Why They’ll Win: The Bruins, despite an
unexplainable 4-3 loss to Washington, have been taking care of
Pac-10 foes left and right recently and boast the top-ranked
singles player in the nation in junior Benjamin Kohlloeffel, as
well as the second-best doubles team in the nation in Kohlloeffel
and fellow junior Philipp Gruendler. And though they may not be
ranked No. 1 in the nation as a team, neither was last year’s
team that went all the way to capture UCLA’s first national
men’s tennis title since 1984. It’s quite obvious that
on any given day, any top team can beat another, as the dual match
usually comes down to one last individual match.
“I don’t think it’s out of the realm of
possibilites by any means,” said coach Billy Martin. “I
think we really held on well to the top teams and they’ve all
been very close. Georgia, Pepperdine ““ we’re right
there.”
Why They’ll Lose: It is the fact that
close dual matches come down to one last match that can truly
provide a scare for this year’s team. On several occasions,
sophomore Mathieu Dehaine has been the one Bruin determining the
outcome of several matches, and he has struggled in his attempts to
make them positive.
It is the youth of the team that is holding them back from
winning close matches under pressure. However, there is reason to
remain optimistic as the team will be returning all of its players
next year regardless of the outcome of the upcoming NCAA
Championships.
“There is certainly not as much senior maturity as we had
last year, which really made me feel confident,” Martin said.
“It takes a lot of maturity to win the
championship.”
Outlook: 5, on a scale of 1 to 10.
The Bruins, though on a roll, have failed to show that they are
capable of winning close matches. However, the team was ranked
seventh last year and still managed to pull off the feat.