This year’s UCLA men’s tennis team only superficially looks like its 2013 NCAA runner-up counterpart. Only a 4-3 loss to USC at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship separates UCLA, just like last year’s incarnation, from a perfect record nine games into the season. Yet three freshmen in the singles lineup and the absence of top-3 player Adrien Puget give this team a very different look. An early-season onslaught of the nation’s best only further distinguishes and tests these 2014 Bruins.
“This is definitely the toughest schedule we’ve had in a long time. The last two years were more easygoing,” said junior Dennis Mkrtchian. “This year we’re playing the top schools and there’s a lot of excitement, we’re all looking forward to … this new blood that’s been offered in the schedule.”
No. 4 UCLA already owns three wins over No. 13 Florida and No. 12 Georgia on back-to-back days to start the month, and also topped No. 5 Oklahoma at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship quarterfinals a week ago. The gauntlet only ramps up Tuesday. A home rematch against No. 2 USC precedes meetings over the next two weeks with reigning champion No. 3 Virginia and No. 7 Baylor.
“I don’t remember three bigger matches in a row in my coaching career, where you’re playing three of the top (seven) teams in the country,” said coach Billy Martin, who saw the Bruins play below his expectations in a 4-0 Saturday win over No. 19 Pepperdine.
UCLA’s first assignment is a team with which these particular Bruins are very well acquainted. The Los Angeles schools will have met 10 times since 2012, often on a grand stage. Meetings between the schools produced 2013 and 2014 national team indoor final berths for USC, a 2012 Pac-12 championship and a 2012 NCAA final berth. Last year’s Bruins earned their own Pac-12 championship by beating the Trojans to top off a 3-1 edge in the season series.
For senior Clay Thompson, this season marks one last chance to wrestle control away from USC in what he has seen as a series of “trading blows” since he began playing for UCLA. That he already experienced losing to the Trojans in the indoor semifinals last year did nothing to dull the pain of this year’s defeat. Thompson went on to say that losing to USC never feels any different, especially in a major tournament like ITA National Indoors, and only further motivates him as the season goes on.