The only way UCLA men’s tennis coach Billy Martin could describe losing a week of preparation for the Bruins’ season opener because of rain was “disastrous.”
“I’ve just been really worried this whole week coming up because we really aren’t sharp, losing that week of practice at the beginning of our season,” Martin said. “We’ve been playing catch-up this whole last week, then I was worried maybe we worked them too hard and they’d be a little tired for these matches.”
But according to Martin, it wasn’t only the highly ranked Waves that he was concerned about.
“I was really worried about Hawai’i,” Martin said. “I think they’re a lot better than whatever they’re ranked. They were definitely a top 25 team last year. Hawai’i really made me nervous.”
With the wins, UCLA qualifies for the ITA National Team Indoors, one of the biggest annual early-season tournaments, which will be held next month in Charlottesville, Va.
“It just lets us gauge where we are,” Martin said. “If we get our asses kicked … we’ll know that we got a lot more work, or we can find out that we’re right there battling with the top teams.”
Martin added that the tournament allows him to see top teams he will probably encounter in the NCAA tournament.
“Georgia, Virginia, Ohio State, we won’t maybe see those teams until the NCAA Championships,” Martin said.
UCLA women headed to
Madison
The UCLA women’s tennis team also qualified for next month’s ITA National Team Indoors being held in Madison, Wis.
After kicking off their season with a 5-0 victory over local rival Pepperdine on Wednesday, the Bruins defeated UNLV 4-0 on Friday, followed by a 4-1 victory over No. 36 Tulsa on Saturday.
Once again, the highlight of the weekend for the Bruins was the play of senior Yasmin Schnack and junior Andrea Remynse.
As a doubles tandem, Schnack and Remynse set the tone early for UCLA, handily winning each of their two matches. Both posted impressive singles victories, playing in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots for the Bruins.