ATHENS, Ga. “”mdash; Coming into Sunday’s NCAA quarterfinal matchup with UCLA, Virginia, the nation’s top-ranked team and the top seed in the Tournament, had only lost one match on the season, a 4-3 defeat at the hands of the Kentucky Wildcats on Feb. 6.
In that match, the then-No. 14 Wildcats and the then-No. 2 Cavaliers split six singles matches, each winning three apiece.
The difference in the match was the doubles point. Kentucky won what turned out to be the deciding factor in the upset.
So when the Bruins took the court Sunday, they knew that winning the doubles point would be imperative to their bid at handing Virginia its second loss on the season.
“I thought it was really crucial for us to win that doubles point for us to have a chance,” UCLA coach Billy Martin said after Sunday’s match.
And after a doubles victory for UCLA seniors Matt Brooklyn and Haythem Abid, and a tiebreak win for Bruin juniors Nick Meister and Amit Inbar, the Bruins looked to be getting off on the right foot.
Unfortunately for UCLA, the Cavaliers were determined not to let the ghosts of Feb. 6 creep up on them again.
And in one of its more grueling matches of the season, with temperatures hitting the 90s, the UCLA men’s tennis team saw its bid for a 17th NCAA championship come to an abrupt end Sunday afternoon, dropping a 4-2 decision to heavily-favored Virginia at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on the campus of the University of Georgia.
“It was just a great match,” Martin said. “I thought for a time there we had a really good chance to win it. But that’s how these matches go; they’re a roller-coaster ride. … I’m not disappointed. We fought hard but Virginia was just the better team.”
If the doubles point was any indication of how the match would progress, UCLA looked to have Virginia on its heels.
On court No. 2, Abid and Brooklyn dominated the Virginia duo of Houston Barrick and Sanam Singh, winning 8-2.
And on courts No. 1 and 3, the Bruins went tit-for-tat against the Cavaliers, finally resulting in a tiebreak victory for Inbar and Meister on court No. 1, 9-8 (4).
And once singles began, the Bruins seemed poised not to roll over for the nation’s top team.
UCLA and Virginia each won three first sets in the six singles matches.
On court No. 3, Brooklyn won the first set over Virginia’s Jarmere Jenkins, 6-4.
The Bruins also claimed first-set victories on courts No. 5 and 6, courtesy of junior Holden Seguso and freshman Max Tabatruong.
Unfortunately, the second set jitters that nearly cost UCLA the match against Stanford Friday crept up on the Bruins once again.
Only Brooklyn was able to close out his singles match in straight sets, while Seguso and Tabatruong both lost their respective second sets.
The 1-0 overall lead that the Bruins maintained after the doubles point had become a 3-2 lead for the Cavaliers, who won singles matches on courts No. 1, 2 and 4.
Virginia coach Brian Boland said after the match that neither he nor his team was worried after dropping the doubles point.
“It’s hard to go throughout the entire duration of the season or a big tournament and think that any time you lose the doubles point or … win the doubles point that the results are therefore done,” Boland said. “It’s one point. Obviously it gives you momentum but it’s kind of what you make of it. “
In the end, Boland’s players certainly proved their coach correct, definitively beating UCLA in singles competition and capturing a 4-2 victory.
After the match, Martin, whose Bruins end the season with a record of 17-7, gave the utmost praise to Boland and the Cavaliers, who will take on No. 5 seed USC this afternoon.
“They’re a great team and they’re certainly capable of winning this Tournament.”