There just might be a new tennis king in Los Angeles.
While UCLA has owned USC in head-to-head play, winning the last
eight and 22 out of the last 24 dual matches, it appears the
Trojans might soon make a legitimate claim for a win.
The bitter rivalry will be renewed today at the Marks Tennis
Stadium on the USC campus, and the Bruins realize they will have
targets on their backs.
“I’m sure they’re going to be really ready for
us and wanting to beat us at their place,” coach Billy Martin
said. “This will be a great test for our guys.”
Since the teams’ first meeting this season, a 4-3 UCLA win
in January, the No. 13 Trojans have been undefeated. The No. 9
Bruins (9-3) have dropped three of their last eight matches.
“We are not a dominant team right now,” Martin said.
“We have to do it on hard work, determination, fighting and
everything like that.”
Before the teams’ first meeting, Martin said USC deserved
to be in the top 10. It appears the team is now getting that
respect. USC posted its most impressive win of the season Feb. 28,
a 4-3 win over No. 3 Baylor, which had defeated UCLA 5-2 two days
before.
“They thought they should have beaten us a couple weeks
ago, so they are going to come in very fired up,” senior
Tobias Clemens said.
Like the Trojans (7-1), Clemens is entering today’s match
coming off his greatest victory of the season. In his team’s
loss to Baylor, Clemens registered a three-set victory over
Benedikt Dorsch, the nation’s No. 1-ranked player. Martin
called it the best match he’s seen in a long time.
But Clemens is done with it, and he is now focused on the task
at hand.
“It’s almost like a duty for every UCLA athlete to
give everything to try to beat USC,” he said.
Clemens expects USC coach Peter Smith to tinker with his
team’s lineup, and he anticipates facing someone other than
Johan Berg, a player Clemens defeated in straight sets in the
teams’ first meeting. In all likelihood, Italian Adriano
Biasella will play at No. 1.
But USC has the type of team in which different players can play
many different positions in the lineup. This depth worries
Martin.
“I have a lot of respect for (USC),” Martin said.
“Their depth is so solid.”
The Bruin coach is especially concerned because depth is
something the Bruins sorely lack right now. Sophomore Chris Surapol
is 1-4 in his last five matches at the No. 6 position.
“We’re a little weak at six, and we knew that going
into the year,” Martin said.
Surapol is still a little too young and inexperienced to hold
his own against older, more developed players. But that
doesn’t mean he hasn’t been trying.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling to play on such a
great team,” he said. Martin has loved the energy seen from
Surapol in doubles and his improving singles play. But it is more
than likely that Surapol will be removed from the starting lineup
come April, when Luben Pampoulov joins the team.
“I just have to fight my heart out every single
match,” Surapol said.