Men’s tennis roughs up Bulldogs, 4-3
Janecek bows out
of LATC in style
with win over Fresno State
By Sarah Harrison
The Fresno State Bulldogs gave the UCLA men’s tennis team a
scare in Tuesday’s last home dual match of the season. Stepping
onto the L.A. Tennis Center courts for the last time with senior
captain Robert Janecek, the No. 4 Bruins by no means rolled over
the No. 30 Bulldogs, but they nonetheless pulled off a 4-3 win.
Eric Lin and Janecek beat the Bulldog twins Ryan and Bryan
Juinio 8-6 in doubles. Unfortunately for the Bruins, the other two
UCLA tandems were not able to pull off wins, giving Fresno the
doubles point. Matt Breen and Heath Montgomery dropped their match
in a tie-breaker, and Justin Gimelstob and Eric Taino, after
attempting to come back from two deficits, were ultimately beaten
by Fredrik Bergh and P. J. Dormire.
"We came here knowing that (UCLA) is a top-ranked team," Dormire
said. "We really need to beat a top-ranked team, so we came out
determined."
The singles gave the Bruins their comeback. Gimelstob easily
beat FSU senior Ivan Keskinov, while Taino, in the No. 3 spot, beat
Ryan Juinio. Eric Lin was unable to stave off Blago Petrov, losing
in two sets 6-3, 6-3, and tying the match at 2-2.
The Bruins did not want a repeat of Friday, when Stanford won in
a tie-breaking game. No. 16 Janecek played a hard match against No.
30 Bergh on the No. 1 court. Janecek won the first set 7-5, and
then went up 3-0 in the second set. The freshman Bergh came back to
tie it, but Janecek was not going to let his last home game end in
a loss. He won the next three games, ending the set, match and his
Bruin career in the LATC a winner.
"I was very tight," Bergh said. "The first set meant a lot
because we had very long rallies and ran a lot. I figured that the
guy that won the first set would probably win the match."
"I don’t think that it was a good match for both of us," Janecek
said. "I feel like I just played well enough to win. I am happy
that I won, but I would have liked to have played a little
better.
"I didn’t think that I was going to get this emotional after my
last home match. I have had a great four years here, and while it
is definitely time to move on, it is going to be hard to just leave
everything. I guess I am a little sad."
UCLA won the match as Matt Breen beat Bryan Juinio to give the
Bruins their fourth point.