Tennis still dominating Pac-10 play
By Sara Salam
April 6, 2008 11:28 p.m.
The rackets spoke for themselves.
That’s how assistant coach Krzysztof Kwinta described the scene at the Los Angeles Tennis Center as the UCLA men’s tennis team continued to dominate Pac-10 competition this weekend.
The Bruins handed Cal (10-8, 2-1 Pac-10) and No. 25 Stanford (8-8, 2-2 Pac-10) routing defeats, tallying a score of 6-1 in both matches.
On Friday, the Bruins (17-1, 4-0 Pac-10) met the Bears after a tough road trip to the Northwest where they also came out as victors over conference opponents Washington and Oregon.
Coach Billy Martin said he was impressed with the team’s performance against Cal, especially taking into account the transition of playing indoors while up north to playing outdoors at LATC.
“I wasn’t really expecting that we would play super tennis,” Martin said. “It spoils you playing indoors: no wind, no sun, perfect conditions.”
The elements, however, did not seem to hinder the stellar performances put forth by the men in blue and gold.
After winning the doubles point, the Bruins’ momentum was never interrupted as they won three consecutive singles matches to clinch the match.
Following a similar trend, on Saturday, UCLA also swept the doubles matches against Stanford, which consequently led to a similar fate for the adversary.
Senior Mathieu Dehaine and freshman Nick Meister recorded straight set victories in their singles matches, giving UCLA a 3-0 lead in the match.
Junior Harel Srugo had to fight a little harder in his duel with Stanford’s Alex Clayton on court No.1.
Feeding off the intensity of the spotlight, Srugo pulled off a stunning upset after coming back from a 6-4 first-set loss. After the second-set tiebreaker, a victory seemed imminent.
“I was handling the pressure of playing on the first court pretty well,” Srugo said. “I like it, and I get a lot of energy from that.”
Freshman Holden Seguso was also a victor for the Bruins.
The team’s only singles defeat came in the form of a three-set loss of Michael Look to Stanford’s No. 95 Richard Wire.
The same lineup of six played for UCLA in both matches, paralleling the consistency that Martin says typically characterizes the end of a season, where there are little to no drastic divergences from the daily routine.
“It’s just like automatic pilot,” Martin said. “This is a really focused group of young men that we have.”
Martin credits the successes of the team to the individual unselfishness fostered by each of his players.
Camaraderie among players has developed despite the individual nature of the sport itself.
Srugo attests that, because the team defies the independent mentality inherent to tennis, the team distinguishes itself from its opponents.
“I think on some teams sometimes the player just plays for himself but doesn’t really play for the team,” Srugo said. “I think that makes a difference when someone plays 100 percent on his own but still cares for his friend.”
Srugo’s use of the word friend as a substitute for teammate undoubtedly conveys the great sense of family this team possesses.
This tight-knit group has shown the coach that they are indeed capable of great things. The evolution has caused a rare reevaluation of goals that were set back at the start of the season.
“We’re really exceeding what I thought our goals would be for the year,” Martin said. “They’ve shown they deserve to have those higher goals.”
By higher goals, Martin is referring to a Pac-10 championship and perhaps even an NCAA title.
“We’re going to shoot for the stars, and the guys are thinking that we maybe have a chance,” Martin said.
The team will travel to Arizona this week to take on conference opponents Arizona and Arizona State before returning to Los Angeles to finish out the season against UC Irvine and USC.
