No matter who the competition and how big the rivalry, the No. 4 UCLA men’s tennis team continues to shut out its opponents and show why it is truly one of the premier teams in the nation.
This time around, the unlucky opponents were Pac-10 conference rivals: No. 18 Cal and No. 19 Stanford.
When UCLA (5-0) took the courts on Friday to face the Bears (3-2), it appeared as though the match would be close, with the home team falling quickly behind in the doubles point, at one time trailing 4-1 at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions.
“It was really scary,” UCLA coach Billy Martin said.
“I thought we looked really tentative at two and three. When you’re down 4-1 two breaks, sometimes it’s almost too late.”
But the Bruins didn’t give up without a fight on either of the two courts. Juniors Mathieu Dehaine and Jeremy Drean brought themselves back into the match, but faced two match points that would’ve sealed the doubles point for the Bears.
However, Drean ripped a winner down the line to keep the Bruins alive with a chance to tie the score at 7-7, which the duo successfully converted.
“We told each other that we only had one more chance,” Drean said. “We had to try, try and try and see if it gets any better.”
Down three break points in the next game, the French tandem was able to fight its way back into the match, sealing the doubles point and keeping its
7-0 shutout streak alive after the Bruins swept in singles action.
“We lucked out to win the doubles point, quite honestly,” Martin said. “We needed this match and we got through it.”
A little less than 24 hours later, UCLA met one of its biggest rivals, Stanford, for another dual match at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
The Cardinal (0-3) were coming off a loss to the No. 43 USC Trojans on Friday, as they failed to capture their first victory of the season.
The Bruins quickly made sure Stanford wouldn’t get their first win against them, jumping out and clinching the doubles point with an 8-6 win at court one from seniors Benjamin Kohlloeffel and Philipp Gruendler.
UCLA then went on to win all six singles matches en route to posting its first shutout win over Stanford since 1992.
“Obviously it was before my time that it happened,” senior Chris Surapol said.
“I just remember all the past matches we’ve had with them and it’s usually 4-3 and we’ve been on both ends of that score, so to get the shutout gives us some confidence.”
With the two dominating victories, the Bruins are showing that they could very well be the best team in the Pac-10 by a wide margin.
The reason for such domination, Surapol said, is the return of all top-six singles players, as UCLA shows nearly the exact same lineup as it did last season.
“It’s not just that we returned all of our guys, but each of us is playing that much better this year and I don’t think we’ve even reached our full potential yet,” he said.
QUICK HITS: The Bruins will now travel to Waco, Texas, where they face yet another arch nemesis in No. 2 Baylor. The two teams met in two consecutive NCAA Championship matches, with UCLA losing in the first showdown and winning the second time around, a 4-3 match clinched by Kris Kwinta, who is now an undergraduate coach for the Bruins … UCLA dropped its first match of the season at the No. 2 doubles position against Cal on Friday … Surapol was the first Bruin to drop a set in singles play after UCLA had won 47 straight.
WOMEN’S TENNIS: The No. 15 UCLA women’s tennis team struggled at the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships, losing 5-2 to No. 8 Northwestern in the first round before beating host school Wisconsin in the consolation round. The Bruins then went on to lose 4-3 to No. 18 Clemson in their next match.