No two other teams have been more thoroughly dominated by the
UCLA men’s tennis team than the Arizona Wildcats and Arizona
State Sun Devils.
UCLA has posted a mind-boggling 114-2 combined record against
No. 53 Arizona (6-0) and No. 46 Arizona State (5-1) since 1967,
with both losses suffered against the Sun Devils.
Both squads are coming to the Los Angeles Tennis Center this
weekend, and for either to leave with a win would be quite an
accomplishment.
Despite the one-sided history between these teams, the No. 7
ranked Bruins (7-3) will not fall into the trap of complacency,
coach Billy Martin said.
“We just can’t overlook them,” Martin said.
“We’ve got to respect them but not fear them. We
don’t want to let our guard down, and we don’t want to
lose at home. That’s really important to us.”
The Bruins went 18-0 at home last year, sending them on their
way to their 16th national championship.
The young squad is not content with just one title under their
belts, however, and is looking to repeat ““ one step at a
time.
This means paying attention to Arizona and Arizona State when
they come to town this weekend.
“It’s good that we’ve been taking care of
business against them,” junior Aaron Yovan said. “But
we’ve just got to do it again.”
After an embarrassing 4-2 loss at Arizona State two years ago,
redshirt junior Chris Surapol enjoys the payback of beating the Sun
Devils.
“We played them again at home (in 2004), and our coach
told us to try to make a statement,” Surapol said. “The
next year we did the same thing. We’re always ready for them
now.”
Surapol is playing some of his best tennis and finding ways to
get motivated after redshirting all of last season due to injury,
even for the lowest-ranked opponents.
“I’m not even playing my opponent,” Surapol
said. “I’ll beat my opponent, and whatever the score
may be, nothing’s good enough. That’s the approach you
have to take. That could motivate me because unless I win 6-0, 6-0
both matches, I could play better. That’s the approach
I’m taking this weekend. It’s not about the results,
it’s about how to get my game to the level it needs to be by
NCAAs.”
Besides exacting revenge, this weekend will give the squad an
opportunity to solidify the lineup, which has been in flux since
the outset of the year.
Both the No. 1 singles spot, held down by junior Ben
Kohlloeffel, and the three doubles teams will remain the same this
weekend, but the No. 2 through No. 6 positions may change, Martin
said.
“I think we have eight deep,” Martin said, referring
to the number of UCLA players who could potentially compete in a
singles spot. “I don’t think anybody deserves to sit
the whole time by any means. These aren’t our toughest
matches, but still I want to get guys in.”
If history repeats itself, Martin will have plenty of
opportunities to do just that.