By Dave Denicke Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The UCLA men’s tennis team took to the courts over spring break
to defend their No. 1 national ranking with matches against UC
Santa Barbara and USC.
Two matches later, UCLA remains on top of the heap.
On March 29, the Bruins (16-2) hosted the Gauchos (4-9) in a
match rescheduled from Feb. 16. The Bruins successfully made due
without top singles and doubles senior Jong-Min Lee, drubbing UCSB
6-1.
Junior Chris Sands stepped into the starting lineup in both
singles and doubles and came away with a pair of wins, including a
6-2, 6-3 victory in singles play over Sandy Gentile.
"I thought I played pretty well," said Sands, who last played in
a dual match against Arizona State March 10. "The last half of the
season is a whole new season. Whenever I’m getting the chance to
play, I’m just gonna give it my best."
Following UCSB, the main event for UCLA took place Friday, when
the Bruins traveled across town to take on No. 19 USC. A healthy
Lee returned to action, but the Bruins
faltered in doubles play, dropping the opening point of the
match.
"Their No. 2 team is one of the best two teams in the country,"
head coach Billy Martin said. "We had our chances, but I still
thought we had a good chance to win four singles (matches), and the
guys went out and did it."
In singles play, Julien Rojer quickly evened the overall score
with a 6-4, 6-1 thrashing of Nick Rainey. The two squads then split
four singles matches, with junior Jean- Noel Grinda and freshman
Lassi Ketola notching straight-set wins.
"One big turning point was Lassi Ketola at six. He was down 4-1,
two breaks in the first set," Martin said. "We absolutely had to
win No. 6. Luckily he got back, and we got a charge from then
on."
The match came down to the second singles match, pitting senior
Brandon Kramer against Trojan sophomore Andrew Park. "Jong and I
had two opportunities to break at 7-all, and I screwed up on both
points," Kramer said. "So I wanted to make up for some of that by
getting it back in singles."
Experience paid off for Kramer, as the Reno, Nevada native
fended off Park in a second set tiebreaker to take the match and
seal the victory, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).
"That’s what college tennis is all about," he said. "This being
my last year, I’m trying to savor those moments. That’s why you
play college tennis – for moments like that.
"Being in previous situations like that helps me prepare for it,
and that’s why I’m so confident that I’m going to pull through,"
Kramer added.
The victory solidified UCLA’s position as the top team in the
country. The Bruins overtook Stanford on March 22, despite two
additional losses, one of which came at the hands of the Cardinal
at the finals of the National Indoor Championships.
"It’s a computer system done on strength of schedule. Stanford,
aside from indoors, hasn’t played many quality teams," said Martin,
who places more weight on rankings at the end of the season. "You
want to get to Georgia (site of the NCAA finals), you want to be a
top-four seed, so you don’t have to play one of the top teams in
the first round."
Individually, several Bruins have continued their ascent up the
player rankings. In doubles, Lee and Kramer are currently ranked
sixth in the nation and have posted three wins over top 10
opponents. In singles, Lee raced up 11 spots from his previous
ranking to claim the 26th spot nationally. Kramer continues to hold
down a top 40 ranking, dropping three slots to No. 36. Rojer and
freshman Erfan Djahangiri round out the Bruins in the top 100 at 78
and 94, respectively.
"The whole time I’ve been in college, I’ve not understood how
the rankings work," Kramer said. "Whatever the computer says, I
take. No one really understands how it works, but it’s what they
use."
UCLA will get its chance to remove any confusion over the
rankings and to avenge that earlier loss to Stanford this weekend,
when the Bruins travel to Palo Alto to take on Stanford Friday.
They then face California in Berkeley on Saturday.