Club tennis fights for win in SoCal tourney

That UCLA’s club tennis team stepped forward to receive
the champion’s award Sunday afternoon was not particularly
surprising. That droplets of sweat and sighs of relief accompanied
it to center court at the Los Angeles Tennis Center was somewhat
unfamiliar.

For the third consecutive year, the Bruins captured the Southern
California Team Tennis Campus Championships. But for the first time
during the span, the outcome of the 10-team tournament was very
uncertain.

Not until junior Nick DeGoede drilled two straight forehand
winners in the mixed doubles finale was UCLA Gold able to avoid a
super-tiebreak and secure a 20-18 victory over USC Gold in the
title match.

“It’s more of a rivalry, but they still
haven’t won anything,” UCLA team captain Mark Otten
said.

The Trojans certainly have narrowed the gap between the two
programs. Last year, UCLA’s two teams breezed past both of
USC’s teams to place first and second at the same event.

This year, though, UCLA Blue stumbled to USC Gold in the
semifinals, ruining the Bruins’ hopes of securing two
guaranteed spots in nationals for a second straight year.

“Our time of complete dominance might be over, but the
UCLA tradition will continue,” coach Anthony Horsley said.
“We’ll still be able to win this thing for many years
to come, especially if I’m still here.”

The Bruins’ quest would certainly be aided if Grant Chen,
also the varsity men’s team manager, found a way to remain in
school for another year or two. Playing his first tournament for
the club team, the senior anchored the Gold team through the
weekend. Partnering with DeGoede in men’s doubles, the two
dropped only four points during their 6-0 win in Sunday’s
final.

“It’s nice to be back on the playing side;
that’s for sure,” said Chen, who also cruised to a 6-0
win in his singles match. “Regardless of what level, you
always want to be not just beating ‘SC but beating them as
badly as you can. That’s why my goal is always not to give up
any points. My goal is zero and zero every time.”

Chen’s effort was reflective of the strength of
UCLA’s men’s lineup across the board. In the UCLA Blue
team’s third-place match against USC Cardinal, sophomore Ross
Newman kept the Bruins within five games following his 6-0 singles
win. That paved the way for Otten and Masha Kontorer to overcome
the rest of the deficit with a 6-0 win of their own in mixed
doubles to clinch the match.

“It was a harder road this year,” Horsley said.
“Both our matches came down to one point whether we won or
not.”

With the Gold team’s championship, the Bruins will get
$1,000 from the Southern California Tennis Association to help fund
the team’s trip to Austin, Texas, for nationals in April.

Fielding two squads for the event last year, the Bruins placed
fourth and sixth in the 48-team field.

This time around, with USC earning the second automatic berth
from Southern California, UCLA will likely have to pool its best
players and send just one team to Texas. While that will limit
player participation, it may put the Bruins in better position to
capture their first national championship in just their third year
competing.

“I think we have a great shot,” Chen said.
“We’ve got some practice and work to do. But the team
camaraderie has been fantastic and hopefully we’ll take the
whole thing this time.”

If the Bruins manage to accomplish that goal, there will be far
more than sighs of relief in the aftermath. There will be a
reaffirmed gap separating them from USC, the nearby program still
trying to make a mark.