The UCLA men’s tennis team was hoping to get back to playing outdoors again, but those hopes were washed away by the rain.
At practice Thursday, senior Dennis Mkrtchian said he and the rest of the team were looking forward to finally playing outdoors for their dual match against No. 5 Baylor, seeing as five of their last seven dual matches had been played indoors.
However, come Sunday morning, it was pouring in Waco, Texas, and the match had to be moved. The Bruins had to play where they dreaded: the indoors.
No. 12 UCLA (6-5) ended up being routed 4-0 by Baylor (8-2).
Coach Billy Martin said his team played poorly right off the bat in doubles, losing at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions. Doubles has been the Bruins’ biggest asset thus far in the season – however, the Bears were hosting an undefeated record in doubles.
“If we lose a couple of important points, then the set is gone,” said junior Karue Sell when talking about his 6-0 doubles loss.
As the Bruins moved onto the singles portion, their performance did not get any better, with losses from Sell as well as sophomores Mackenzie McDonald and Joseph Di Giulio.
“(It was) probably (McDonald’s) worst match all year,” Martin said. “He really had a horrible day.”
The nation’s No. 2 singles player fell to No. 10 Julian Lenz 4-6, 2-6 at the No. 1 singles position. McDonald is now 7-1 for the season.
“We held all the way, and then at 4-5, I got a little unlucky on maybe one or two points, and then I got broken to lose the set,” McDonald said. “Second set he played a good game and broke me early, and then he was cold all the way. And then he broke me to win on a deuce point.”
This was McDonald and Lenz’s second meeting in the last six months. Their first meeting was at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in November, and McDonald lost 6-7 (2-7), 6-0, 4-6.
“It wasn’t that he was getting killed – it was just that he wasn’t playing at the level he was when he was in (the USTA/ITA Division I National Men’s Team Indoor Championship),” Martin said. “He was making many unforced errors. It was probably his worst day as far as returning. His return is generally his absolute forte. He does such a good job returning and negating good serves.”
Sell also didn’t fare any better as he was rushed off the court, losing 4-6, 1-6 at the No. 4 singles position.
“I never had a chance to play the points. It was always serve and winner, or serve and miss, or an ace. I just never had chance to be in the match,” Sell said. “It was always on his terms.”
Baylor’s last point came from Felipe Rios defeating Di Giulio 6-1, 6-4 at the No. 6 singles position.
UCLA is now 1-5 on the road and 1-5 when playing on indoor courts. Despite all of this, things could be looking up for the Bruins, as they have just three more road dual matches remaining this season and no more indoor matches.
“I can’t remember a tougher beginning of the season for us. Normally, we go to Indoors and then we might play Baylor,” Martin said. “We generally aren’t a very good indoor team just because we don’t play indoors that often. It will be more fun to play when we are at home and outdoors.”