The No. 4 UCLA men’s tennis team may have its sights set on making another deep postseason run this season. But the Bruins won’t have to wait until May to see that kind of competition. They’ll come face-to-face with it in just the season’s third week.
The 2009 Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s National Men’s Team Indoor Championships, which kicks off today at Chicago’s Midtown Tennis Club, is essentially a tune-up for the NCAA Tournament in February.
Or rather, Christmas come early for college tennis teams and their fans.
The top 13 teams in the ITA’s national rankings will all be participating this weekend, and three other top 20 teams will fill out the 16-team bracket.
“Well, it’s a lot of fun when you get all these top teams together,” UCLA coach Billy Martin said. “I think the guys realize the season’s really here. We’ve got to either put up or shut up. Only our best effort is going to get us through these matches here.”
UCLA (5-0) has drawn the host squad, No. 13 Illinois (5-2) in its first-round match, which will start today. The Illini are coming off a big 4-3 upset victory of No. 7 Florida this past Tuesday, where freshman Dennis Nevolo broke a 3-3 tie to win the dual match with his three-set win as the No. 1 seed.
Illinois will no doubt have one of the biggest fan bases to show up at the four-day tournament, and Martin has tried to prepare his team for an unfriendly welcome.
“I’ve already prepared the guys to know that they’re going to be heckled,” he said. “We’ve got a good enough, mature enough group that has been here a lot before, so I don’t expect that to be too intimidating for this group of guys.”
Senior Harel Srugo, part of the Bruins’ experienced core, shares his coach’s sentiments about the opposing crowd.
“I think it’s only going to be for the better,” he said. “(Our team is) only going to get more competitive and more juiced up.”
Despite UCLA’s perfect record so far, the highest-ranked team that UCLA has faced at this point was No. 30 Boise State, a team the Bruins dispatched with ease, 6-1. This weekend, however, will go far in showing the Bruins exactly where they stand on a competitive national scale. The unique aspect of this weekend for UCLA will be the need to adjust to the indoor style of play. Most of the teams that the Bruins will face ““ including the Illini ““ play the entire first half of their season on the quick indoor courts.
“It’s a faster-paced game,” Martin said. “Luckily, the courts here are not super fast. In year’s past, we’ve played (this tournament) on courts that seem like lightning or ice for us.”
The Bruins do have a long history at the National Indoors, winning the tournament seven times in its 34-year history. Last year, UCLA went 2-1, barely losing to top-seeded Virginia in the quarterfinals but also grabbing wins over Oklahoma State and Notre Dame.
In this year’s tournament, if the Bruins can make it past the first round, they will have an opportunity at a rematch with No. 5 Virginia, assuming the Cavaliers get past No. 12 Tulsa in their own Friday matchup. Whichever way their draw falls over the course of the weekend, UCLA will most likely be tested at every level.
“I think we’re prepared; I think we’re confident,” Martin said. “There are no guarantees no matter what. I think the fact of the matter is we still have to go out and perform and play well. We have a very good chance of winning, but we could lose to any of the teams here. They’re all good teams, so we just have to be the fighting, tough Bruins, and if we can do that we should have good success.”