There were indications that this would be a mismatch.
On paper, it seemed clear No. 2 UCLA would completely overpower
No. 73 Brigham Young and send the Cougars to yet another loss.
And though the Bruins eventually emerged with a 6-1 victory over
BYU (1-7) Tuesday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center, it was a
struggle.
Without having played since the team’s loss to Illinois on
Feb. 8 at the National Team Indoors, many of the Bruins appeared
fatigued from working out this past week, as well as mentally
unprepared for the match.
“I knew that today wasn’t going to be real pretty,
getting used to being outdoors again,” coach Billy Martin
said. “With all the working out, the guys are tired, and we
saw that today.”
Though the Bruins (8-1) cruised to easy victories in doubles and
three of the team’s six singles matches ended in straight
sets, the remaining three singles matches were far from easy.
After winning his first set against BYU’s Christian Hand
6-2, UCLA’s Chris Lam essentially collapsed, dropping the
next two sets, 6-4, 6-2.
Kris Kwinta needed three sets to pull out a victory on court No.
4, while Aaron Yovan went the distance on court No. 6.
“I played really bad,” Kwinta said. “I came
into the game with a bad mentality set. We really thought this
match was going to be easy.”
The only one the match appeared easy for was senior Tobias
Clemens.
Clemens, ranked No. 12 in the country, rolled over BYU’s
Erik Nyman on court No. 1, 6-2, 6-0.
“I felt great and I am very happy with my
performance,” Clemens said. “I came into the match with
intensity and I took over the game in both doubles and
singles.”
Junior Alberto Francis and sophomore Chris Surapol were the
other Bruins to post straight-set victories.
While the match wasn’t the overwhelming 7-0 victory some
may have expected, days like Tuesday are just part of tennis. And
Martin certainly doesn’t feel his team’s subpar
performance against BYU says anything about how his team will
perform this weekend against conference foes Arizona State and
Arizona.
“Gosh, tennis is such a funny sport,” Martin said.
“You can have an off day one day and a great day the next. A
lot of times it’s just how you get up out of bed. I’m
not too worried about it, and it’s no indicator of how
we’ll do in Arizona.”
With reports from Jessica Jue, Bruin Sports
contributor.