No. 6 men’s tennis creams Rice in decisive victory

The No. 6-ranked UCLA men’s tennis team recorded a decisive victory on Wednesday, handily defeating No. 13 Rice by a match score 7-0. This win improves UCLA’s record to 9-1 for the season, and it could be a good harbinger for today’s match against crosstown rival, No. 10 USC.

“I’m really proud of my guys, the doubles gave us a lot of momentum and I think that carried over into singles,” coach Bill Martin said. “I told our guys before the match not to look ahead to tomorrow because Rice is too good a team. I’m really proud of this performance.”

The Bruins managed to win the doubles point of the match, overcoming deficits in both the No. 1 and No. 3 doubles teams. The No. 2 team of Mathieu Dehaine and Holden Seguso won their match 8-4, while Jeremy Drean and Michael Look notched an impressive come-from-behind victory at No. 3 winning 9-7. Finally, the No. 1 team of Nick Meister and Harel Srugo, managed to comeback from 5-7 to win in a tiebreaker.

Srugo said that it was important for him and Meister to do well in doubles and that some of the momentum carried over to his singles match.

“(Srugo) is doing a good job mentoring the freshman,” Martin said. He added that Srugo’s leadership has been great for the young team.

In singles play, senior Mathieu Dehaine earned the first point of the day with a win over Rice’s Christoph Muller.

Replicating their doubles success, Meister and Srugo were the next singles players to finish, winning 6-2, 6-3 and 6-3, 6-4 respectively. Srugo’s victory clinched the match for the Bruins, who had no trouble up to that point in the match.

Junior Michael Look continued the team’s success, winning in straight sets 6-3, 7-5.

The Bruins encountered a bit of a challenge in the final two matches of the day.

Playing at No. 5 singles, senior and team captain Jeremy Drean cruised to a 6-3 first set victory. However, in the second set, Drean let Rice No. 5 Chong Wang back into the match, as the two players battled it out in a tiebreaker, with Wang prevailing 9-7. Drean came back and won the third set tiebreaker 10-1, to seal his victory.

“I was a bit less aggressive (in the second set),” Drean said. “I let him control the court.”

In the third-set tiebreaker, Drean said that he, “wanted to win and tried to refocus and put the pressure on (Wang).”

In the last match of the day, freshman Holden Seguso won his match at No. 3 singles in two sets 6-2, 7-6 (2).

Seguso said that he’s excited for his first USC match tomorrow and hopes that the team will continue its solid play.

“USC might be under-ranked because they have very good players,” Dean said. “USC is always a great match.”

The Bruins will need to bring a strong effort to defeat the Trojans.

“USC will be a heck of a challenge because they compete really well,” Martin said.

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