M. tennis meets match at Palm Springs tourney
By Mark Shapiro
Imagine a thoroughbred horse that hasn’t been pushed because of
mediocre fields. Now imagine that same horse suddenly facing the
best in the nation in one weekend.
Visualize that and you see the situation the UCLA men’s tennis
team faces this weekend. After crushing all four of their dual
match opponents this season, the Bruins get a mouthful this weekend
at the Palm Springs Invitational Tournament.
Joining the No. 2 Bruins will be players from top-ranked
Stanford, including the nation’s No. 1 player Jeff Salzenstein, No.
6 USC and Texas Christian, which features No. 2 Paul Robinson.
"Palm Springs is kind of an individual thing," UCLA head coach
Billy Martin said. "It’ll be fun and the guys can do well for
themselves and show me a little bit."
Justin Gimelstob leads UCLA into the desert for the four-day
tournament. On the year, the sophomore has yet to lose a set thanks
to a big serve and his on-court theatrics, weapons which should
serve him well in the tournament.
"It’s good to go into a tournament on a positive note,"
Gimelstob said. "It’ll be a strong tournament, but I’m well
prepared and hopefully it will show."
UCLA’s No. 2 singles player, junior Srdjan Muskatirovic, will be
questionable for the tournament due to arm trouble. His loss would
be a blow to UCLA because he is undefeated and his all-court game
has been clicking in this stage of the season.
"I’m hoping (Srdjan) will go," Martin said. "His arm has been
bad but I’m hoping he’ll go. He needs it."
With or without Muskatirovic, the rest of the Bruins in the draw
hope to make their own individual impressions felt.
"The good teams respect us; we have a pretty strong reputation,"
Gimelstob said. "No matter how we do, I don’t think that will be
diminished. It would be nice to set a strong precedent and play a
good tournament."
Juniors Eric Taino and Jason Thompson have both been on a tear
as Taino’s backhand and Thompson’s serve have kept them undefeated
this year. After losing to UNLV’s Asaf Tishler, sophomore Matt
Breen rebounded to win a tough second set tiebreaker in his next
match to send him into the tournament riding a crest.
"It gives me extra confidence," Breen said. "I know that I can
play at a high level, it’s just whether I’ve got the confidence to
do it. Hopefully I can get some confidence from each win and carry
that on."
The other Bruins participating will be senior Heath Montgomery,
who is looking to come back from losses in two of his last three
matches, freshman Brandon Kramer and junior Eric Lin. Thompson and
Lin will also be participating as one of UCLA’s four doubles
entries, and look to rebound from two straight losses after winning
the preseason Rolex Regional Tournament.
"That’s a real disappointing thing," Martin said. "Two matches
in a row, they’ve played horrible so I think we may have to look at
something different there."
The tournament will be a good test of UCLA’s conditioning as the
Bruins will play multiple matches each day over consecutive
sessions.
"It’s not so much the tough match play, but it’s the being able
to do it two, three, four days in a row," Martin said. "For us to
win the NCAA’s we have to be able to do it four days in a row. I
like to see them get in a position where they have to play three,
four days in a row and see how their bodies hold up and how their
conditioning is."
FRED HE/Daily Bruin
Kentucky transfer Jason Thompson will see action in singles and
doubles for the Bruins at the Palm Springs Invitational starting
today.
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