TULSA, Okla. “”mdash; When he woke up Sunday morning, Harel Srugo had an uneasy feeling about his team’s match against crosstown rival USC in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships.
About 12 hours later, he helped the third-seeded Bruins (25-1) win that match 4-2 to advance to the semifinals, where they will meet seventh-seeded Texas.
“To tell you the truth, I didn’t have a great feeling getting up this morning,” Srugo said. “But as soon as I saw what went along in the doubles, I thought we really had a good chance of winning.”
It was the doubles point, once again, that proved to be the pivotal point in UCLA’s third triumph over the Trojans (22-5).
Coming into the match, the Bruins boasted a perfect 2-0 record in dual matches against USC during the regular season, with the most recent win coming on the road exactly one month ago, a win Srugo clinched with a victory on court No. 1.
UCLA coach Billy Martin knew just how difficult it would’ve been to defeat the Trojans if the Bruins had lost that crucial doubles point.
“To get three singles points against them is tough; four is maybe almost impossible,” Martin said. “We really played good doubles today ““ probably the best we’ve come out on all three courts the whole year.”
The Bruins opened up singles play a little shaky, as senior Jeremy Drean and freshman Holden Seguso found themselves in slight holes to start their respective matches.
But Seguso turned his play around after falling down two early breaks in the first set against Kaes Van’t Hof, a Trojan player who had previously had unprecedented success against the Bruins. The senior was undefeated against UCLA in dual matches in his four years.
“Going into the match, I knew I was going to have to play a long one, and I just tried to stay focused and concentrate on holding my serve,” Seguso said.
At the same time, Seguso knew he would have to break Van’t Hof’s serve after losing his first two service games to open up the match.
Once he fell behind, the freshman started to run down every ball and attempted to keep his opponent in rallies, where he knew he had an advantage.
“I started off the match not confident at all because I’ve been playing really bad for the last four days and I didn’t play well at all in doubles,” Seguso said. “All of a sudden it clicked, though, and he started choking a little bit.”
Seguso went on to win the first set 7-5 before beating Van’t Hof 7-5 in the second-set tiebreaker.
From there, the stage was set for Srugo’s triumph on the next court over.
After breaking Robert Farah’s serve at 4-3, Srugo turned to Martin and took his advice ““ to be patient ““ and reeled together four-straight points to clinch the Bruins’ first semifinal berth since 2005.
“It was amazing,” Srugo said. “I was hoping that the guys were going to get up and do it, but if it has to be me, then I’m definitely going to be there and try to do it.”
And when it came down to his court, the transfer from Old Dominion showed once again why he as been such a big asset to a Bruin squad that has exceeded any and all expectations that were cast upon them at the beginning of the season.
The Bruins will have to rally for their semifinal match less than 24 hours after the end of their dramatic defeat of the Trojans. They will battle a Texas team they haven’t faced yet this season.
For Seguso, there is a chance for redemption.
“I get to play Kellen Damico,” he said. “I haven’t played him since I was in the juniors and I was 17. I lost to him, so hopefully I can get some more revenge.”