Nick DeGoede’s story is an all too familiar one: a
standout junior level tennis player from California whose grades
impressed Division I schools more than his game. So instead of
taking his 110-mph serve and overpowering game to a smaller school,
he brought them to UCLA, accepting the fact that they would
probably lose out to academic coursework.
“I pretty much wanted a good all-around institution and
didn’t want to leave California,” the Fresno native
said. “I didn’t actively pursue playing collegiate
tennis.”
Needless to say, when he enrolled at UCLA last fall, he
didn’t expect to be competing for a national championship in
Daytona Beach. But that’s exactly where he and six other
Bruins found themselves this past weekend.
With UCLA’s Division I tennis program vying for a national
championship just about every year, the leftover talent has
organized itself into what is becoming the sport’s third
powerhouse program on campus.
In its very first year, UCLA’s coed club tennis team
qualified for the 2004 USA Team Tennis National Campus
Championships after winning the Southern California Championship in
December. They did a lot more than just qualify for the forty-team
tournament.
“We didn’t know what to expect going in,” said
third-year graduate student Mark Otten, who organized this
year’s squad from players who competed in the fall intramural
league.
After mowing through Penn State, Georgia Institute of
Technology, Alabama and Sam Houston State in pool play, the team
advanced and upended defending champion and top-seeded Florida
27-24 in the quarterfinals. Playing under the World Team Tennis
format, the Bruins were ahead five games heading into the final
match. But the Gators fought back, jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the
mixed-doubles match. The Bruins then substituted DeGoede for Otten,
and he rallied back with partner Laurel Turbin to take four of the
next six games, sealing the team win.
“Nick’s serve was booming and I think he intimidated
them,” said Otten, who earlier in the match teamed with
DeGoede to win the men’s doubles pro-set. “It
wasn’t fun taking myself out, but it ended up being good for
the team.”
However, the Bruins’ fairy tale did not have a Cinderella
ending, as they fell in the semifinals to Virginia, 25-13, and then
lost the third-place match against Michigan, 29-18.
“We did all we could against Virginia, they were just a
little better,” Otten said. “Against Michigan, we
wanted to play everyone and it was just for fun.”
In the weeks leading up to the tournament, the team played on
the Riviera Country Club’s hard courts to prepare for the
clay surface they would play on in Daytona. Although the Bruins
lost their match against the club’s members, the team went on
to defeat USC’s club team two weeks later by taking nine of
13 sets.
This win over the Trojans did not carry nearly the same
uplifting feeling a victory at the varsity level would.
“We expected a really good, competitive match and it
wasn’t,” DeGoede said. “It kind of took away from
the win.”
Having proven themselves as the premier team in Southern
California and a part of the nation’s elite in just one year,
the Bruins are eager to keep playing. Although they do not have any
upcoming matches lined up, they are not expecting to fall into a
hibernation period.
“After going (to Florida) this year, I want to practice
year-round to be ready for next year,” said third-year
graduate student Nida Denson, who played women’s singles and
doubles.
Otten has put together a doubles intramural league for the
spring quarter that will give the players regular opportunities to
compete. One of the benefits of the organized league is the
guaranteed court space the players will have on a weekly basis.
This past quarter, Otten’s request to give the team a
designated practice time once a week was denied. Instead, the
players coordinated and made reservations on their own each
week.
“It was sort of a hassle to do reservations
manually,” Otten said. “It would have been nice to have
something automatic once a week, especially because there’s
room. It’s just a matter of putting it on the
board.”
With the school allotting the space for next quarter, Otten
hopes to see the courts filled. Besides developing combinations for
next year’s national tournament, he also hopes the doubles
league will help discover new players that will fit into the
team.
“There are so many good players out there who don’t
know about this,” Otten said. “We want to draw them
in.”