M. tennis: Title one win away for men's tennis

TULSA, Okla. “”mdash; In sports, there’s often that second,
that singular moment in time, when it just seems like everything is
going to fall apart.

It’s a feeling the UCLA men’s tennis team knows all
too well, having been through two heartbreaking NCAA semifinal
defeats in the last two years.

It’s also a feeling that began to creep in for the third
straight season Monday, again in the semifinals, this time to the
opponent of all opponents.

“At some point you just say, “˜Oh my god, not
again,'” senior Tobias Clemens said.

But fortunately for Clemens and the rest of the Bruins, it
wasn’t again. UCLA exorcised its demons of the last two
seasons and advanced to the NCAA Championship match with a 4-2 win
over No. 1 Illinois in Monday’s semifinals.

They will face Baylor in today’s finals, with the
opportunity to bring the title back to Westwood for the first time
since 1984.

But that match won’t start until they savor this moment
for a little while.

“It’s a special, special win,” coach Billy
Martin said.

No kidding. As freshman Philipp Gruendler fell to the ground
after defeating Illinois’ G.D. Jones to clinch the match for
his team, the fourth-seeded Bruins (23-5) knew they had done
something other teams haven’t been able to do for two years
““ defeat the Illini.

With Monday’s thrilling victory, UCLA sent home an
Illinois team (32-1) that hadn’t tasted defeat in 64
consecutive matches. The Bruins also sent home the raucous Illinois
fans who greatly outnumbered the Bruin faithful at the Michael D.
Case Tennis Center.

“It’s just a great feeling to send 350 fans
packing,” Clemens said. “It’s just awesome. They
were rooting against us and to send them home with a disappointed
feeling, that’s almost as nice as winning for
yourself.”

Almost, but not quite.

UCLA needed a total team effort to come from behind and spring
the upset.

After losing the doubles point, the Bruins came out fired up and
took the first set in five of six singles matches.

But against the defending champions, you know it’s not
going to be that easy.

Illinois answered back by winning the second set in four of
those five matches, but UCLA, who lost to the Illini 4-0 in the
championships of the National Team Indoors in February, simply
wouldn’t be denied.

“The guys fought hard, but UCLA just played better than
us,” Illinois coach Craig Tiley said. “They played
great tonight. I’ve got to give them a lot of
credit.”

A whole lot of that credit has to go to Clemens, who defeated
Illinois’ Brian Wilson, the No. 1-ranked player in the
country, at the No. 1 position.

It was a huge victory personally for Clemens, who had been
struggling with his game and his confidence for about two
months.

“I’m just very happy for myself, and I know that I
still have it in me,” Clemens said.

Clemens, who had only won one match since April 3, played
inspired tennis against the fiery Wilson. Wilson seemed to struggle
a little bit in the wind, and the Bruin All-American took
advantage.

“He’s a great player, but I took it right at
him,” Clemens said.

Also crucial to the Bruins’ success were Chris Lam and
Luben Pampoulov. Lam played a great match at No. 3, defeating Ryan
DeHeart in straight sets, while Pampoulov has simply been the
difference for this team.

Since he became eligible in early April, Pampoulov and the
Bruins haven’t lost a match. The team as a whole is riding a
14-match win streak, and Martin is dating the season in terms of
“B.L.” and “A.L.” ““ “Before
Luben” and “After Luben.”

Pampoulov was once again very, very good Monday, as he defeated
Illinois’ Phil Stolt in an up-and-down three setter.

But for all the positives, this match wasn’t without its
moment.

That came right as Pampoulov was finishing up his match against
Stolt to put the Bruins ahead 3-2. At the same time, Alberto
Francis dropped the second set to Michael Calkins after leading 3-0
in a tiebreaker. Gruendler had also lost his second set, setting up
a situation in which UCLA would have to win a third set in the face
of the hundreds of Illini faithful.

“Certainly there’s that negativism that creeps into
your mind,” Martin said.

The Bruin coach felt that Francis didn’t have much of a
chance in his third set, which left things up to Gruendler, the
team’s lone freshman in the starting lineup.

But Gruendler answered the call, finishing off Jones in the most
pressure-packed of situations.

“I was just trying to do whatever I could,”
Gruendler said. “Right now I’m really happy.”

The Bruins will have to get over their happiness fast because
there is still some unfinished business. And that business has to
deal with the third-seeded Baylor Bears, who handed UCLA a 5-2
defeat back in February.

“It is a great feeling, but I don’t think
we’ll feel nearly as good if we don’t win
tomorrow,” Martin said.