BRIDGET O’BRIEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Sophomore
Erfan Djahangiri returns the ball in a regional
match last week at the LATC.
By Greg Schain
Daily Bruin Contributor
The home stretch of UCLA’s quest for a national
championship begins Saturday at 5 p.m., when the team faces No. 15
Washington at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Georgia.
Washington is a familiar opponent to the Bruins. At No. 2, UCLA
is 15-1 in the all-time series, including one victory this year. In
that match on April 13, the Bruins cruised to an easy 6-1 win. The
only loss came from freshman Tobias Clemens, who dropped his match
6-2, 6-2.
But that was Clemens’ first match back from a foot injury
that had sidelined him for over a month.
“He was probably only 70 to 75 percent at that
time,” said UCLA head coach Billy Martin. “I probably
shouldn’t have played him, but (Tobias) was so adamant about
wanting to play.”
UCLA was also without No. 1 singles player Jean-Julien Rojer,
who was playing at the Davis Cup.
Despite UCLA’s historical success against Washington, the
players aren’t taking a victory for granted.
“Washington is a good team, with good competitors. We were
lucky to beat them so easily last time,” Clemens said.
If UCLA gets by Washington, they move to the quarterfinals,
where they will play the winner of No. 7 Southern Methodist and
unseeded Mississippi State on Sunday at 2 p.m.
The Bruins have not met either team this season, but they do
have a history with likely opponent SMU. Three years ago, UCLA beat
SMU in the National Indoor Championships. The Bruins lead the
all-time series 13-2.
The more challenging matches for UCLA will occur Monday and
Tuesday in the semifinals and finals, if they get there.
Their likely opponent in the semifinals is No. 3 Georgia, which
is 22-1 on the season and has six starting singles players ranked
in the top 60. That compares with just two for UCLA.
“The fact that we haven’t seen Georgia and
don’t know them bothers me,” Martin said. “We
know the players, but we don’t know the matchups.”
Georgia will also be enjoying home court advantage during the
tournament. And the Bulldogs always have rowdy crowds.
“Playing at Georgia is always fun, because the crowds are
great down there,” Martin said. “Especially when
Georgia is playing.”
If the Bruins reached the finals, they will most likely play
top-seeded defending champion Stanford. UCLA has played Stanford
three times this year, beating them the first time at a tournament
in Washington, but dropping the final two, once at the LATC and
once at Stanford.
But for the latter two, the Bruins were never at full strength
because Clemens was out for the match at the LATC on April 6 and
Rojer was out for the match on April 21 at Stanford.
“UCLA had a lot of players out when we played them,”
said Stanford head coach Dick Gould. “That made a lot of
difference in the end.”
If Stanford wins, it would be Gould’s 18th national title.
He would join UCLA men’s volleyball Coach Al Scates the
all-time NCAA title single sport record holder for coaches.
But the Bruins are confident that they can stop the Cardinal
juggernaut and start their own winning streak.
“I really think we can win it this year,” senior
Jean-Noel Grinda said.