Wednesday, April 3, 1996
By Mark Shapiro
Daily Bruin Staff
There have been precious few roadblocks this season for the
top-ranked UCLA men’s tennis team, but when they have arisen, they
have been hurdled like so many puddles. Over spring break they
surmounted one of the biggest problems when those puddles turned
into Waves.
UCLA traveled to Malibu to face Pepperdine in its lair, which
has been most inhospitable to visitors over the years, as the
Waves’ home record will attest. Not only that, but the Bruins had
to contest with Pepperdine’s intensity, which was piqued by the
pair of thrashings received at the hands of UCLA earlier in the
season.
Things looked grim for UCLA in the early going as Pepperdine
took the doubles point and two of three singles matches at the top
three spots. Facing a 3-1 deficit, sophomore Matt Breen, senior
Heath Montgomery and freshman Vince Allegre stepped up and swept
the singles matches at the bottom three positions to give the
Bruins their 17th victory in the year.
"(The match) wasn’t great, it wasn’t anywhere near our best
match of the year, but the highlight was that four, five and six,
played really well," UCLA head coach Billy Martin said. "That’s the
first time all year that we swept those in a big match."
This sudden surge from the bottom of the lineup came at a
providential moment when, after a week-long layoff because of
finals and vacation, the Bruins found themselves mired at a level
of play far below their expectations.
"It was good, but we have to get back to the level we were at
before spring break and hopefully these matches did," Martin said.
"Hopefully it shocked the guys into seeing that we need to get back
to playing at a better level."
One of the keys in the rejuvenated play at the bottom of the
lineup has been the installation of freshman Vincent Allegre at the
sixth position. Since entering the lineup after rehabilitation from
tendonitis, Allegre has been untouchable, losing nary a match and
only a handful of sets in his first season.
"It took a little adjustment and he’s only now starting to come
around, getting used to the hard courts," Martin said. "It took a
good five months but he’s a mature young man so that certainly
helps. This is what we needed to really fill in the holes.
Everything was always our one, two and three and good doubles, but
if we can get the guys in the back to do the job they’re doing it’s
going to make us even tougher."
* * *
The undefeated Bruins are now entering the home stretch of their
season and simultaneously beginning the most difficult stretch of
this campaign as they face second-ranked Stanford twice,
eighth-ranked USC and 15th-ranked Cal to name a few, all within the
next five weeks leading up to the Pacific 10 Championships.
With this rigorous lineup looming, questions that have haunted
the Bruins in the past begin to appear again. Will the Bruins have
enough gas left in the tank for the NCAAs, or will they run dry in
the regular season?
This query does not concern this year’s squad, however, for they
see this upcoming run as just the elixir that they need to put them
over the top.
"This is what we need, tough matches to get us in good shape,"
Martin said. "I’m not worried at all about it being too tough. Two
matches a week is not a grind. We need the practice to get back in
shape, we need the matches to get us back in the groove. We know
that everyone is going to be after us but we need that, it will
make us tougher."
* * *
The latest Rolex Collegiate Rankings were most favorable to the
Bruins, as they maintained an iron grip on the number one spot in
the nation, more than two full points ahead of second-ranked
Stanford.
In singles, sophomore Justin Gimelstob jumped to third in the
nation while senior Srdjan Muskatirovic slipped eight spots to No.
28. Eric Taino dropped two spots to No. 33 and Matt Breen broke
into the top 100 at the 87th spot.
The doubles team of Muskatirovic and Gimelstob jumped to the No.
1 spot in the nation, and the team of Eric Lin and Jason Thompson
slipped to No. 45.
SCOTT O/Daily Bruin
Vince Allegre has yet to lose a match since moving into the No.
6 singles spot.