BRIDGET O’BRIEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Senior
Jean-Noel Grinda returns the ball during a match
Saturday. The Bruins will head to the NCAA Championships this
weekend. NCAA Regionals UCLA 4
Sac St. 0 UCLA 4 S. Florida 0
By Greg Schain
Daily Bruin Contributor
The UCLA men’s tennis team swept both of its matches this
weekend to win its NCAA Regional bracket and earn a spot in the
round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
UCLA swept an outmatched Sacramento State team 4-0 on Saturday
behind the strong play of freshman Tobias Clemens, senior Jean-Noel
Grinda and sophomore Travis Rettenmaier.
The Bruins won the doubles point, winning at first and second
doubles. At No. 1 doubles, Grinda and sophomore Jean-Julien Rojer
beat junior Sherif Zaher and senior Joseph Gilbert by pulling away
at the end to claim an 8-4 victory.
Freshman Marcin Matkowski and sophomore Travis Rettermaier came
back to win the second doubles point, beating senior Chris Smith
and junior Fabio Jesus 8-5.
In the third doubles match, UCLA sophomore Lassi Ketola and
freshman Tobias Clemens were winning 7-6 when the match was
terminated. In the NCAA Tournament, once the doubles point is
clinched, any remaining matches are automatically ended.
In singles, Clemens used his consistent ground strokes and
strong serve to beat senior Chris Smith 6-2, 6-0. The strong win
shows that Clemens is fully recovered from a foot injury that
sidelined him for most of the year.
“I put a lot of effort into getting back in shape (after
the injury),” he said. “The effort is paying
off.”
Grinda also had a big day, consistently attacking the net en
route to an easy 6-2, 6-3 victory over Jesus.
The other UCLA singles winner was Rettenmaier, who trounced
sophomore Nick Sheehan 6-2, 6-0. All other singles matches were
ended because UCLA had already clinched the match.
“I was happy with our play today,” UCLA Head Coach
Billy Martin said after the match. “I knew we were a little
eager to get going, and I was hoping we wouldn’t come out a
little tight.”
Tight is how the Bruins came out on Sunday against South
Florida. They almost lost the doubles point, as Rojer and Grinda
dropped their match 8-5, and Matkowski and Rettenmaier were losing
6-2 before rallying back to win 8-6. Clemens and Ketola won their
match in an easy 8-3 win.
“We were a little tentative, and a little nervous, and it
certainly showed,” Martin said. “We were lucky to pull
out the doubles.”
Singles was much more solid for the Bruins, as Grinda,
Matkowski, and Djahangiri all stepped up.
Grinda beat freshman Martin Wetzel 6-4, 6-1 to claim his second
solid victory in as many days.
“I’m playing real solid right now,” Grinda
said. “I worked hard during the past two weeks, and now I am
playing close to my best tennis of the season.”
Matkowski beat sophomore Nadim Naser, 6-2, 6-4, and Djahangiri
beat sophomore Jorge Escallon, 6-3, 6-1.
Clemens was on the verge of winning when the match was
terminated, and Rettenmaier had won his first set also.
For the second straight day, Rojer dropped the first set before
stepping up his game. When asked about his first set lapses, Rojer
wasn’t concerned.
“I don’t have a motivation problem. I don’t
know what it is, I just started out slow,” he said.
“The important thing is that I hung in there and gave my team
a chance to win.”
The team is confident about its chances to win the NCAA title
this year, a feat it hasn’t accomplished since 1984.
“This is the best team I’ve been on since I’ve
been here,” said Grinda, who has played at UCLA since the
1997-98 season. “Our team is so deep. Now we just have to let
it all out to reach our final goal.”