Eight days after the UCLA men’s tennis team staged a coup d’etat in Los Angeles, ousting the perennial champions USC, the Trojans grabbed back bragging rights.
Top-ranked USC reclaimed the conference crown Saturday in Ojai, defeating UCLA 4-2 at the Pac-12 Tournament finals.
“They didn’t give us a lot of time to bask in the glory of our last win over them,” coach Billy Martin said, with a chuckle. “‘SC was a little bit more fired up than we were.”
The Bruins surrendered the doubles point when junior Warren Hardie and freshman Marcos Giron lost 8-6 on court No. 3.
The duo won their match a week ago, and UCLA was up on court No. 2 when the match finished.
“I got broken in my first service game, it’s kind of tough in your first game and you just come out a little cold. That could be all it takes,” Hardie said.
The Hardie and Giron twosome is 4-2 this season with big wins over California and USC. However, one can’t help but wonder if the Bruins can afford leaving sophomore standout Clay Thompson out of the doubles line-up going forward. Thompson and Hardie were 2-1 together in conference play this season.
“There is no reason to absolutely panic and feel like we’ve got to change up anything completely,” Martin said. “(Hardie and Giron) didn’t win (Saturday) but they’ve been pretty consistent the last three or four matches.”
Hardie isn’t panicking either.
“I think (the line-up) is probably going to stay the same. Marcos and I have played in some big matches together and we’re neck and neck with the ‘SC guys. Also, you know, Clay and I, we’d never beaten Cal, and Marcos and I beat the Cal team this weekend,” Hardie said.
Singles play was by the script except for two matches. Giron lost a match that he was able to eke out last week, and Thompson beat his long-time foe Ray Sarmiento for the first time in his career.
“Raymond is probably one of my oldest rivals. I remember when we used to play in the 8s and 10s and 14s. For me to even call it a rival could be incorrect. He’s beaten me every single time we’ve played,” said Thompson. “This win really got a monkey off my back.”
The Bruins will hope for similarly pleasant surprises in their march for a national title, which begins in two weeks.