The sun isn’t exactly shining in the world of UCLA
men’s tennis, either.
Sure, things aren’t that bad. The fourth-ranked Bruins
have won 10 of their first 11 matches, and five players are ranked
among the top-100 in the country.
But then again, UCLA suffered its first loss of the season last
weekend, its No. 1 player is dealing with a lingering neck injury,
and … it’s still raining.
Right now, the weather is of the most immediate concern.
“It’s terrible,” coach Billy Martin said of
the rain.
Since it rained Tuesday and is supposed to rain today,
it’s quite likely UCLA will only have one day of practice
outside before the Bruins host Stanford on Friday. That’s an
even bigger problem because the team just returned from the
National Team Indoors in Chicago, where the Bruins lost in the
quarterfinals to Virginia.
It’s been over a week since anyone on the team has played
outside, and Martin is rightly concerned that his team won’t
be sharp when it hosts the Cardinal.
“The only saving grace is that they probably haven’t
hit, either,” Martin said.
No. 18 Stanford plummeted 11 spots in the rankings after losing
all three of its matches at the Indoors.
The Bruins, after squeaking past Oklahoma State in the first
round of the Indoors, fell to the now second-ranked Cavaliers in a
match that could have gone very differently.
UCLA played great in doubles against Virginia, taking the
doubles point with victories on Court No. 1 and No. 2. Feeling that
his team had the momentum, and knowing that Luben Pampoulov was
sustaining a pinched nerve in his neck, Martin chose to take his
No. 1 player out of the singles lineup.
That turned out to be a bad decision, as the Cavaliers won four
of six singles matches to win the match, 4-2. And looking back,
Martin feels some sense of regret.
“Had we had Luben, I think we would have done very well
(against Virginia),” Martin said. “He makes our lineup
that much stronger.”
Though the loss was painful, Martin feels that the health of his
player is far more important. And because Pampoulov didn’t
feel like playing singles, he didn’t play.
“I don’t want to do anything that will keep him out
for months,” Martin said.
Interestingly, Pampoulov felt well enough to play singles the
following day, as the Bruins scored an impressive 4-1 victory over
seventh-ranked Florida in the fifth-place match.
With a little prodding from Martin, Pampoulov toughed it out and
won his singles match in straight sets.
“He wasn’t 100 percent for singles,” Martin
said. “But I felt it was that important that we didn’t
lose that second match.”
Martin said he felt a loss to the Gators would have meant a fall
in the rankings, which would have been tough to recover from.
Also noteworthy from the weekend was the play of senior Kris
Kwinta. Playing at the No. 5 position, Kwinta won all three of his
matches in straight sets.
“Kris was all-world out there,” Martin said.