When your goal is to win an NCAA championship, you can’t
simply be satisfied with mere victories.
Sure, it was nice for the No. 2 UCLA men’s tennis team to
defeat Pacific 7-0 on Friday, but the important thing is what the
Bruins (2-0) do with that win. In this case, they went to lift
weights.
After losing in the national championship last year, there is a
sense of urgency in this team. Everyone is working so hard, on the
tennis courts and with their conditioning, because they don’t
want to have that feeling again.
“The guys are looking like I’m not having to pull
teeth to get them to do it,” coach Billy Martin said.
“It’s sort of something that we’re just expecting
to have to do.”
The Bruins will also have to remain critical of their play, even
when they finish a game, like last Friday’s, with such a
convincing victory.
On Friday, though every Bruin player cruised to a straight-set
victory in singles, Martin saved his displeasure for his No. 1
doubles team of Alberto Francis and Kris Kwinta, ranked No. 6
nationally. Francis and Kwinta lost their doubles match for the
second time in as many days, an inauspicious beginning to the dual
match season.
“I’m really, really disappointed with No. 1 doubles.
It’s shockingly bad, quite honestly.” Martin said.
Francis and Kwinta, who lost 8-6 to Arnar Sigurdsson and Vladimir
Zdravkovic, appear to be moving poorly on the court, and their
reaction time is slow.
“We didn’t play very well,” Francis said.
“It’s kind of disappointing.”
The duo posted a 33-15 record in doubles play last season and
played very well together in the fall, but after coming back from
the holiday break and being forced to deal with the rain, they have
not played even close to the level at which they are capable.
That’s something that Francis thinks should be remedied by
playing together more and getting their timing back after the
layoff.
“A couple more days in practice and we’ll be
okay,” Francis said.
Martin agrees that his No. 1 doubles team will recover, but he
can’t help but be a little frustrated.
“I think we’re going to look back and say, “˜My
god, do you remember when you guys played like that?'”
Martin said.
But aside from the slip-up at the top of the doubles lineup,
everything looked pretty good for the Bruins on Friday. Luben
Pampoulov, who won the Sherwood Collegiate Cup last weekend, played
singles on Friday after sitting out Thursday, posting a 6-2, 7-6(5)
win over Sigurdsson at the No. 1 position. Pampoulov had a 4-1 lead
in the second set, but he lost some concentration before recovering
to win in a tiebreaker.
“My game is pretty good,” Pampoulov said.
“Today it was just a question of my concentration. I lost it
a little bit.”
Benjamin Kohlloeffel, Chris Lam, Francis, Kwinta and Mathieu
Dehaine all cruised in their singles matches, with no one
surrendering more than four games in a set.
So it goes down in the books as a shutout victory. But for the
Bruins, it goes down as another chance to learn and improve. And
when your goal is to go all the way, that’s what matters
most.
“If we can do just a little more work than we did last
year, who knows?” Martin said. “Maybe that will make
the difference.”