldn’t have any
problems this afternoon. But the Bruins will still be without their
No. 1 singles player, sophomore Jean-Julien Rojer. Rojer has just
returned from Uruguay, where he was playing in the Davis Cup. He
will sit out to get some rest so he will be ready for the
weekend’s matches.
