It happened again.
Though it was another day and another opponent, the UCLA
men’s tennis team once again found itself on the wrong side
of a close match.
Just a week removed from a heartbreaking 4-3 defeat at the hands
of USC, the Bruins went out and did it again Wednesday, this time
losing 4-3 to No. 10 Duke at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. It was
the team’s fourth loss in its last five tries.
“It just hurts so much to have to lose so many
matches,” senior Tobias Clemens said.
Though Clemens did his part Wednesday, easily dispatching
Duke’s Phillip King in straight sets, it was the No. 2
through No. 5 spots that really let the Bruins down.
Chris Lam, Alberto Francis, and Kris Kwinta all lost in straight
sets, and Philipp Gruendler floundered in a three-set match on
Court 5 to seal the loss for No. 8 UCLA (9-5).
“To think that a team came in and took two through five
from us is just a tough pill to swallow for me,” coach Billy
Martin said. “I hope it is for them, too.”
Losing appears to be wearing on the Bruin coach, who continues
to shift his lineup around in an attempt to discover a winning
combination. Lam, Francis and Kwinta have all seen time in the No.
2 through No. 4 spots, and no one has really emerged as the clear
choice.
Lam has lost five of his last six matches.
Francis has looked poor in his last two matches, never seriously
challenging USC’s Johan Berg and struggling Wednesday against
Peter Rodrigues.
Aside from Clemens, Kwinta has probably been the most consistent
Bruin performer, but even he was incredibly upset with his showing
against Duke’s Jonathan Stokke.
“It’s hard because I didn’t do my best for the
team and I’m disappointed with myself,” Kwinta said.
“I tried hard, but I just failed. I’m just
weak.”
Wednesday’s match was so tough for the Bruins to stomach
because of how promising it seemed in the beginning.
UCLA pulled off a shocker to win the doubles point, as Kwinta
and Francis teamed to upset Jason Zimmerman and Ludovic Walter, the
nation’s No. 4-ranked doubles team 9-8 (2) on Court 1.
Clemens and Gruendler teamed for a 8-6 victory on Court 3, and
that’s all the Bruins would need.
Building off momentum in doubles, Clemens made quick work of
King and hurried off to find a prime location to cheer on his
teammates.
Leading 2-0, Martin was confident two more victories would come
from somewhere and his team would break out of its slump.
But it simply didn’t happen.
The Bruins got one other singles win from a surprising place, as
sophomore Chris Surapol broke out of a personal slump with a 6-3,
6-4 victory over Christopher Brown on Court 6.
That made the score 3-3, and all eyes turned to Court 5, where
Gruendler was down a break to Zimmerman in the third set.
Though the Bruin freshman had two break points in separate
games, he couldn’t capitalize and eventually lost, 6-2, 1-6,
6-3.
“Philipp just didn’t play very confidently there at
the end,” Martin said. “He had a couple break points,
but he just played very tentatively.”
Tentative play. Play lacking confidence. Bad play.
These harsh words seem to all too often characterize the Bruins
lately, and the losses just continue to pile up.
While the team time and again asserts that junior Luben
Pampoulov will make the difference when he joins the Bruins in
April, losing appears to be taking its toll.
With nine matches remaining before the postseason, UCLA has
already tasted defeat more times than it did all last season.
And for Clemens, it isn’t any fun.
“I hate losing,” he said. “It
sucks.”