Thursday, 5/15/97 Postseason drought M. TENNIS: After 15 years
without an NCAA Championship, this year’s Bruins hope to end
their…
By Mark Shapiro Daily Bruin Staff It was one of the darkest days
in the history of UCLA men’s tennis. The undefeated Bruins, ranked
No. 1 in the nation, had fallen one step short of ending a 12-year
championship drought, losing in the finals to a team that they had
beaten three times during the regular season. Worse still, three of
their top four players were either graduating or leaving the
program. That was last year. Now, one year later, the top-seeded
Bruins (23-3) have retooled and reestablished themselves as the
top-ranked team in the nation, on the eve of the NCAA Championship
that is being held in their backyard, the Los Angeles Tennis
Center, starting this Saturday. They also have one of the nation’s
largest crosses to bear, having gone 12 years without a national
championship, a fact made worse by their five semifinal appearances
and one final appearance in the ’90s. With these recent failures
painfully illuminated against a backdrop of 15 national
championships, the last coming in 1984, this is a team with
something to prove. "I want it pretty bad, my players want it,"
UCLA head coach Billy Martin said. "It would be hard to imagine too
many teams are as hungry as we are." At the beginning of the 1997
season, the question marks were there, but the gaps in the lineup
were not nearly as prominent as they had been in the fall. Gone
were Justin Gimelstob and Srdjan Muskatirovic. Arriving were
transfers Alex Decret and Jason Cook, from UC Santa Barbara and the
University of New Mexico, respectively, and freshman Kevin Kim, the
most highly touted recruit in the country. "I had hopes," Martin
said. "I knew Decret (who had been the No. 1 singles player for the
Gauchos) was a good player. I needed to know how Kim could play.
He’s done a super job for us. It’s been a good situation." Any
hopes of another undefeated season went out the window quickly as
the Bruins lost a regular season dual match for the first time in
nearly two years, falling to Boise State in only the second match
of the 1997 campaign. UCLA did not have to wait long to hit its
stride, however, as the Bruins embarked on a 22-match winning
streak, garnering along the way the National Team Indoor title for
the second straight year and the No. 1 ranking in the nation. "With
this team, (the Indoor championship) gave us confidence that we
needed," Martin said. "After Boise, our heads were screwed on
pretty good." While the Bruins lost their final two regular season
dual matches, the last defeat came after UCLA already picked up the
No. 1 seed in the NCAA Championships, reducing the match’s
importance to virtually nil. The flag bearer for the Bruins this
season has been senior Eric Taino, who has been the No. 1 singles
player for UCLA. He has gone 20-5 in regular season dual matches en
route to being ranked 10th nationally. Decret, who started the
season at No. 4, spent the better portion of the season at No. 2
and put together a 16-9 overall record while claiming the 35th spot
in the nation. The third singles spot has belonged to the freshman
phenom Kim, who has gone 18-5 overall and has been ranked as high
as 29th. The bottom three spots in the singles lineup have been
shared by junior Matt Breen (17-5), and sophomores Vincent Allegre
(16-3), Jason Cook (16-7) and Brandon Kramer (5-2). In doubles, the
Bruins have boasted one of the finest duos in the country in the
team of Kim and senior Eric Lin (13-10). Taino and Decret have held
down No. 2 doubles while Breen and Cook have teamed up at No.
3.