Junior Erfan Djahangiri looks to lead
UCLA to victory over Fresno State today. The Bulldogs have lost
their last 14 meetings with the Bruins, who boast three top-20
players and the nation’s No. 1 doubles team.
By Jessica Bach
Daily Bruin Contributor
Against UCLA, the Fresno State men’s tennis team has gone
winless in the last 14 meetings ““ the last win coming in
1984.
So since the No. 3 Bruins are hosting the Bulldogs in their
second home match of the season, things aren’t looking all
that good for Fresno State
Armed with new head coach Brad Dancer, today’s match is
only the second of the season for the No. 41 Bulldogs. It’s
also their second in Los Angeles, as they played at USC
yesterday.
Fresno State lost three of its top players to graduation,
including All-American Peter Luczak, and is just hoping to be able
to send players to the NCAA individual championships.
“They aren’t a top team and they’ve lost some
players from last season; we will match up well with them,”
UCLA head coach Billy Martin said.
The Bruins look like a strong team this year. Ranked behind
Georgia and Stanford in the preseason, UCLA has three players in
the top 20: No. 13 Marcin Matkowski, No. 18 Jean-Julien Rojer and
No. 19 Tobias Clemens. The doubles pair Matkowski and Rojer are
currently ranked first in the nation.
In the team’s first two tournaments last weekend, the
National Collegiate Tennis Classic and the Sherwood Collegiate Cup,
Rodrigo Grilli and Clemens both won the singles competitions,
respectively.
“I am really excited for our chances,” UCLA
assistant coach Jason Sher said after last weekend’s
tournaments. “We have really great players and Rodrigo is
even better than we thought he would be.”