It may not have been the prettiest match, but it was a win. And
when you’re playing USC, that’s what seems to matter
most.
Tuesday, the No. 8 UCLA men’s tennis team proved that it
can ““ and will ““ grind out victories, and the Bruins
(10-3) were rewarded for their efforts with an emotional 5-2 win
over the No. 26 Trojans (6-5). It was UCLA’s 16th straight
victory over USC at home.
“It was close, but we didn’t expect anything
different,” junior Benjamin Kohlloeffel said.
“It’s not about who’s the better team, who has
the better players. Against USC, you always have to
play.”
UCLA’s freshmen appear to have embraced that fact, as
Haythem Abid clinched the victory for the Bruins at the No. 2
position, scoring a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) win over Trojan sophomore
Dejan Cvetkovic, while fellow freshman Michael Look finished the
match with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 come-from-behind victory over Adam
Loucks at No. 5.
Though it was Abid’s first taste of the fierce rivalry,
and though hundreds of pairs of eyes were transfixed on his court
by end of his match, he handled each tiebreaker with the poise of a
seasoned veteran.
“At the beginning you always get nervous, but when you
start playing the points you relax more,” Abid said. “I
just focused on putting the ball in the court and making him
play.”
Trailing 4-3 in his second-set tiebreaker, the Tunisian freshman
won four of the last five points to seal the victory and allow
Bruin coach Billy Martin to let out a sigh of relief.
“I feel like he handled it a lot better than that young
man from USC on this particular day,” Martin said. “He
played pretty darn well.”
Martin seemed especially pleased with his players after the
match, considering the circumstances they were forced to
overcome.
Though junior Philipp Gruendler was penciled in to play at the
No. 5 spot, he felt like he couldn’t compete in singles due
to lingering tendinitis in his right knee.
Gruendler’s knee has been bothering him all season, and he
said the only thing that will allow it to improve is rest.
This late development forced Look to No. 5, and junior Aaron
Yovan entered the lineup at No. 6.
“After we had to pull Philipp, I thought it would be
really tight,” Martin said.
The Bruin coach said that while he felt confident with
Kohlloeffel and Chris Surapol, he knew that the other four singles
matches could go either way.
True to form, Surapol took care of business with a 7-6 (0), 6-2
victory over Jeff Kazarian at No. 4.
“I’m pleased with the result, but not happy with my
performance,” said Surapol, adding that Tuesday’s match
was probably the worst he’s played all season. “I came
out flat and tentative.”
Kohlloeffel was his usual consistent self, welcoming USC’s
No. 1 Jamil Al-Agba to the singles lineup with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.
It was Al-Agba’s first singles match of the season. Prior to
Tuesday, he had played only doubles.
“I knew that they were going to put him in somehow,
somewhere. It was obvious,” Kohlloeffel said, though he
thought Al-Agba would likely play at No. 3 or No. 4.
The straight-set victories from Surapol and Kohlloeffel,
combined with the doubles point, left the Bruins needing just one
more match for the team victory.
Abid had been serving for the match, but he was broken by
Cvetkovic for 5-5. Both players held serve to set up Abid’s
tiebreaker heroics. His victory left UCLA 3-for-3 on tiebreakers
for the day.
And that says something about a team.
“It says it’s hard to take us down,” Surapol
said.