Kohlloeffel claims No. 1

It was bound to happen. Men’s tennis player Benjamin
Kohlloeffel kept winning and those around him kept struggling. He
showed great resilience, fighting through several tough matches
while the rest began to fold in times of desperation. And finally,
the junior finds himself in a position that nobody else can claim
to be in, one that he has been clawing at ever since arriving at
UCLA. With two wins over Arizona and Arizona State, Kohlloeffel
finally grabbed hold of the No. 1 national ranking.
“It’s a great honor,” coach Billy Martin said.
“It’s a tough feat to accomplish because there are so
many good players in college tennis.” After maintaining a
stronghold in the top five for much of the season, the German
native was finally able to claim the top spot. Kohlloeffel’s
ranking is the first No. 1 national ranking in UCLA men’s
tennis since Justin Gimelstob owned the title in 1996.
“It’s been 10 years since we’ve had somebody
ranked that high,” Martin said. “He certainly deserves
it and has been playing great tennis all year.” After his
performance in last year’s NCAA Championships, it comes as
little surprise to Martin that Kohlloeffel has seen such success
during the season thus far. Kohlloeffel won an impressive
six-straight matches in the Bruins’ championship run, its
first since 1985. After helping his team capture the title, the
junior from Herne, Germany began a journey of his own in hopes of
capturing a national singles title. Though he did not accomplish
the feat last season, Kohlloeffel is a leading candidate in the
race for the title this year. “I think he has as good a
chance as anyone to win the NCAA Championship,” Martin said.
“He’s already beaten most of the top players and I
don’t think he’s showing any signs of slowing down at
this point.” Kohlloeffel was also named the Pac-10 Player of
the Week for his performances in Arizona this past weekend. After
giving up just two games in two matches on the road against Arizona
and Arizona State, the Bruins’ top singles player was awarded
with his second such award. Kohlloeffel defeated No. 58 Roger
Matalonga of Arizona 6-1, 6-0 and No. 85 Jonathan Kinsella of
Arizona State by the same score. With those two successes, he
extended his personal winning streak to thirteen victories,
including wins over several of the nation’s premier players
such as No. 4 Ludovic Walter of the Duke Blue Devils. Kohlloeffel
now leads the Bruins into play against Pac-10 rivals No. 12
Stanford and No. 24 California this weekend at the Los Angeles
Tennis Center, where they look to seek revenge against the
Cardinals, who handed the Bruins their first loss of the
season.

WOMEN’S TENNIS: Yet again, the UCLA
women’s tennis team’s match against crosstown rival USC
has been postponed because of rain. The match, which has now been
rescheduled three times, is now set to be played either April 17 or
April 18 at USC, just four days before the Bruins play host to the
No. 4 Trojans. UCLA will now travel to the Bay Area to take on No.
1 Stanford and No. 13 California on Friday and Saturday,
respectively.