By Dave Denicke
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Coming off a shaky performance in a regional win over Notre
Dame, the UCLA men’s tennis team is now attempting to refocus
on the finals this weekend in Athens, Ga.
On paper, the team remains among the favorites to win the
national title.
On the courts, however, the Bruins must still regroup after
losing senior co-captain Brandon Kramer to a broken wrist.
“His health is of the biggest concern for me. I mean, this
is his career,” junior Chris Sands said. “He’s
been a good friend for a long time.”
A strange twist of fate is that, because of Kramer’s
injury, Sands will be in the starting lineup at No. 6 singles.
Sands admits it is an awkward situation.
“There’s no real way to look at it too heavily on
either side,” Sands said. “I feel really bad for
Brandon’s situation, but at the same time I’ve been
playing really hard to fill in his spot. You just have to go with
the flow.”
Other Bruins moving up in the lineup include freshmen Julien
Rojer, Lassi Ketola and Erfan Djahangiri. Normally the bottom three
in singles, the first-year trio will now occupy spots three through
five, with Sands coming in at sixth singles.
“Nobody panicked. We’re going there still expecting
to win it,” Rojer said. “Brandon showed us a lot, and
hopefully we can win NCAAs.”
As for the conditions in Georgia, the players expect it to be
hot and muggy. One difference from last year will be the absence of
the host team. Last year’s NCAA champions did not advance
beyond the regionals, falling to Southern Methodist, 4-3.
On top of the excitement coming from a chance to win a national
title is the desire to make up for last year, when UCLA, then the
tournament’s top seed, fell to Georgia in the team finals.
Senior Jong-Min Lee remembers that day all too well, when he was up
a set in what could have been the title-clinching match for
UCLA.
“I failed last year,” he said. “You
can’t get caught up in the moment. I fell into the trap where
I was looking at the No. 6 guy (Marcin Rozpedski) closing his
match, I lost focus and dug myself into a big hole that I
couldn’t get out of.”
UCLA’s first opponent is Texas, the 15th seed. Earlier
this year, Sands played well against top Longhorn Brandon Hawk,
falling in three tough sets.
“If the No. 6 guy can be within a few points of beating
their No. 1 guy, even though it was earlier in the season, that
gives us confidence that the five guys above me will match up
well,” Sands said.
Though UCLA’s confidence seems to still be intact, the
Bruins recognize that, in some eyes, their stock has fallen.
“Critics probably won’t think of us as
favorites,” Lee said. “But we believe in ourselves that
we’re good enough to win.”
The team is also aware that ready or not, the NCAA finals are
here. “We can’t be anything else but ready,”
junior Jean-Noel Grinda said. “This is what we’ve been
playing for.”
As for playing in the clutch, every player seems to want the
opportunity. “I would love to be in that situation, but
anyone on our team can do it,” Rojer said.
On Sunday, it was Lee who came through in the clutch to nail
down a win over Notre Dame. As for the chance to be in that
situation, Lee relishes the opportunity.
“I would like to put myself on the line again to either
win it or lose it,” Lee said. “I would love to finish
my college career with a win.”
Beyond Texas, UCLA’s side of the draw was made somewhat
easier by San Diego State’s 4-2 upset of Pepperdine, the
tournament’s No. 3 seed and the only team other than Stanford
to beat UCLA this year. Other notable opponents for the Bruins
include Texas A&M and Tennessee, both possible second round
matchups for UCLA.
“Throughout the whole year, we’ve been preparing for
this stage. You can’t really judge our performance on the
year by the match against Notre Dame,” Lee said.
Rojer summed it up with what head coach Billy Martin told the
team in practice: “If we prepare like that for Georgia, it
will be a short trip.”
“I think we’re really peaking at the right time.
Everyone is playing well heading into Georgia,” team manager
Zach Miller said.