Arizona barely challenges Bruins
Over the weekend, UCLA was without its best player, Tobias
Clemens, and still crushed Arizona 7-0 and Arizona State 5-2.
Everyone on the starting lineup was moved up a spot forcing Marcin
Matkowski to play at No. 1 singles.
Matkowski made the adjustment easily and beat Arizona’s
Steven Capriati 6-3, 6-4 and ASU’s Matt Klinger 7-6, 7-6.
“Playing No. 1 against the Arizona schools isn’t
that different from playing at No. 3 or No. 4 against other
schools,” Matkowski said. “It wasn’t that big of
a difference.”
However, Matkowski did have to adjust to Capriati and
Klinger’s different playing styles.
“Those guys don’t want to play for rallies,”
Matkowski said. “They play for winners, and you can’t
get into a rhythm.”
Confidence booster for Rojer
Jean-Julien Rojer started the season ranked No. 18 nationally.
However, his ranking has taken a nose dive and he has fallen out of
the top 120. Over the weekend, Rojer did win both of his matches at
the No. 2 spot beating Whi Kim 6-3, 6-2 and Pim Van Mele 6-0,
6-2.
“Those wins are going to help his confidence a lot,”
UCLA head coach Billy Martin said. “We talked and came up
with some good solutions on what can help him. He’s not a
quitter.”
Spring “˜Break’
Over Spring Break, the team practiced twice a day before their
matches against the Arizona schools. However, many of the players
didn’t seem too disappointed.
“It’s always good to recharge our batteries and get
ready for the rest of the season,” Lassi Ketola said.
“During Spring Break, I played better and started attacking
more.”
“During our first practice, Friday afternoon of finals
week, the team looked very rusty,” Martin said.
No. 1 for a week
The 16-1 Bruins were ranked No. 1 during finals week, the first
time they have been ranked No. 1 all season. However, because they
didn’t play any games that week combined with former No. 3
Georgia’s win over No. 2 Illinois, the Bruins are now No. 2.
Current top five: Georgia, UCLA, Illinois, Notre Dame and Stanford.
The Bruins play Stanford on Saturday at the Los Angeles Tennis
Center.
Compiled by Gilbert Quiñonez, Daily Bruin Contributor.