Several players on the UCLA men’s tennis team felt they
didn’t get a good enough workout during their 7-0 dismantling
of University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Therefore, they decided to hit some more balls after
yesterday’s match.
“They had already done their job,” UCLA men’s
tennis head coach Billy Martin said. “If they feel they need
to hit some more, that’s great. I certainly don’t
expect that.”
For No. 68 UNLV to beat UCLA, the No. 1 team in the nation, it
needed all of its players to play to the best of their ability.
Unfortunately for the Runnin’ Rebels, they only had five
players in a game that requires six, and had the daunting task of
facing the Bruins shorthanded.
“They started the game with half of a foot in the grave
already,” Bruin head coach Billy Martin said.
The Runnin’ Rebels had to default one doubles and singles
match giving UCLA a 1-0 lead before the match even started. Thus,
UNLV would have had to win both doubles matches to win the doubles
point as well.
They didn’t, as Marcin Matkowski and Rodrigo Grilli beat
Aviram Salomon and Romain Massaro 8-2, and Erfan Djahangiri and
Alberto Francis beat Milos Blagojevic and Joel Keilbowicz 8-0.
With a 2-0 lead, UNLV would have had to win four out of the five
remaining singles matches to beat the Bruins.
The Runnin’ Rebels only came close to winning one, even
though two of UCLA’s usual starters were given the day off.
Tobias Clemens (ranked No. 12 nationally) and Chris Lam (No. 40)
didn’t play in either the singles or doubles.
Freshman Chris Surapol made his UCLA dual match debut in their
place, and didn’t disappoint. Surapol beat Ryan Barber 6-0,
6-0 in the quickest individual match of the quickest team match of
the year.
“Coach just wanted me to play well and flow through the
match,” Surapol said. “I missed my first shot and
wasn’t missing the rest of the game.”
Djahangiri and Ketola also finished their matches quickly.
Djahangiri beat Blagojevic 6-1, 6-0, and Ketola beat Keilbowicz
6-1, 6-1.
“I played better today,” Ketola said. “But I
still need to stay in focus.”
In the only close match, Grilli beat Massaro 6-1, 7-6 (4).
Grilli had missed some action this year due to a knee injury.
“It’s good to get him some matches,” Martin
said.
In the other singles match, Matkowski, playing at the No. 1
position for the first time this year, beat Salomon 6-0, 6-3.