UCLA men’s tennis coach Billy Martin knows very well the importance of this weekend.
Tonight, his seventh-seeded Bruins (19-4) take the court at Texas A&M’s George P. Mitchell Tennis Center against unranked Miami (16-8) in the round of 16 of the NCAA Championships. By stringing together a series of wins, the team could be playing until Tuesday. An early loss, however, would most certainly end the Bruins’ entire season on a disappointing note.
In each of the last 15 years, Martin has had a weekend filled with similar pressure, having made it to the NCAA quarterfinals every year he’s been at UCLA. But he’s only got one title to show for it.
“Our season is somewhat evaluated on how we do at the ending tournament, so we’re peaking for it the whole year,” he said. “My experience is this is where it really counts to have guys that have experienced it before, hopefully not so much in awe once they get there and can still keep it in perspective. It’s still a tennis match. The court’s the same size and all that.”
If there is one thing UCLA has going for it as it enters the tournament, it is a surplus of mature players. Of the Bruins’ seven players likely to see action this week, only two of them have never been this far.
In last weekend’s NCAA Regionals at UCLA’s Los Angeles Tennis Center, the Bruins swept both Southern Illinois and Hawaii 4-0 to advance.
Possibly the biggest development for the team was the return of senior captain Harel Srugo, who had not played singles with the team for almost a month because of a thumb injury. Srugo didn’t drop a set in his two singles and two doubles matches, and got the win against the Warriors.
With all the injuries the team has accrued over the season, it finally appears as though everyone will be ready to go when the team needs them the most.
“I think we’ll be able to field a good and healthy team in the upcoming matches, and that’s how we planned it,” Martin said. “So my job is just try to make sure the guys stay positive, (and) everybody’s firing on all cylinders.”
Last year, the Bruins ran a shocking 19-match winning streak to the NCAA semifinals before being dropped by Texas. This season the Bruins have had more roadblocks in their way, but Srugo said he believes that might be to their advantage.
“Unlike last year, where we had a great year as far as winning percentage, I think we come in at a better position because our players are more hungry to get better results and actually to go all the way,” he said. “Last year we were very satisfied, not that we didn’t want to win, but it was already great, so the expectations were a bit lower. This year I think the expectations are pretty high, and I think everybody is more focused.”
The Hurricanes will have plenty of momentum going into the matchup as one of just three teams to have upset one of the 16 Regional hosts.
Miami came back from 3-0 to beat No. 10 Florida 4-3 in Gainesville to earn a trip to College Station, Texas, and a meeting with perennial powerhouse UCLA.
“Everybody’s going to be excited down there,” Martin said. “There’s nobody that’s going to be down and not pumped up for this tournament. I’ve been there too many times to know that every team is going to be hungry, eager, feisty, excited, whatever you might want to say. Yes, they’ll have a little bit of confidence, but that really shouldn’t be any of our concern.
“Our concern is we go and compete and play at our level and give it everything we have.”