In addition to going on the road for the first time as a team this weekend, the No. 4 UCLA men’s tennis team will be forced to confront some internal issues when they visit No. 20 Pepperdine this Saturday afternoon.
With Wednesday’s 5-2 defeat of San Diego State University at the Los Angeles Tennis Center in a match much closer than the final score indicated, coach Billy Martin and the Bruins woke to the first true challenge of their young season. Having lost the doubles point in two straight matches to significantly less qualified teams, Martin said UCLA (5-0) needs to find a way to come out strong and make the kind of statement that a top-five team would be expected to make.
“Doubles is really emotion and coming out and starting quick and not getting yourself in a hole,” Martin said. “With the eight-game pro set there, you can’t get off to a bad start. And we did (against SDSU), on almost every court. We’ve just got to learn, hopefully, from our lessons and be smarter than that next time.”
Despite a strong singles victory, redshirt junior Haythem Abid was one of four Bruins whose doubles team failed to execute in the day’s early match.
“We were a little sloppy, not too much energy between the courts,” he said. “Everyone was playing on their own. There was no energy in doubles. We need to get more energetic and cheer for each other, so we’re definitely going to work on that.”
They will have to make those improvements quickly because Saturday’s opponent will not present them with any gifts, especially on the doubles court. Pepperdine senior Omar Altmann and junior Bassam Beidas, the Waves’ No. 1 pair, have not lost a doubles match in their last six attempts. Altmann, who is currently ranked No. 52 in the nation as a singles player, was named to the All-WCC first team in doubles last season, and should give the Bruins a battle in both of his matches.
Pepperdine (6-2) has struggled at times this season, suffering a 6-1 defeat to No. 30 Boise State, a team that UCLA beat handily at home by the same score. The Waves, however, return several top players from a team that made it to the quarterfinals of last year’s NCAA tournament where they lost to eventual champion Georgia, and have won four straight matches since the Jan. 25 loss to the Broncos.
Most importantly for the Bruins, they will look to plug some of the holes that have surfaced in their game recently before it’s too late.
“If we go to Pepperdine or back east and play like (we did against SDSU), we are going to get our tails cleaned,” Martin said. “There’s no doubt about it.”