Billy Martin didn’t mince words.
“I’m tired of talking about positives,” said the UCLA men’s tennis coach. “The positive is that we got to start playing better and winning. No excuses. We really got to step up.”
The No. 12 Bruins’ road loss in Waco, Texas, to the No. 5 Baylor Bears (8-2) on Sunday was their third loss in the last four matches, bringing their record to 6-5 on the season. The five losses are more than Martin’s squad suffered all of last season.
But Martin said he does not expect to change the practice intensity as a result of the early-season struggles.
“We are practicing hard,” Martin said. “I don’t think our practice level is what is causing us to not win. We’ve got to be more positive with our frame of mind and more determined to not lose.”
All five of the team’s losses have come on the road at indoor sites, a setup which happens to have dominated the Bruins’ early-season schedule.
“We’ve been on the road a lot right now and we’ve played indoors a lot too,” junior co-captain Karue Sell said. “I think outdoors definitely helps us more.”
Martin agreed that his team is better suited for outdoor play because its practices are always outdoors.
Other than the potential return to the lineup of sophomore Gage Brymer, the shift to more outdoor play, starting in their next match at home against the Stanford Cardinal, is perhaps the most encouraging development for the Bruins’ prospects for the rest of the season.
Windy weather
The Bruins’ next trip to Waco, Texas, will be far more important, as the site will host the NCAA Championships in May. While this past weekend’s match was forced indoors by the rain, the national tournament will be played outdoors, where players will be forced to deal with a trademark of Texas tennis: wind.
“Texas generally can be quite windy, whether we’re at Waco or College Station or Houston,” Martin said.
Martin said windy conditions tend to favor quicker players that can adjust their feet if the ball does not end up where they expect.
“Mentally, you never play your best tennis in the wind, so you have to be ready to win ugly,” Martin said. “With wind, it’s so difficult to be precise with your shots as far as going for shots close to the line. You’ve got to bring the court in and give yourself a lot more margin of error.”
Bear beater
Amid a disappointing display for the team on Sunday, senior co-captain Dennis Mkrtchian was up 4-3 in the second set, two games away from a victory over Baylor’s Tony Lupieri, the nation’s 27th-ranked singles player, when their match at No. 2 singles was abandoned.
The performance continued Mkrtchian’s trend of success against Baylor. On his way to the finals of the Sherwood Collegiate Cup this January, the nation’s No. 44 player defeated three Baylor opponents, including No. 10-ranked Julian Lenz.
“They’re a very physical, grinding team, and I’ve actually had a lot of success with them because I’m a similar player,” Mkrtchian said.
UCLA’s last trip to Waco, Texas, produced one of the most memorable matches of Mkrtchian’s career, as he survived nine match points on his way to a 2-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(2) victory over Baylor’s Mate Zsiga.
“I’ll definitely appreciate that memory,” Mkrtchian said. “That’s a special memory, especially against a good school.”