COURTNEY STEWART/Daily Bruin Sophomore Tobias
Clemens shows off his forehand against Fresno State.
By Tan Nguyen
Daily Bruin Contributor
As winds swirled around the courts of the L.A. Tennis Center,
the UCLA men’s tennis team breezed past the Fresno State
Bulldogs with a score of 6-1.
UCLA struck first, earning the doubles point with impressive
victories by the duos of Derrick Nguyen/Erfan Djahangiri and Marcin
Matkowski/Jean-Julien Rojer.
Down 2-4 in their match, nothing seemed to click for Matkowski
and Rojer. Neither seemed able to get a first serve in. However,
after a quick changeover consultation with their coach, Billy
Martin, the duo’s serving woes quickly disappeared.
Matkowski impressively closed out the final game of the match
with a trifecta of aces and a service winner.
Martin seemed extremely content with his doubles team’s
serving exhibition.
“Way to get that first serve in,” he said.
In the singles, Rodrigo Grilli continued the Bruin winning
streak by defeating Stephen Suta, 6-2, 6-2.
Rojer followed his win in doubles, with a victory in his singles
match. Attacking his opponent, Alex Krohn, with a barrage of
piercing forehand winners, Rojer not only earned a 6-3, 6-3 win,
but also managed to dazzle Bruin fans.
“You gotta register that with the police,” said one
fan, referring to Rojer’s weapon ““ his forehand.
With the first five singles matches yielding a Bruins win,
attention shifted to Matkowski, the only Bruin left on the courts.
Losing the first set 7-6 to Nick Fustar, Matkowski bounced back,
winning the second set, 6-2.
In the final and deciding set, Matkowski found himself serving
for the set at 5-4. However, Fustar was able to wrestle this game
from Matkowski. With the encouragements of his teammates, Fustar
won the next two games, winning the match and producing the sole
Fresno State point of the day.
When asked before the matches to predict how UCLA would fare
against Fresno State, Martin was optimistic.
“We will match up well with them,” said Martin.
After a 6-1 victory, it seems Martin was right.