Men’s tennis to volley with No. 18 Texas A&M

The upcoming men’s tennis match against Texas A&M on Sunday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center will be business as usual for UCLA.

Coming off last weekend’s indoor tournament in Chicago, the No. 6 Bruins (7-2) will use the match to acclimate to outdoor courts and warm up for next week’s matchup with No. 8 Pepperdine, who ousted UCLA in last year’s NCAA Championship quarterfinals.

No. 18 Texas A&M (6-1) will bring a slew of unfamiliar faces to coach Billy Martin and his team, who haven’t faced the Aggies since the first round of the 2004 NCAA Championships.

The Bruins beat them 4-1 in that meeting on their way to an NCAA victory and have an all-time record of 3-0 against the Aggies.

“If we can play up to par, we can get a win,” said Martin, who plans on watching Texas A&M play today at USC to get a feel for their strengths and weaknesses.

One strength could be the Aggies’ No. 1 player Jerry Makowski, a two-time All-American who was ranked No. 9 nationally in the fall. Currently unranked, he will likely face No. 5 UCLA senior Benjamin Kohlloeffel, who was just named the Pac-10 Men’s Tennis Player of the Week.

Of the school’s five all-time Player of the Week honors, undefeated Kohlloeffel (9-0) has received four of them in his career at UCLA.

The rest of the Texas A&M lineup has rotated in recent matches, but features as many underclassmen as veterans.

Fatigue from playing three matches in three days over the weekend in Illinois should be worn off by Sunday.

“We’re all really tired from the trip, (but) I scheduled it so we wouldn’t have to do a crash course,” Martin said. “By Sunday we’ll be feeling pretty good and hopefully be somewhat energized.”

Senior Philipp Gruendler is looking forward to getting back in the grind of dual-match play.

“We’re preparing just as usual,” he said. “(We need to) just stay focused, do our job, and do what we’ve been doing.”

Senior Chris Surapol listed staying healthy and getting into a good rhythm as themes for the week’s practices and the key to success in upcoming matches.

Strength in doubles will continue to be important for the Bruins, who have given up the doubles point only twice this season, once in a loss to Baylor and once in a win over Illinois on Saturday.

“We’ve been holding our own, but I wouldn’t say the coach is feeling overconfident,” Martin said.

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