CATHERINE JUN/Daily Bruin Tobias Clemens
hits a backhand in a match earlier this season. The Bruins were
just eliminated from the NCAAs. NCAA Tournament Southern
Methodist 4 UCLA 3
By Greg Schain
Daily Bruin Contributor
Guys started crying when they realized what happened.
They realized that the curse over the UCLA men’s tennis
team is still alive and well, as once again the team made a
premature exit in the NCAA Tournament.
No. 7 Southern Methodist upset the No. 2-seeded Bruins 4-3 on
Monday in a nail-biting match that wasn’t decided until the
last possible moment.
The match started out positively for the Bruins, as they won at
No. 1 and No. 2 doubles to claim the doubles point.
Sophomore Jean-Julien Rojer and senior Jean-Noel Grinda beat
freshman Johan Brunstrom and senior Jon Wallmark 8-4, and freshman
Marcin Matkowski and sophomore Travis Rettenmaier followed with a
win over senior Genius Chidzikwe and sophomore Ryan Mauck 8-5.
The Bruins then took a 2-0 match lead when Erfan Djahangiri
quickly disposed of freshman Lukasz Senczyszyn, 6-4, 6-3 at No. 5
singles.
At this point, the situation was looking up for the Bruins, as
singles is their strong point.
But optimism quickly turned to the sad reality that UCLA would
once again choke in the NCAA Tournament.
The next three matches on the court were all SMU victories. At
No. 1 singles, Jean-Julien Rojer’s struggles continued as he
lost to Chidzikwe in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.
“Julien didn’t show his best at all this
week,” UCLA Head Coach Billy Martin said after the match.
“He just didn’t play well.”
After dropping the first set, freshman Tobias Clemens came back
to force a third set, but he was unable to stage a full comeback.
Clemens lost to junior Krystian Pfeiffer 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 at No. 3
singles.
Grinda was the third Bruin victim, losing to Wallmark 4-6, 6-3,
6-2.
“It seemed like I had the edge the first half of the
match,” Grinda said. “I had a million break
opportunities. I just couldn’t convert.”
But Martin, who was watching Grinda, could tell that Wallmark
had the edge at the end.
“Wallmark was stronger physically in the third set,”
Martin said.
Down 3-2, UCLA managed to tie the match when Matkowski held off
sophomore Alexis Rudzinski 6-1, 6-7, 6-4 at No. 4 singles.
Matkowski was able to win despite sustaining an ankle injury during
the match.
“Marcin showed a lot of heart to hold on and win that
match,” Martin said.
Tied at 3-3, the fate of this year’s team was in
Rettenmaier’s hands at No. 6 singles.
Rettenmaier won the first set 6-4, but his opponent, Johan
Brunstrom, came back to take the second set 7-5. No one was able to
break away in the third set, resulting in a tiebreaker to decide
the match.
Brunstrom quickly went up 6-0 in the tiebreaker, and had six
match points. But Rettenmaier, determined to come back, rallied to
bring the tiebreaker to 6-5.
Unfortunately for UCLA, that was all he would get, as Brunstrom
held on to win the tiebreaker 7-5, ending the Bruins’ quest
at a championship.
“When Travis lost, it was like a dagger went through my
heart,” Grinda said.
The loss is the third time in as many years that UCLA was upset
in the NCAA Tournament. In 1999, the team lost to a lower-ranked
Georgia team in the finals. Last year the Bruins lost to Tennessee
in the quarterfinals.
Since 1985, the Bruins have never won the tournament despite
reaching the quarterfinal round every year.