The UCLA men’s tennis team overcame their unfamiliarity on outdoor courts and a lack of energy to gain a 5-2 victory over Texas A&M on Sunday.
After playing three tough matches in the USTA/ITA Team Indoor Championships a week ago, the No. 6 Bruins (8-2) knew they would have to quickly regain their strength and adjust to slower outdoor courts in order to gain a victory over the No. 18 Aggies (6-3).
“I was worried about the match because some of the guys were still a little tired from the indoor tournament, which is always really grueling for us,” coach Billy Martin said. “The adjustment back outdoors is difficult for us, so I didn’t know how we would play.”
As it has numerous times this year, doubles play gave the Bruins an early advantage they never relinquished.
Seniors Benjamin Kohlloeffel and Philipp Gruendler quickly won their doubles match at court No. 1 8-4, but the Aggies answered back with a win on court No. 3 before sophomore Haythem Abid and senior Chris Surapol clinched the doubles point with an 8-6 victory.
“Our doubles teams are good but we still have some things to work on,” Abid said. “We are not the best in the country, so we have to improve.”
Abid then dominated his singles opponent at court No. 2, taking the match 6-2, 6-4 to put the Bruins up 2-0.
But before the match, Martin did not even know if Abid would be able to play after he missed practice most of last week with a sprained ankle he received in UCLA’s loss to Ohio State in the semifinals of the indoor championships.
“Abid came through for us and I am really proud of him for stepping up and doing a good job by winning his singles and doubles,” Martin said. “Without him, it would have been a real dogfight of a match for us.”
UCLA took a 3-0 lead as Kohlloeffel improved his singles record for the season to 10-0 with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Texas A&M’s Jerry Makowski on the top court.
The Aggies got on the board when sophomore Michael Look fell in straight sets, but Gruendler clinched the match on court No. 4 with a 7-6, 6-4 win.
“Overall I was pretty happy with the character our team had in doing well even though they might not have felt like getting into a tough battle after still recovering from the tournament last week,” Martin said. “We weren’t real sharp, but I was not expecting them to be sharp. I just wanted them to readjust to competition on outdoor courts.”
With the Bruins not playing at their best, the match was anything but easy.
It was a common occurrence for the Aggies to stay close for most of a set before UCLA got the upper hand. Texas A&M was hindered by coach Steve Denton’s decision not to play any seniors in singles play in order to give his younger players more experience for next year.
“They are a very good team with a new coach who has made the tough decision not to play any seniors in singles,” Martin said. “They are a young team and will be much better next year.”
Even though the Bruins got the win, they know there is much to work on if they are going to be able to beat tougher teams they will undoubtedly face this season.
“We need to be more consistent in our matches and not make mistakes,” Abid said. “We also need to work on physical conditioning so we can be ready physically for the more aggressive teams.”
While it sufficed for the Bruins to not play with their full intensity against the Aggies, they will need to step up their game when they face defending NCAA champion Pepperdine on Wednesday.
“There is no way we’ll beat a team like Pepperdine if we play like we did (on Sunday), but we will be more used to the outdoor courts and feeling better by Wednesday,” Martin said. “There is no doubt in my mind the team will be more competitive and have a lot more energy when they face Pepperdine.”