Monday, 5/5/97 Bruins seeded No. 1 in NCAA Men’s Tennis
Championships Stanford hopes to meet evenly matched UCLA in
finals
By Mark Shapiro Daily Bruin Staff With less than two weeks until
the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships kick off at the Los Angeles
Tennis Center, the draw is now halfway complete, with UCLA’s team
at the top of the proverbial seeding heap. Riding a 23-2 overall
record, the Bruins, who are first-ranked in the nation, garnered
the top spot in the draw for the second consecutive year and
assured themselves of an automatic berth into the championship
draw. The championship starts on May 17th. Along with the high that
comes with being perched on the top rung of the ladder, the Bruins
got even more good news. Arch-rival Stanford, the three-time
defending champ, got the No. 3 seed, putting the two teams on
opposite ends of the draw. Thus, if the two teams meet again this
year, it will be for the national championship. "I’d be lying if I
said I wasn’t hoping Stanford was in the other half, because I
was," UCLA head coach Billy Martin said. "I think Stanford’s the
top team. From a tournament standpoint, I would think that would be
as good a final as any. If that happens to work out, it would be
great." Last year it was the Cardinal who upset the No. 1 Bruins in
the championship finals, thus capturing Stanford’s third-straight
crown. This season has been the picture of parity between the two
schools, with each team capturing a 4-3 match on its respective
home court. "I think they would be the hardest team for us to
beat," Martin said. "We could lose to them or we could beat them.
The thing with sports is who shows up that day." Before the two
teams get another crack at one another, they will have to contend
with an exceptionally difficult draw. The Bruins are followed by
No. 2 Mississippi (23-3), No. 3 Stanford (22-2) and No. 4 Georgia
(20-3). The other four teams receiving automatic berths are Boise
State, Kentucky, Louisiana State and Mississippi State The
remaining eight spots will be filled after regional tournaments,
which take place May 9-11. Now that the tournament path has been
clearly delineated, the Bruins are finally able to focus on their
immediate goal of a national championship, with the chase beginning
in 12 days. "Our journey comes in about two weeks," Martin said.
"We’ve been on a mission the whole year, this is the thing that we
have to do."