By Greg Schain
Daily Bruin Reporter
This weekend marks the end of the preseason schedule for the
UCLA men’s tennis team.
They will play in the Southern California Intercollegiate
Championship at the Los Angeles Tennis Club, where heated rivals
such as USC and Pepperdine await.
Sophomore Tobias Clemens is the top seed in the draw, which
marks the first time he is a seeded No. 1 in a collegiate
tournament.
But he doesn’t care.
“It doesn’t make a difference whether I’m
seeded No. 1, two, three, four, five, or six,” Clemens said.
“My expectation is to win the tournament.”
Clemens has been playing very well this fall and has a great
chance to win if he plays up to form. Other Bruins in contention
are junior Erfan Djahangiri and junior Lassi Ketola.
“I’m hoping to be very strong in singles,”
head coach Billy Martin said. “Erfan, Lassi and Tobias all
have a good chance to win the tournament.”
Three other Bruins will be competing in the qualifiers today, in
hopes of making the main draw ““ senior Derrick Nguyen,
freshman Ryan McNaughton and freshman Nick Kreiss.
Those three are hoping for a strong showing in this tournament
in order to win a starting singles spot on the UCLA roster.
The other players are just looking to get some match play in
before the holidays start.
“It gives the guys a good chance to see where they are
with their singles and doubles play,” Martin said.
“We’ve been practicing hard, but it’s more fun to
go out and see how your game is holding up in tournament
play.”
Sophomore Marcin Matkowski and junior Jean-Julien Rojer, two of
the team’s top players, will miss the tournament in order to
play in ITA Nationals in Dallas.
Matkowski is in the singles draw, while Rojer is an alternate.
The two are a tandem in the doubles draw.
There are no more preseason tournaments scheduled after this
weekend because Thanksgiving is coming, followed by finals and then
intersession. The regular season opens up January 16 against UC
Santa Barbara.