TULSA, Okla. “”mdash; You know that T.S. Eliot poem, The
Wasteland, when the world ends not with a bang but a whimper? That
kind of epitomizes this.
There was no devastating defeat, no heartbreak, no “¦
nothing.
Baylor systematically dismantled the UCLA men’s tennis
team, 4-0, in the NCAA Championships on Tuesday at the Michael D.
Case Tennis Center, and that was that. The Bruin loss was quick,
relatively painless and a generally unimpressive way to end what
had been a pretty impressive season.
“We had no chance today,” senior Tobias Clemens
said. “They were just playing so well.
“We were just never really in the match. I can’t
even be sad.”
That’s the kind of night it was for the fourth-seeded
Bruins (23-6).
Third-seeded Baylor (32-2) played an unbelievable match from the
outset, taking the doubles point with victories at No. 3 and No.
1.
But unlike the Bruins’ semifinal victory over Illinois on
Monday, the Bruins weren’t able to recover from the early
deficit. Rather than rallying for first set victories in singles,
every UCLA player went out and lost his first set.
“They played well,” junior Kris Kwinta said.
“The doubles point again ran away from us. We were so close,
but we just gave it away. It changes the situation, the mental edge
before the singles.”
That’s not to say that there weren’t chances, slight
as they may have been.
Luben Pampoulov and Philipp Gruendler were both up a break in
their first sets, but the Bears continued to battle, fighting back
and taking the sets.
“I just felt that they kind of raised their level, and we
weren’t able to keep up with it,” UCLA coach Billy
Martin said. “That was a little disappointing.”
However, the disappointment of this match was of the unique
variety. Baylor just finished things off so fast, with Benjamin
Becker defeating Pampoulov on Court 2, followed shortly thereafter
with Matias Marin downing UCLA’s Chris Lam on Court 3 to
clinch the match.
“We played our very best match of the season on the day it
mattered the most,” Baylor coach Matt Knoll said.
Though Clemens was battling No. 2-ranked Benedikt Dorsch in a
great match at No. 1 singles, and Gruendler and Kwinta were also
continuing to battle for second-set victories in their matches, the
Baylor celebration on Court 3 stopped everything cold.
And it sent the Bruins back to Westwood, title-less once again.
Though they have been to the finals five times since their last
championship in 1984, no new hardware has been added to the Morgan
Center.
“I would have loved to have won; there’s no doubt
about it,” Martin said.
“It’s more fun to win this than lose it, I’m
sure, although I’ve never won it.”
Those are poignant words from the Bruin coach, who hasn’t
won the big prize since becoming the head man with UCLA 11 years
ago, despite having incredible success in every other way.
“Life goes on,” Martin said. “It’s just
one of those things. It’s not like we lost it. They won it,
and that’s not fun to say.”
An incredibly large contingent of Baylor fans made the trip from
Waco, essentially turning the tennis courts of Tulsa into a sea of
green and yellow. The Bruins simply didn’t have the means to
match the Bears and neutralize their fans.
Baylor came out and took home its first championship in school
history in any sport, while UCLA appeared powerless to do anything
about it.
“It really felt like a home match tonight,” said
Baylor’s Reiner Neurohr, who teamed with Ivor Lovrak for a
victory at No. 3 doubles. “I’ve gone through four years
of pain and running, and dreaming of winning a national
championship. It has finally come true, and the feeling is just
unbelievable.”
Kwinta didn’t exactly have the same attitude about the
match.
“When you lose in the finals, it’s the worst feeling
ever,” he said. “I’m going to work my ass off
now, because I don’t want to be in this same position one
more time.”
It was certainly a disheartening way to end what had been an
impressive tournament run for the Bruins, whose 14-match winning
streak was snapped by the Bears, who ended the season by winning
their last 24 matches.
UCLA broke 2003 champion Illinois’ 64-match winning streak
in the semifinals, but just didn’t have enough to get it done
when it really mattered.
“We would have had to play at our absolute best, and we
fell a little short of that,” Martin said.
More like a lot short. But as Martin says, life goes on. Despite
the whimper of a performance they put up Tuesday, the Bruins will
be back.
“Oh yeah, we will,” Kwinta said. “I promise
you we will.”