It’s been awhile since the No. 6 UCLA men’s tennis team stacked up against heavy competition.
Now, all of a sudden, the Bruins will be forced to go against three teams ranked in the top-15 in a six-day stretch, starting this afternoon against No. 13 Rice.
“These next three matches are really big for us,” UCLA coach Billy Martin said. “I would like to keep our home winning streak and pride intact.”
The Bruins (9-1) haven’t been tested too seriously over the past two weeks, handing UC Santa Barbara a 6-1 defeat and traveling to La Jolla to compete in the Pacific Coast Doubles Championships, where the doubles teams tuned up and got additional match experience.
But with the heart of the schedule coming up, UCLA will try to be quick to adjust its mentality.
Although the Bruins are ranked higher than all three of the opponents they will face in this stretch, no match will come easy, and Thursday’s matchup against No. 10 USC (9-2) will likely be just as intense as the two meetings last season.
Unfortunately, however, UCLA may come into that match slightly winded after this afternoon’s showdown with the Owls (8-2), a team that Martin didn’t expect to be as highly ranked a year ago.
“We’ve got a really tough match, probably tougher than I would’ve liked the day before USC,” Martin said. “But when you do the schedule a year in advance, you just don’t know how good a team is going to be.”
And the same could almost be said for his squad, as the Bruins have defied odds and shocked much of the nation, including their coach, with their play this season.
“I’m really pleasantly surprised, and I think a lot of other teams across the country are surprised also,” Martin said.
“I am as proud of this team as any other team I’ve had; they’ve really competed and been so determined.”
Although the Bruins tend to play most back-to-back games on Friday and Saturday, whether it be on the road or at home, this week is a bit different.
Yet, Martin doesn’t expect it to take a toll on the team in terms of academics.
The men’s tennis team usually earns one of the highest team GPAs of any UCLA athletic team, and this year doesn’t look to be any different.
Martin even expects some faces his team may be familiar with in the stands come this afternoon’s match or tomorrow’s match against USC.
“Hopefully we’ll get a few teachers out here rooting for us and cheering for their students,” Martin said with a smile.
The third and final match of the tough stretch will be against No. 11 Baylor (10-4) on Monday.
Things won’t get much easier after that either, as the Bruins will take on No. 61 Duke a week from today.
Martin said that he was surprised to learn that the Blue Devils had dropped so low in the computer rankings.