Monday, 4/7/97
REVENGE is SERVED
Arduous strife with arch-rival Stanford rewarded by a
victory
By Mark Shapiro
Daily Bruin Staff
n the midst of the most trash-talking the Los Angeles Tennis
Center has seen since the Gimelstob era, the top-ranked UCLA men’s
tennis team defeated No. 7 Stanford, 4-3, in an epic struggle on
Friday afternoon, as the two teams renewed the toughest rivalry in
college tennis.
It was a match that featured perhaps the most scintillating
finish of the season, as the result was decided by the final match
of the day. Even with this nerve-jangling finish, it was the
unbridled animosity flying faster than a Sampras serve that set the
tone for the afternoon.
You’ve got Eric Taino’s pregame vitriol setting the stage,
Stanford’s Bob Bryan pushing up the world after a winner, then
hitting a ball into the crowd after winning his number two singles
match, and UCLA’s Kevin Kim telling his opponent, Mike Bryan, to
stay on the ground after slipping from going after a winner, then
hitting a ball to Bryan’s father in the stands after winning the
match.
In the midst of this, the Bruins (20-1, 7-0) found themselves
locked in perhaps the most exciting match of the year, with the
match riding on Taino’s match at number one singles.
"This was a great college matchup," Stanford head coach Dick
Gould said. "It was just nip-and-tuck all the way; that’s what you
hope for in an athletic contest like this."
The Cardinal jumped out on top, 2-0, after taking the doubles
point and second singles, as Alex Decret fell to Bob Bryan, 6-3,
6-0.
The tide began to shift when UCLA freshman Kevin Kim, playing
third singles, came up with an emotional 6-4, 6-4 victory over Mike
Bryan (Bob’s twin brother), a player who he had faced many times as
a junior and felt little goodwill towards.
Kim, one of the most soft-spoken Bruins, made no bones about his
feelings towards his opponent and the pleasure derived from a
victory.
"We’ve had some past quarrels, and we have a grudge against each
other," Kim said. "(The victory) was very nice; I hate losing to
the guy. I just get so intense against him, and it’s annoying to
lose a point to him."
Two more singles matches went the Bruins’ way, as junior Matt
Breen and sophomore Jason Cook won at fifth and sixth singles,
respectively. The Cardinal evened the match at 3-all when UCLA’s
Vincent Allegre lost at fourth singles, 6-0 in the third set.
Enter Taino.
Here was a player who, though ranked 10th in the nation, had
lost four straight matches and was facing the same Ryan Wolters who
had beat him to clinch last year’s national championship for
Stanford.
After splitting the first two sets, 6-3, 2-6, the match and the
victory came down to a third set. With a service break in his back
pocket, Taino held off a game to Wolters to clinch the third set,
6-4, and secure the match for the Bruins.
"Both of us picked up our level, and I just forgot about being
nervous and focused on playing," Taino, who was approached by Gould
after the match about his earlier comments, said. "I feel like I’m
doing better than I was doing before."
* * *
On Saturday, the Bruins picked up where they left off,
dispatching the University of California, 5-2. The victory ran the
Bruins’ winning streak to 18 matches and dropped the Golden Bears
to 8-8.
UCLA 4,
Stanford 3
JON FERREY
Eric Taino’s fury carried through to his match against Cal,
after defeating Stanford.