The No. 6-ranked UCLA men’s tennis team recorded a decisive victory on Wednesday, handily defeating No. 13 Rice by a match score 7-0. This win improves UCLA’s record to 9-1 for the season, and it could be a good harbinger for today’s match against crosstown rival, No. 10 USC.
“I’m really proud of my guys, the doubles gave us a lot of momentum and I think that carried over into singles,” coach Bill Martin said. “I told our guys before the match not to look ahead to tomorrow because Rice is too good a team. I’m really proud of this performance.”
The Bruins managed to win the doubles point of the match, overcoming deficits in both the No. 1 and No. 3 doubles teams. The No. 2 team of Mathieu Dehaine and Holden Seguso won their match 8-4, while Jeremy Drean and Michael Look notched an impressive come-from-behind victory at No. 3 winning 9-7. Finally, the No. 1 team of Nick Meister and Harel Srugo, managed to comeback from 5-7 to win in a tiebreaker.
Srugo said that it was important for him and Meister to do well in doubles and that some of the momentum carried over to his singles match.
“(Srugo) is doing a good job mentoring the freshman,” Martin said. He added that Srugo’s leadership has been great for the young team.
In singles play, senior Mathieu Dehaine earned the first point of the day with a win over Rice’s Christoph Muller.
Replicating their doubles success, Meister and Srugo were the next singles players to finish, winning 6-2, 6-3 and 6-3, 6-4 respectively. Srugo’s victory clinched the match for the Bruins, who had no trouble up to that point in the match.
Junior Michael Look continued the team’s success, winning in straight sets 6-3, 7-5.
The Bruins encountered a bit of a challenge in the final two matches of the day.
Playing at No. 5 singles, senior and team captain Jeremy Drean cruised to a 6-3 first set victory. However, in the second set, Drean let Rice No. 5 Chong Wang back into the match, as the two players battled it out in a tiebreaker, with Wang prevailing 9-7. Drean came back and won the third set tiebreaker 10-1, to seal his victory.
“I was a bit less aggressive (in the second set),” Drean said. “I let him control the court.”
In the third-set tiebreaker, Drean said that he, “wanted to win and tried to refocus and put the pressure on (Wang).”
In the last match of the day, freshman Holden Seguso won his match at No. 3 singles in two sets 6-2, 7-6 (2).
Seguso said that he’s excited for his first USC match tomorrow and hopes that the team will continue its solid play.
“USC might be under-ranked because they have very good players,” Dean said. “USC is always a great match.”
The Bruins will need to bring a strong effort to defeat the Trojans.
“USC will be a heck of a challenge because they compete really well,” Martin said.