With the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams both facing match point on Wednesday afternoon against UC Irvine, UCLA men’s tennis coach Billy Martin had good enough reason to be concerned.
Not just because it would put the No. 5 Bruins (20-1, 6-0 Pac-10) in a bad position going into singles, but because his team was supposed to use this dual match as preparation for Friday’s match against No. 4 USC, which will determine this season’s Pac-10 champion, as both teams are undefeated in conference play.
“I was pretty disappointed with our doubles play, very honestly,” Martin said. “I was worried about it.”
Fortunately for the Bruins, however, the No. 3 duo of Jeremy Drean and Michael Look was able to save match point at 5-6 in the tiebreaker and win the next two points to clinch the first point of the match for UCLA.
“I didn’t want us to be sloppy, but I felt like we were really sloppy,” Martin said after the match. “We somehow survived.”
From there though, the Bruins made all the necessary adjustments and came out strong in singles play, quickly jumping ahead of the Anteaters on nearly every court.
UCLA earned five straight-set victories in singles, including one from freshman Ahmed Ismail, who rarely sees playing time, but filled in for Drean.
“I was really disappointed after the doubles, but I think everybody really stepped it up in singles,” said senior Mathieu Dehaine, who was playing in his last home match of his four-year UCLA career.
With the win, the Bruins improved their home record to 12-0, repeating last season’s undefeated record in which Martin’s squad went 15-0 at the Los Angeles Tennis Center, including a 2-0 post-season mark.
However, UCLA has no time to celebrate, as they have just a one-day break before they travel to Marks Tennis Stadium to take on the Trojans (19-3, 6-0) in a situation that has played out quite similar to the end of the last season, when the two faced off for the conference title in the final dual match of the regular season.
But Martin and his players are well aware that they cannot get off to a sluggish start on Friday, as USC would quickly take advantage of the opening and end the Bruins’ streak of four consecutive Pac-10 titles.
“If we’re not prepared and not firing on all cylinders, we’re going to be in big trouble,” Martin said.
WOMEN’S TENNIS: The No. 6 UCLA women’s tennis team is also amidst preparations for a face-off for a Pac-10 title, the first in the history of the program.
The Bruins (17-5, 6-1 Pac-10) play host to the No. 10 Women of Troy on Friday afternoon at the Los Angeles Tennis Center and will be looking for a repeat of their previous 6-1 defeat of USC on the road at the beginning of this season.
A win would guarantee the Bruins a share of the title with the winner of the Stanford/Cal match. Those teams have records of 6-1 as well.