It wasn’t supposed to be like this. The UCLA men’s
tennis team’s 4-3 victory over Virginia on Wednesday was
supposed to be a warm-up for today’s match against USC, not a
struggle for victory.
But a struggle it was. The No. 3 Bruins (12-1) needed a late
victory by Chris Lam at No. 4 singles to eke out a win against the
overmatched Cavaliers.
Now, turning an apparent negative into a certain positive, the
Bruins think they have that poor, unfocused performance out of
their system as they set their sights on a season sweep of the No.
18 Trojans (7-4). Previously, the Bruins rolled to an impressive
6-1 victory January 31 at USC.
UCLA leads the all-time series, 57-30.
Over-confidence should not be a problem, especially after
Wednesday’s near-debacle.
“(Virginia) was a shocker that will make us realize what
we need to do to get ready,” Lam said.
Marcin Matkowski, the nation’s No. 45 player, agreed.
“If we didn’t play any match before ‘SC,
that’s basically how we would play against ‘SC,”
he said, “We need to be much more focused.”
Head coach Billy Martin, disappointed with Wednesday’s
performance, knows his team will have to raise its game.
“We’ll have to step up our level against the
Trojans,” he said.
Defending national champion USC boasts an arsenal of talent,
including nationally-ranked Prakash Amritraj (No. 36) and Daniel
Langre (No. 59).
Amritraj, son of professional tennis legend Vijay Amritraj, is
8-1 in dual match play this season and is also responsible for
handing UCLA’s No. 1 player, national No. 8 Tobias Clemens,
his first loss of the season.
For Clemens, a little revenge may be in order.
“I tried to change some things in the game plan,” he
said, “so maybe I can come up with a little
surprise.”
As a team, the Bruins hope they aren’t surprised by an
eager Trojan squad that hasn’t played a match since a 4-0
loss to No. 22 Texas on February 22.
Ruminating over his own team’s shoddy performance, Martin
was taken aback by USC’s lack of matches.
“That’s shocking that USC didn’t play a match
this week,” he said, “Hopefully that will help
us.”
In any event, the rivalry should inject some excitement in each
team’s first Pac-10 match of the year.
Clemens believes the weather will bring fans in droves.
“The weather seems really good, 70 degrees, so hopefully
everyone will come out and enjoy a nice day.”
“It’s certainly the one that gets our Bruin
supporters out here,” Martin said. “It’s a fun
day, a fun match, and a great rivalry.”
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The match will be televised on a tape-delayed basis by Fox
Sports Net on Sunday, March 9 at 3 p.m.