Tobias Clemens wanted so much to defeat USC one more time in his
illustrious UCLA career.
He wanted to win for himself, his team and his school.
But in the end, Clemens simply couldn’t get it done.
The Bruin senior dropped a three-set match to USC’s
Adriano Biaselli, effectively sealing his team’s fate in a
4-3 loss Tuesday at the Marks Tennis Stadium.
“It’s really disappointing to play one of the worst
matches of your entire career in one of the biggest matches,”
Clemens said.
Coming off one of the greatest victories of his career, a
three-set win over No. 1-ranked Benedikt Dorsch of Baylor, No. 5
Clemens never really got it going Tuesday. The sharpness and touch
that characterize Clemens’ game were conspicuously absent
against Biasella, who is in his first and last season with the
Trojans after transferring to USC.
“Adriano waited almost a year and a half for this
moment,” second-year USC coach Peter Smith said. “And
for him to do it is pretty cool.”
Tuesday marked Smith’s first victory against UCLA. His
team had been winless in his first four matches against the
Bruins.
“The one thing you do when you come (to USC) is beat the
Bruins,” Smith said.
Defeating UCLA is something the Trojans have become quite
accustomed to in a number of other sports. After Tuesday’s
match, many USC fans began to chant, “Just like
football,” “Just like basketball,” and so on.
A number of USC bench players hounded Clemens the entire match,
poking fun at every misstep and error. It was enough to provoke the
All-American to lash out after the match.
“Everybody knows that at USC they are a bunch of spoiled
pricks,” Clemens said. “This was one of those days
where you realize that you hate USC even more.
“It’s just a second-class school,” he
continued. “The University of Second Class.”
But no one can argue with the Trojans’ recent success on
the tennis courts, as No. 13 USC (8-1, 1-0 Pac-10) has won its last
six matches. The No. 9 Bruins (9-4, 0-1), on the other hand, have
lost three of their last four.
“We have been struggling since the Arizona trip,”
junior team captain Chris Lam said. “We just haven’t
clicked as a team.”
Lam, who broke out of his personal slump with a solid 6-2, 6-2
victory over Daniel Langre at No. 4, stressed the need for the team
to get its act together and not mull over the losses that seem to
be piling up.
“If we dwell on it and get absorbed in it, we might be
down for a while,” Lam said.
On Tuesday, it initially looked like UCLA would continue its
recent dominance over the Trojans, as the Bruins secured the
doubles point with wins on Courts 1 and 3.
But the team didn’t fare so well in singles. Philipp
Gruendler, Chris Surapol and Alberto Francis all lost in straight
sets, putting pressure on Kris Kwinta and Clemens to win their
matches to earn the team victory.
Kwinta eventually won his match against Jamil Al-Agba, but the
team’s fate had already been sealed.
About 20 minutes earlier, Biasella had registered his 6-1, 5-7,
6-1 victory, breaking UCLA’s eight-match winning streak over
the Trojans. The fact that it came against Clemens made the victory
all the more special for Smith.
“I’ll take Tobias Clemens over any other
player,” the Trojan coach said. “And to have him on the
court and to have us beat him to win the match is
impressive.”
Clemens, however, wasn’t so impressed.
“It was just horrible, horrible tennis for me
today,” he said. “The whole day was screwed
up.”