CLAIRE ZUGMEYER Junior Jean-Julien Rojer
and the third-ranked UCLA men’s tennis team await competion against
top-notch teams at the National Indoors.
By Gilbert Quiñonez
Daily Bruin Contributor
Kentucky isn’t usually thought of as a place for great
tennis, but 16 of the top teams from the country will be competing
in Louisville for the National Indoors, one of the elite tennis
tournaments during the season.
For the UCLA men’s tennis team, anything less than a
tournament championship will be considered a failure.
“Winning the National Indoors is a main goal,” UCLA
captain Erfan Djahangiri said.
The Bruins won the tournament last year, beating then-No. 1
Stanford in the final. This year, No. 3 UCLA is matched up in the
first round against No. 23 Kentucky, who they will play for the
second time in three days.
On Tuesday, UCLA won a very close game against Kentucky, 4-3
their closest match of the year so far.
The more intriguing matchup could come on Friday, when the team
would play either No. 8 Southern Methodist University or No. 12
USC, assuming UCLA beats Kentucky.
“I would love to get a whack at SMU,” said head
coach Billy Martin. “It would be a little payback, but I
don’t want to look ahead.”
SMU was the team that upset the Bruins last year in the NCAA
quarterfinals. For those who haven’t followed sports in the
last 100 years, USC is the crosstown rival of UCLA.
It’s hard not to look ahead at USC, though, a team UCLA
beat last week, 7-0, in the Bruins’ best performance of the
season.
“We can’t dismiss them, we might play them
again,” said Martin. “Sports is funny; you never know
what can happen.”
Assuming UCLA gets by the first two rounds, they will have a
chance to play No. 1 Georgia and No. 2 Stanford.
This tournament could help their ranking considerably. After
last year’s win, they were ranked No. 1 nationally.