The season is over for UCLA men’s tennis as a team, but
there is still one Bruin hoping to bring an NCAA title back to
Westwood.
After the Bruins lost to Pepperdine in the quarterfinals, No.1
player junior Benjamin Kohlloeffel stayed at Stanford to compete in
the singles draw.
As the No. 1 seed in the tournament, Kohlloeffel is hoping to
achieve what has been missing at the LATC for more than thirty
years ““ an NCAA singles title. Kohlloeffel will face
Florida’s No. 38 Vladimir Obradovic in the first round of the
tournament at 3:30 p.m. today.
“I think he is the guy with the biggest chance of claiming
it since I have been (coaching) here,” coach Billy Martin
said.
As a 9-16 seed in 2005, Kohlloeffel reached the quarterfinal but
fell to Old Dominion University’s Izak van der Merwe 3-6,
7-5, 3-6. Back then, however, he was entering his first NCAA
Singles Tournament. He had also just clinched an emotional national
title with the team late in the night before his first round.
“I think he is mentally in a better place than last
year,” Martin said. “He knows what it is about and has
the maturity to do well here.”
Building upon a strong 37-4 record from his regular season,
Kohlloeffel won both his singles matches during the team tournament
last week, and expectations are higher than ever. Still, he remains
focused on his game and says he does not feel any added
pressure.
“I am feeling a lot better physically than last
year,” Kohlloeffel said. “I have had two days off and
practice has been going well.”
Despite earning the 2-seed for the doubles tournament alongside
junior Philipp Gruendler, the pair pulled out of the draw.
Gruendler and Kohlloeffel did not manage to succeed at Stanford to
the same degree that they have in the past few months. Their 9-7
defeat against Illinois was the first match lost by the duo this
season, and their close 6-6 match against Pepperdine was cancelled
after the other two UCLA doubles teams lost.
“Gruendler’s shoulder was hurting and with the
disappointment of the day before, they decided to pull out,”
Martin said.
Martin was the most recent UCLA player to win the NCAA singles
title, in 1975, and would like nothing more than to have another
member of the Bruin family finally reclaim the honor.
Martin said he has been teasing Kohlloeffel about the
accomplishment all year, but the junior is concentrating on taking
the tournament one match at a time.
“It would be great, considering he is also the current
coach,” Kohlloeffel said. “I am not thinking about it,
but if I make the final, you can ask me again.”