UCLA to match up against USC

  COURTNEY STEWART/Daily B ruin Junior Rodrigo
Grilli rips a forehand against Fresno State earlier this
season.

By Gilbert Quiñonez
Daily Bruin Contributor

USC, the team that inspires anger in Bruin fans, will come to
the Los Angeles Tennis Center to revive a great longtime rivalry.
Several Grand Slam titles have been earned by players on both
teams, including Arthur Ashe and Jimmy Connors from UCLA and with
Stan Smith and Alex Olmedo from USC.

“It’s always a big rivalry,” Bruin head coach
Billy Martin said.

“It brings out the best in both teams. You can throw the
records out the door, both teams are going to play their
best.”

Both teams have started out 3-0 this year, crushing their
opponents, including a dominating 7-0 victory against UNLV for both
teams this week.

“The goal is beating USC,” UCLA team captain Erfan
Djahangiri said. “Then the goal is to win the National
Indoors and the NCAA Tournament.”

“UNLV is a good warmup for the USC match,” junior
Jean-Julien Rojer said. “We’re trying to focus on
USC.”

Even though No. 12 USC’s players haven’t lost a
singles or doubles match during match play, that doesn’t
necessarily mean they have been more dominant than No. 3 UCLA,
whose players have lost only two singles matches. UCLA players won
several preseason tournaments that involved players from both
teams. Also, sophomore Tobias Clemens, UCLA’s current No. 4
starter, beat USC’s No. 1 player, Andrew Park, twice during
the preseason.

Normally, a vocal crowd shows up for both teams to these classic
rivalry games.

“I hope all of our students will come and support all of
our sports,” said Martin. “A home-court advantage
always helps, especially against Stanford and USC. It never is a
total away match against USC.”

The tennis rivalries rarely inspire hostile crowds like other
sports, since both teams’ coaches have worked to make it a
good, clean battle.