It had to end at some point, but the Bruins didn’t expect
it to happen in the fashion it did.
The No. 2 UCLA men’s tennis team’s streak of seven
consecutive shutouts came to a painful end Tuesday at the Los
Angeles Tennis Center, despite easily displacing San Diego 6-1.
In what was supposed to be the marquee match of the afternoon,
the match-up between the Torero’s fifth-ranked Pierrick Ysern
and UCLA’s 14th-ranked Luben Pampoulov on Court 1 came to an
abrupt halt as the Bruin senior decided to retire because of
lingering spasms in his neck.
Pampoulov was examined right after the match and it was
determined he reaggravated a pulled muscle in his neck.
“It became gradually worse as I was out there,” said
Pampoulov, who doesn’t know when he’ll return to the
court.
Up 6-4, 2-3 and with UCLA (8-0) already having secured the
victory over San Diego (0-3), Pampoulov lasered a forehand down the
right baseline, but made a beeline to the net directly
afterward.
The senior offered his hand to his opponent, and with that
concession brought the Bruins’ impressive streak to a
surprising but welcomed end.
“We had won the fourth point, we have USC on Friday which
is huge, thus we decided to throw in the towel and to conserve
him,” UCLA coach Billy Martin said.
“It was a decision that was better for the team. There was
no super upside for him to stay in there.”
While Pampoulov was unable to secure his point, the rest of his
teammates took care of business with relative ease Tuesday.
Sophomore Benjamin Kohlloeffel, who will replace Pampoulov at
No. 1 if he is unable to play Friday, continued his recent stellar
play with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Nic Beuque.
Though Kohlloeffel was sheepishly glad the shutout streak had
come to an end, the sophomore decided to focus on the bigger
picture after Tuesday’s match: the health of his teammate and
roommate.
“It might be good that someone lost, it’s kind of
stupid it was by default,” Kohlloeffel said. “All I
know is that we’ll need Luben back in time for
‘SC.”
In the only other hotly contested singles match, senior Alberto
Francis was pushed to the limit before finally beating San
Diego’s Mirza Koristovic, 6-7 (8), 6-2 (10-8) in a
super-tiebreak.
With its first eight matches now in the past, UCLA enters the
difficult part of its schedule with a showdown with crosstown rival
USC looming this Friday quickly followed by the National Team
Indoors.
Though their season record may be unblemished, Martin feels his
Bruins have much more ahead of them before any celebrating takes
place.
“We don’t want to pat ourselves on the back just
yet, we have a lot that’s still in front of us,” Martin
said.
And a shutout streak that’s finally behind them.
“That’s probably good that thing is over,”
Martin said.