Simply put, today is the big one.
The No. 12 UCLA men’s tennis team will travel crosstown this afternoon to take on the rival and No. 4 Trojans in the teams’ third and final meeting of the season, barring a matchup in the NCAA Tournament.
And to say that the Bruins have struggled against the Trojans this season would be an understatement
USC has handily defeated the Bruins in each of the teams’ two matches to date, winning 4-0 over UCLA on Valentine’s Day at the National Team Indoors, and then defeating the Bruins by a score of 6-1 March 3 at UCLA’s Los Angeles Tennis Center.
“I’m not going to kid you … it’s going to be very, very difficult for us,” UCLA coach Billy Martin said Thursday. “We know they’re a very good team and we don’t seem to match up real well against them. But we’re going to give it a great try.”
In two matches against the Trojans, the Bruins have only been able to muster up one point, which came in the form of a singles victory for UCLA junior Nick Meister playing in the No. 5 slot.
But that was on March 3, when the Bruins were at full strength. Since then, UCLA has had to deal with a plethora of injuries, including key injuries to their top two players, senior Haythem Abid and junior Holden Seguso.
And although Seguso has returned to the lineup, Martin is unclear if Abid will be ready for action this afternoon.
“We’re not at full strength,” Martin said. “Abid is still hurting, so I still don’t know if he’ll be able to play both singles and doubles. But Holden’s back, which will certainly help us out.”
If Abid is unable to compete in singles, Meister will most likely play in the No. 1 position for the Bruins, meaning he will take on one of USC’s two singles juggernauts, Steve Johnson or Robert Farah, the No. 2 and No. 7 singles players in the nation, respectively.
With that said, Martin emphasized just how important it will be for UCLA to win the doubles point against the Trojans, which it has come close to capturing in its first two matches with USC.
“It’s really important because we haven’t won three singles points against USC in the first two matches,” Martin said. “The thought of having to win four would be monumental.”
In addition to heading into their toughest test of the season, the Bruins have been somewhat reeling as of late, losing two of their last three matches: a 4-3 defeat to Stanford on April 3 and a 4-3 defeat to Arizona this past weekend, UCLA’s first-ever loss to the Wildcats.
“Anytime we lose it bothers me,” Martin said. “I was worried about that trip. It’s always a nightmare for us. I think it’s the third year in a row we’ve lost the doubles point but luckily, the two years prior, we’ve been able to come back and win singles, and we almost did it again this time. But it was disappointing.”
But despite UCLA’s recent troubles and injury issues, Martin is excited to have another crack at USC, and is confident that his Bruin squad will not be feeling the pressure to win as much as the Trojans will, especially when the outright Pac-10 championship is on the line for USC.
If USC loses to UCLA, the Trojans will be forced to share the Pac-10 title with Stanford.
“We have nothing to lose, so mentally, we can go out there pretty relaxed,” Martin said. “The pressure is a little bit on them having already beaten us twice.”