All things considered, the weekend wasn’t too bad. Plagued
by injuries and absences, the No. 6 UCLA men’s tennis team
split its matches in Northern California, losing 5-2 to No. 4 Cal
(16-2, 2-0 Pac-10) on Friday and beating No. 7 Stanford (15-3, 2-0
Pac-10) 5-2 on Saturday.
With the split, the Bruins stand at 17-2, 3-0 Pac-10.
The Bruins made the journey with high hopes but a less than full
squad. Marcin Matkowski was in South Africa representing
Poland’s Davis Cup team. Jean-Julien Rojer has been absent
all season playing professional tournaments but will return next
week.
Cal took advantage of a Bruin team without two of its best
singles players to end UCLA’s five-match win streak on
Friday. With Rodrigo Grilli, last year’s Pac-10 singles
champion, also missing the match with a leg injury, head coach
Billy Martin was forced to shuffle the entire lineup.
“He was hurting a little with his leg,” he said.
“I didn’t want to risk it. And there’s no way
without Marcin and Rodrigo that we’re able to beat
them.”
The new-look lineup dropped every doubles match to lose the
doubles point.
In singles, Cal maintained its momentum and won two quick
matches to go up 3-0. At No. 2 singles, Cal’s Conor Nilan
beat Erfan Djahangiri, 6-1, 6-3, and at No. 5 singles, Cal’s
Steve Berke defeated Alberto Francis, 6-2, 6-3.
UCLA’s Tobias Clemens, the nation’s No. 9 player,
got the Bruins on the board with a 6-3, 6-3 win over John Paul
Fruttero at No. 1 singles. But things quickly went sour, as
Cal’s Robert Kowalczyk clinched the match with a victory over
Bruin freshman Aaron Yovan, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1, at No. 6 singles.
“It didn’t seem like there was that much fire
against Cal. Playing without three top guys is tough,”
sophomore Chris Lam said.
Cal has now won three straight against UCLA, a fact that has the
Bruins relishing the opportunity to play Cal in Westwood April
19.
“Hopefully we can finally get some revenge against
Cal,” Martin said, “They’re a very good
team.”
Things weren’t supposed to get any easier for the Bruins
on Saturday, as they traveled to Palo Alto to take on the most
storied of men’s collegiate tennis programs, winner of 17
NCAA championships, Stanford.
Saturday’s match, however, had a totally different
feel.
Grilli returned to the lineup and teamed with Yovan in doubles
to take a huge 8-5 victory over Phil Sheng and Sam Warburg at No.
3. At No. 2 doubles, Djahangiri and Francis took down the No. 27
doubles team of K.C. Corkery and James Pade, 8-3, to secure the
doubles point for the Bruins.
“I took it easy the day of Cal,” Grilli said.
“But before Stanford, I felt 100 percent.”
In singles, Clemens continued his dominant play, defeating David
Martin 6-4, 6-1. Clemens has now won six consecutive singles
matches against some of the nation’s best.
His doubles partner, Lassi Ketola, got it done in singles as
well, beating Pade, 6-2, 6-4, at the No. 5 spot to give the Bruins
a 3-0 lead.
Francis clinched the match for the Bruins and successfully ended
the Cardinal’s 10-match winning streak, defeating
Stanford’s Carter Morris, 7-6(5), 6-4, at No. 6.
In Stanford’s lone two points of the day, Scott Lipsky and
Corkery both came back from one-set deficits to defeat Grilli and
Djahangiri, respectively. Djahangiri has now lost three straight
matches after winning his first 13 of the season.
“I was pretty disappointed with his play up there,”
Martin said of Djahangiri. “I think it’s his
concentration.”
Chris Lam rallied from behind in his match to remain perfect on
the weekend, downing Warburg, 5-7, 6-3, (10-2) at the No. 4
spot.
“He played great,” Martin said. “He’s
solid as a rock.”
The Bruins return home next week to face Oregon on Friday and
Washington on Saturday. The team expects to be at full strength for
the first time all season.