Friday, May 17, 1996
Three straight exits in semis give Bruins the drive to take
titleBy Mark Shapiro
Daily Bruin Staff
It’s been the same story for the UCLA men’s tennis team for four
years running. A solid regular season paired with a high ranking
going into the NCAA championships, then a fall in the semifinals
each time. Four years, four third-place finishes.
This year the scenario is completely different for the Bruins.
The tournament kicks off Saturday in Athens, Ga. with No. 1 UCLA
(24-0) meeting the University of New Mexico in first-round action.
UCLA looks to shed the frustration of the past four years this
weekend by ending an 11-year titleless drought.
"Looking back, in some ways I would be happy to get to the
semis, that’s not a bad year," UCLA head coach Billy Martin said.
"I have not wanted the guys to focus the whole year on winning, it
puts too much pressure on them.
"I think we all believe we should really win it. We’ve got to be
fairly confident and if we’re not, I’d be shocked. It wouldn’t be a
bad showing but I think we’d be disappointed if we didn’t win
it."
The Bruins go into their first-round match brimming with this
confidence and a desire to win, and at the receiving end of this
enthusiasm are the Lobos, who come into the match with a 15-7
record and a regional championship under their belt.
The Lobos will be led into battle by No. 1 singles player Tad
Berkowitz, who hopes to pose some sort of threat to Justin
Gimelstob, the top-ranked player in the nation. Also looming in the
Bruins’ bracket are Pepperdine and Texas Christian, and both are
looking to put a crimp in UCLA’s title hopes. Lurking as a possible
opponent in the final is defending champion Stanford.
Although the Bruins have not faced all of the teams in the
tournament draw, they are still the prohibitive favorites, based
upon the fact that they defeated all comers, including the Cardinal
on three different occasions. Wearing the bullseye of the favored
team has little effect on the squad’s outlook for the tournament
and what they need to accomplish.
"You’d have to say that we are (the favorite), but I can think
of eight different teams that we could lose to," Martin said.
"Fortunately we don’t have to play them all, but if we don’t play
well we’re going to lose. How we have performed so far doesn’t mean
diddly. Even though we are ranked No. 1 and are undefeated, we
still have a lot to prove."
After the travails of the past four years and the acute lack of
a championship for a school that set the standard in the ’70s and
early ’80s, this tournament provides the Bruins with a chance to
bring back more than just a trophy, but a chance to re-establish
their bygone dominance of men’s collegiate tennis.
"It would make the hurt disappear and it would put us back on
the level of a USC or Stanford, who have really dominated college
tennis," Martin said. "We’ve been right there on the bubble but we
have not done it. To be one of the top teams, you’ve got to win
NCAAs and we haven’t done that in 11 years."