Of the four points UCLA captured in the men’s regional
tennis match against California on Sunday, none came harder than
the first.
After UCLA’s Luben Pampoulov and Chris Lam handily
defeated Lennart Maack and Dean Wallace 8-3 on Court 3, the Bruins
saw themselves heading into two simultaneous tiebreakers on the top
two courts ““ a rarity.
On Court 1, Alberto Francis and Kris Kwinta found themselves in
a close match against Cal’s Conor Niland and Patrick Briaud.
After going up 8-7, Francis and Kwinta had chances to capture the
doubles point, but could not convert multiple match points against
the Golden Bears’ serve.
Meanwhile, sophomores Benjamin Kohlloeffel and Philipp Gruendler
were trailing 8-7 and needed a Gruendler service hold to force the
tiebreak.
But even once they reached the tiebreak, the players’
attention was not entirely on their own court. With Francis and
Kwinta one point away from securing the doubles point, Kohlloeffel
found it hard to maintain focus in his tiebreaker.
“When I was serving, the guys (Francis and Kwinta) had one
or two match points,” Kohlloeffel said. “It’s so
tough to watch and focus on your court when the other guys are
really one shot away from winning the doubles point.”
After Francis and Kwinta were unable to break serve, Kohlloeffel
and Gruendler immediately knew their result would matter.
Although the pair of German sophomores got off to somewhat of a
slow start, they picked up a mini-break to take a 5-3 lead they
would not relinquish.
Kohlloeffel would close the match out on his serve for the 7-4
margin, securing the first point of the match and suspending the
tiebreaker on Court 1.
“To go down a point probably would have given them a lot
of momentum in singles, so I think it was key to win the point in
doubles,” Francis said.
The Bruins will now travel to College Station, Texas, where they
will play 10th-seeded Tennessee, a 4-2 winner over Ohio State in
its regional final.
UCLA coach Billy Martin said he did not know many details about
the Volunteers other than that their doubles teams are solid.
At the top of that lineup are ninth-ranked Ockie Oosthuizen and
Ben Rogers, who defeated Ohio State’s fifth-ranked team of
Scott Green and Ross Wilson in a tiebreaker.
Francis and Kwinta are no strangers to nationally ranked
opponents, having split matches against Stanford’s
third-ranked KC Corkery and Sam Warburg.
“We’re pretty confident. We’re playing
well,” Francis said of his and Kwinta’s doubles
play.
Martin feels that losing the doubles point makes any match an
uphill battle, but one the Bruins are still capable of
climbing.
“If we lose the doubles point, everybody comes out knowing
that they have to win, pretty much,” Martin said.
“Three is a lot. Four is just a little tougher.
“It really helps to get that doubles point,” Martin
added.