Losing the doubles point was the last thing that the No. 3 UCLA men’s tennis team could’ve asked for in such a hostile environment as the Baylor Tennis Center. But the Bruins quickly fell behind against the No. 8 Bears on Saturday afternoon, and found themselves working to claw their way back into the match, coming up short and losing 4-3.
“It was a hard-fought match,” coach Billy Martin said. “Doubles didn’t go the way we’d like it to.”
Baylor (5-1) got off to a quick start by capturing the doubles point with a win at court No. 3 where juniors Mathieu Dehaine and Jeremy Drean blew an early 4-2 lead to go on and lose 8-6.
UCLA (5-1), already down a point before singles play, had yet another setback as senior Philipp Gruendler sat out after doubles due to a back injury.
The lineup change got the Bruins into an even deeper hole as Drean, filling in at the No. 6 position, was beaten with very little trouble by Baylor’s Denes Lukacs, No. 66 in the nation, 6-2, 6-2.
The loss at the last singles spot gave the Bears a 2-0 lead over the Bruins, but UCLA was able to even the score with 7-5, 6-3 wins from top-ranked Ben Kohlloeffel and fellow senior Chris Surapol at the third court. Baylor quickly regained the lead when No. 53 Dominik Mueller defeated sophomore Michael Look, who was playing ahead one spot due to Gruendler’s absence, 6-4, 6-4. Look, who was in discomfort during the entirety of the match due to stomach pains, put in extra effort to take a 3-0 lead in the second set, but felt more stomach pain and dropped five straight games.
Sophomore Haythem Abid made sure that the Bruins still had a fighting chance by getting a 7-6(6), 6-4 win over Baylor’s No. 56 Lars Poerschke.
Things were looking good for the Bruins once the match was knotted up at 3-3, as Dehaine led 4-2 in the third and final set, just as he and Drean had in the last doubles match.
“We actually looked like we were going to win the match because he had him at 4-2,” Martin said. “To be that close to winning, you’ve got to believe your odds are good of getting the match.”
Once again, Dehaine’s opponent repsonded to everything the Bruins threw at him, winning four straight games and capturing the victory.
The Bruins suffered a similar loss to the Bears last season when Baylor traveled to Westwood. The Bears were trailing two breaks at No. 3 doubles and came back to win the match and the doubles point before ousting UCLA by the same score. The Bruins will try to move on this weekend when they travel to Chicago to compete in the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships, where they face No. 11 Miami.