If he was even the least bit nervous when the bright lights turned on at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on Thursday evening, Nick Meister didn’t show it.
The freshman regained his composure after losing the second set of his singles match and helped capture the decisive point for the No. 6 UCLA men’s tennis team, propelling the Bruins to a 5-2 victory over No. 10 USC.
“It was a lot more exciting and a lot more energy; it wasn’t like a regular match,” Meister said after his 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 win over USC’s Abdullah Magdas. “It was the most nervous I’ve ever been.”
It wasn’t the first time that Meister had been in such a position, as he helped clinch the Bruins’ win over then-No. 21 Oklahoma State at the USTA/ITA National Team Indoors in mid-February.
And though UCLA coach Billy Martin had his fair share of concern, stepping onto the back courts to watch the two remaining matches, he saw something special in the freshman.
“(Meister) just seems to want to be there,” Martin said. “A lot of freshmen are caught off guard in a big match like this when all the attention is on him.
“Both times that he’s been in that position, he looked like he really liked it and wants to be there. That’s not the norm for a freshman, so I’m really proud of him.”
The Bruins (10-1) set themselves to be in the position to win on court No. 6, thanks in part to winning the doubles point, and also thanks to two of their seniors who were playing in their last match against No. 10 USC (9-3). Bruins Mathieu Dehaine and Jeremy Drean both recorded straight-set victories.
However, the task wasn’t as easy for Drean; he found himself trailing Jason McNaughton 4-1 in the first set, losing 13 straight points.
“No. 13 is always good,” Drean joked after the match. “Once you hit that number, you know you can’t really miss many more.”
It was Drean’s first time playing both singles and doubles for the Bruins against the Trojans, and it will be his last time doing so at the home courts where hundreds gathered Wednesday.
Even though they were ranked below UCLA, the Bruins knew the Trojans were dangerous.
“I really wasn’t that optimistic going into it,” Martin said. “This team is really surprising the coach. They just came out fighting really hard again to win that doubles point. It was a dogfight out there.”
Things aren’t about to get any easier for the Bruins. They take on No. 11 Baylor on Monday afternoon, but the Bruins will take some time to enjoy the victory over the Trojans, their second in a row after clinching the Pac-10 championship against USC in the final match last season.
“We never expected to do this well, but nobody’s taking it for granted,” Dehaine said. “We expect more of ourselves now for sure, but we aren’t looking too far ahead right now. We still come out to play every match, and fight on every court, during every point.”
WOMEN’S TENNIS: The No. 9 UCLA women’s tennis team opens up Pac-10 play today against Washington State (10-3) at 1:30 p.m. and will take on Washington (9-3) Saturday morning.