As the Baylor Bears danced across the tennis courts at the
University of Tulsa last May, celebrating their first NCAA title in
school history, the faces on the vanquished UCLA players and
coaches said it all.
It had happened again.
An entire season of hard work had once again ended how it had
ended so many times before ““ with pain, with soul searching,
with the resolution that it won’t happen, it can’t
happen, next year. This time the painful loss was a 4-0 shellacking
at the hands of Baylor in the NCAA championship, the fifth time
since 1984 that UCLA has come up empty in a title match.
So it is at the end of each season that the UCLA men’s
tennis program can be comforted by the promise of next year ““
new players, new attitudes, and a whole new chance. Then the fall
becomes winter, next year becomes this year, and the Bruins must
again face that same question.
Could this possibly be the year?
“I think I’ve answered this before,” coach
Billy Martin said.
He answered it last year, and the year before that. Now entering
his 12th season, Martin has posted an incredible 253-50 record as
coach of the Bruins, but that final hurdle has remained elusive.
Hence, the recurring question.
“I think we have a great, great chance to win it this
year,” Martin said.
And he genuinely means it. The Bruin coach knows that his No.
2-ranked team, along with No. 1 Baylor, is among the best in the
country. He knows that he will start four seniors, each of whom
will bring leadership and experience to the Bruins. He knows that
he has nine players who could probably be playing on almost any
team in the country, the kind of depth any coach would envy. He
knows that this could very well be the year.
Martin’s players know it, too.
“The last match of this season is going to belong to
us,” senior Kris Kwinta said.
Such a painful loss will make a team feel that way.
“Losing in the finals hurts,” said senior Alberto
Francis, Kwinta’s teammate in doubles. “You would
almost rather lose in the first round.”
Saying that he felt disgraced after his team had such a poor
showing against Baylor, Kwinta is confident this team is probably
better than the one that won its final 14 matches before losing to
the Bears a year ago.
At first glance, that might seem hard to believe. UCLA’s
No. 1 player from a season ago, three-time All-American Tobias
Clemens, graduated last year.
Filling the void of such a talented player and team leader would
normally be quite a difficult endeavor, but UCLA appears to have
handled it well.
German sophomore Benjamin Kohlloeffel, who had to sit out all
last season because of NCAA rules, will essentially fill the spot
vacated by Clemens in the starting lineup.
Kohlloeffel, who begins the season ranked No. 8 in the country,
will play at the No. 2 position for the Bruins.
Because Clemens is the only player from last year’s
finalists that had to be replaced, his absence likely won’t
be felt too much.
“As hard as it is to imagine, it’s not as tragic as
some people think,” Martin said.
Though Clemens had an illustrious UCLA career, Martin said
Kohlloeffel is a better doubles player, and the team’s
strength at doubles is one of the things Martin is most excited
about.
Kwinta and teammate Francis comprise the nation’s
sixth-ranked doubles team and Martin expects the two left-handers,
Kohlloeffel and No. 1 singles player Luben Pampoulov, to give
opponents fits at the top doubles spot.
In singles there’s senior Chris Lam, who has been a solid
presence for the Bruins the last two seasons. The team leader in
wins last year, Lam should see a lot of time at the No. 3 spot this
season and he’ll only be happy with one result in his senior
campaign.
“This is our last chance,” Lam said. “This is
the last, last chance we’re going to have, so it would be
really nice to go out with a title. It would feel really
good.”
Rounding out UCLA’s lineup are sophomore Philipp Gruendler
and two French freshmen, Jeremy Drean and Mathieu Dehaine.
Gruendler is suspended for the first eight matches of the season
for playing in a league that was determined to be professional in
his native Germany. He will return Feb. 11 against USC and is very
excited about the season.
“Sure, we lost our No. 1 player (Clemens), but we got Ben,
so I think it’s kind of equal,” Gruendler said.
“We’re deeper this year, and personally, everyone wants
it a little bit more ““ even more than last year.”
The team is so strong that Martin will have to really work at
keeping everyone happy. He plans to redshirt Chris Surapol, a
sophomore last season, and he readily admits that the lineup will
have a multitude of looks throughout the season.
“We can’t have guys singing the blues, pissed off,
tearing the team down,” Martin said. “We have eight or
nine legitimate players that all should be playing.”
The team realizes it’s been 22 years since UCLA has won a
championship, and it doesn’t want to be No. 23. While Martin
downplays the fact that he hasn’t won a title as a coach by
talking about team GPA or graduation rates, it’s
overwhelmingly clear what he wants most of all.
“I’m a competitor,” Martin said.
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to win
it.”
This, like every year, could be the one.