Expecting the No. 4 UCLA men’s tennis team to come out
somewhat tentative for its first dual match of the season against
UC Irvine, coach Billy Martin was in for a pleasant surprise.
The Bruins (1-0) jumped to early leads in doubles play, showing
no signs of nervousness and at one point leading 5-0 on each of the
three courts.
“We came out looking really ready to play and I was pretty
happy about that,” Martin said. “A lot of times
I’ll see some tentativeness, but this is a veteran team and I
didn’t see it at all in any of the guys.”
After that point, there was no looking back as the Bruins swept
the doubles matches to capture their first point of the season,
carrying their momentum with them into singles play.
At the No. 1 position, senior Benjamin Kohlloeffel welcomed the
Anteaters’ Aaron Yovan back to the Los Angeles Tennis Center
with a dominating 6-1, 6-1 victory. Yovan, a former Bruin,
transferred to UC Irvine this season after not seeing much action
as a member of Martin’s squad last year.
“I was a little nervous to start off, but I was ready to
go,” Yovan said. “I think Ben played really well today
and they’re a good team. UCLA is No. 4 and they showed it
today.”
Kohlloeffel’s win gave the Bruins a 2-0 advantage and
paved the way for fellow senior Philipp Gruendler’s victory
by the same score over UC Irvine’s Mustafa Ulukan.
With a 3-0 lead, there were several Bruins within minutes of
capturing the fourth and decisive victory, but it was sophomore
Haythem Abid who took care of his opponent first at the No. 2
position, winning 6-3, 6-3.
“The first match is always hard to play,” Abid said.
“It’s hard to adjust and get your rhythm back. I was
really tired in singles but I just tried to stay focused and win
the match.”
Abid’s win sealed the Bruins’ 16th straight match
against the Anteaters and boosted their all-time record against UC
Irvine to an impressive 30-2.
No other Bruin would lose a match, let alone a set, as sophomore
Michael Look and juniors Mathieu Dehaine and Jeremy Drean also
defeated their opponents.
“I think it’s good to win the first match because it
gets us some confidence,” Dehaine said.
But UCLA still feels as though it is not at its highest
potential and sees many areas in which there can be
improvement.
“We need to work on both singles and doubles and getting
into better shape for the season,” Dehaine said.
Though the Bruins were well aware going into the match that
their talent was greater than that of the Anteaters’, Martin
realizes that his team will have to continue to play at their own
level rather than adjust down to the level of their opponents. He
was pleased to see the Bruins do just that in shutting out their
season’s first opponent.
“Everyone seemed to handle themselves and play at a high
level no matter how bad our opponent was playing,” Martin
said.
“If the guy’s not playing well we’re going to
try to get on and off the court as quick as possible. We have to
come out and take care of business.”
INJURY UPDATE: Senior Chris Surapol competed
for the Bruins in doubles, teaming with partner Abid at the No. 2
position, but did not play in singles, as Martin decided to give
his captain a chance to rest his injured right shoulder.
“It was definitely starting to get sore toward the end of
the doubles match,” Surapol said. “It wasn’t
bothering me at all at the beginning but then I started to miss
serves and notice it.”