M. tennis: Men’s tennis looks to use BYU match to bounce back
By Jessica Jue
Feb. 16, 2004 9:00 p.m.
The last time the UCLA men’s tennis team stepped onto the
courts was the first time this season that the team tasted
defeat.
And frankly, the team’s Feb. 8 loss to No. 1 Illinois in
the finals of the USTA/ITA National Team Indoors in Seattle still
hurts.
“I still haven’t adjusted to that loss against
Illinois,” junior Kris Kwinta said. “At the moment I
still feel horrible.”
But life goes on, and the team will be looking to respond today
when they face BYU at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
Having a week off to rest, recuperate and rid themselves of any
negative feelings brought home from Seattle, the No. 2 Bruins (7-1)
are relishing the opportunity to return to their winning ways.
“I know that once I’m back on the home courts again,
I’ll be prepared and ready for another victory,” Kwinta
said. “I may be upset now, but my game will only get
stronger.”
It’s unlikely that the Cougars (1-7) will pose much of a
challenge for UCLA, but the team sees this as an important warm-up
match before heading to the desert to face conference foes Arizona
and Arizona State.
“BYU is just another match, and we’re not too
nervous,” freshman Philipp Gruendler said. “We just
have to use BYU as practice so we will be prepared to take on
Arizona.”
The Cougars have already faced some Pac-10 teams, losing to
Oregon, Washington and, most recently, Arizona. But that
doesn’t mean the Bruins will be taking them lightly.
“BYU has a really young and talented team,”
sophomore Chris Surapol said. “Though we are confident, we
know that we can’t look past any team. I have played against
some of the guys before, and this match-up will definitely prepare
us for the Arizona game coming up.”
Talk of BYU almost always seems to transform into talk of
Arizona for the Bruins, and probably rightly so. Today’s
match against BYU wasn’t originally on the team’s
schedule, but coach Billy Martin was able to pencil the Cougars in
when the team’s Feb. 14 match against Loyola Marymount was
canceled.
Today’s match will most likely provide a nice respite
before the Bruins’ difficult schedule picks up again.
After facing the Arizona schools this weekend, the team returns
home to battle No. 5 Baylor on Feb. 26.
“The schedule this season is really tough, there will be a
few teams that will challenge us and a few that will not,”
Kwinta said. “Either way, we will play our hardest against
any team that crosses our path.”
