COLLEGE STATION, Texas “”mdash; It isn’t easy to judge the 2009 UCLA men’s tennis season.
Looking solely at its final match of the season, Monday’s heartbreaking 4-3 loss to No. 3 Ohio State in the NCAA semifinals, it is hard not to be disappointed. After jumping out to a 3-1 lead, the bottom fell out for UCLA.
It didn’t make it any easier afterwards to know that waiting in the final round was a team the Bruins had bested on multiple occasions this year.
“Just knowing that we were playing extremely well and were one match away from playing USC,” senior Michael Look said, “I think that really hurts us a lot.”
But despite the pain of its most recent loss, the team overcame some adversity to make it as far as it did.
A slew of injuries and absences dampened early season expectations for the squad who saw the return of four starters from a 2008 team that also lost in the semifinals. The team also added two top transfers and was looking forward to the return of junior Haythem Abid who played No. 1 in 2007 before redshirting a year.
“This has probably been as weird a year as I’ve ever had with (outside) circumstances,” coach Billy Martin said. “I had the smoothest year last year, with no injuries, no problems. This year was 10-fold what we’ve gone through.”
Relatively speaking, however, UCLA’s dissatisfaction with the season’s outcome can only exist at a school that has 16 men’s tennis NCAA titles. In reality, the team’s list of accomplishments was quite astounding.
After a rough stretch in February where the Bruins lost four of five matches ““ all against teams ranked in the nation’s top 12 ““ UCLA rattled off 14 straight victories, completing an undefeated Pac-10 season to take the school’s 33rd conference championship and its sixth in a row. Then it capped its year off with a season-defining 4-3 upset over No. 2 Ole Miss in the NCAA quarterfinals.
As the team looks forward, there appears to be just as much excitement for next year as there was at the beginning of this season. Because injuries forced Martin to use his bench throughout the year, the Bruins will return a full lineup of six players who have significant experience.
“I think we’ll be in good shape next year and come back and battle, although we’re losing two great guys, two real good team leaders for us,” Martin said.
Those two leaders are the team’s two captains, Look and fellow senior Harel Srugo. Look is arguably the most consistent player on the team. Staying healthy throughout the season, Look won his first eight singles matches and finished with a 16-6 record overall.
“I feel like I’ve given a good leadership role,” Look said. “I think that’s something that rubbed off on me from the seniors when I was a freshman and that’s something that I wanted to bring to the new freshmen as I moved through the program. I think that’s something that UCLA tennis likes to hand down to each other.”
FOUR BRUINS MAKE ALL-TOURNEY: UCLA had four players selected to the All-Tournament team. Sophomore Holden Seguso was picked as the best No. 4 player and Look was chosen for the No. 5 slot.
Also, the doubles pairing of Srugo and sophomore Amit Inbar were given the award for the best No. 2 duo. Inbar and Srugo notched a perfect 5-0 record in the tournament.
TROJANS WIN 17th NCAA TITLE: Eighth-seeded USC defeated third-seeded Ohio State, 4-1, on Tuesday to cap a surprise run in the NCAA Tournament that also included a 4-0 upset of previously undefeated No. 1 Virginia.