Wake Forest loss ends men’s tennis’ ITA indoors, prepares players for coming rigors

This weekend’s ITA indoor championship presented high-level competition for the Bruins.

No. 7 UCLA men’s tennis (4-3) lost to No. 1 Wake Forest (12-2) in the quarterfinal round of the ITA DI National Men’s Team Indoor Championship on Saturday to end its run in the tournament. The 3-4 decision came after the Bruins picked up an opening-round 4-1 victory against No. 11 Notre Dame (8-4) Friday.

The decision against the reigning national champion Demon Deacons came down to a deciding match between UCLA freshman Mathew Tsolakyan and Wake Forest’s Melios Efstathiou at No. 4 singles.

Down 3-6, 6-3, 4-1, 49th-ranked Efstathiou rallied to win six of the last seven games and took the third and final set 7-5. Tsolakyan said he is undeterred by the loss and looks forward to getting back onto the courts.

“You just have to forget it and look forward,” Tsolakyan said. “It’s a huge opportunity to get a win, but it’s important to move forward and practice and train to win every day.”

Tsolakyan said playing highly-seeded teams and players this weekend helped with what he knew he needed to improve on in his game to compete with the big boys of college tennis.

“My returns are going to have to improve, because I missed a lot of them this tournament,” Tsolakyan said. “Moving forward on short balls and being consistent with my serve will also help as I work and get better.”

This weekend also presented Tsolakyan with another new challenge. He played at the No. 4 singles position in both matches – not his usual position of No. 5 singles. This was due to sophomore Keegan Smith’s injury in doubles against Notre Dame the previous day.

Coach Billy Martin said the injury didn’t appear severe, but how much time Smith will miss is still up in the air.

“(Smith) just rolled his ankle,” Martin said. “I don’t think it’s going to be anything too serious. He will probably be out for about a week or so, just conservatively, to make sure he will be okay and won’t go out and reinjure it.”

Smith’s absence from the No. 2 spot in the Bruins’ singles lineup opened a hole for freshman Eric Hahn to see singles action for the first time in the dual-match season. Hahn played his No. 6 singles match against Notre Dame to a 6-4, 4-6, 3-2 draw before dropping his match against Wake Forest 6-2, 6-2.

Smith’s injury created a quick adjustment situation for Hahn, but Hahn said he was able to play loose and learn from the experience.

“I felt super pumped because it was a really eye-opening experience,” Hahn said. “In my first match I felt a little pressure, but it went away quickly and I was able to play well and have fun after that.”

Hahn said part of what was eye-opening was for him to see what he needed to improve on to compete with highly ranked players and teams.

“Being more aggressive is one thing for sure,” Hahn said. “I also noticed I definitely need to work on my serve a lot more. It’s okay right now, and it might work in the Juniors, but college is a totally different game.”

Play opened Friday with the Bruins scoring their only win of the tournament over Notre Dame. Winning performances from No. 2 and No. 3 doubles, as well as singles victories by junior Ben Goldberg, freshman Patrick Zahraj and freshman Govind Nanda paced the Bruins.

UCLA ended its ITA indoors with a 0-4 consolation loss to No. 15 TCU on Sunday. That loss dropped the Bruins to 1-3 on their Chicago road trip, with every match coming against teams in the top 15.

This weekend was a new level of competition, in a setting many of the young UCLA athletes had never played.

“Everybody knows how hard we have to play, and how hard we have to work physically to compete with these teams,” Martin said. “We had four freshmen in the lineup at singles not really knowing this tournament, and I was extremely proud of how the entire team competed, but this especially showed how the young kids competed.”

UCLA will continue match play this week at crosstown rival USC on Friday.