By Dave Denicke
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The regular season for the UCLA men’s tennis was very
successful. The team posted a 21-3 dual match record, including a
6-1 Pac-10 record, a 10-1 record at home and victories over No. 1
Stanford at home and No. 3 Florida at the National Indoors.
But the regular season is over. The NCAA regionals take place
this weekend and head coach Billy Martin knows his team cannot rely
on the prestige of UCLA tennis to get by now.
“It’s do or die from here on forward,” Martin
said. “We have experience now, and that’s what
you’re building on all year. Now we have to see how much has
been learned.”
Ranked No. 2 in the country, the Bruins are overwhelming
favorites this weekend, especially in the opener against the
University of Missouri-Kansas City Kangaroos.
Winners of the Mid-Continent Conference postseason tournament,
the “˜Roos are 12-10 overall.
UMKC has no seniors on its roster, and only junior Brian
Takemoto has more than one season of college tennis under his
belt.
First-year head coach Peter Hancy knows he will have his hands
full with the Bruins on Saturday.
“Four of our six players return from last year, so I know
they’ll be ready to play,” Hancy said in a statement.
“We just need to be aggressive and give it our best
shot.”
The Bruins received a scare in practice on Wednesday, though,
when senior Brandon Kramer tumbled to the ground and fell hard on
both wrists. X-rays on his right (playing) wrist were negative, but
Kramer remains questionable pending the results of an MRI.
“I was hitting a return, and next thing I knew I was
falling to the ground,” said Kramer, who is slated to play
third singles and No. 1 doubles this weekend. “If it’s
sprained, it would be how much I can stand the pain. So it really
depends on the MRI.”
Should Kramer not be able to play, junior Chris Sands would be
inserted in the lineup, with numbers four through six moving up in
the lineup.
“We’ve gotta take every match seriously, because
anything can happen in NCAAs,” assistant coach Jason Sher
said. “That first match is the important one. After that,
we’ll look on to the next one.”
Barring a Kangaroo shocka’, UCLA should advance to
Sunday’s final, where the Bruins will take on either New
Mexico State or Notre Dame.
The winner of the regional will advance to the 16-team NCAA
finals in Athens, Ga., next weekend.
But between Kangaroos, Aggies and leprechauns, the Bruins will
have plenty to think about this weekend before booking that plane
ticket to Georgia.