Heading into the heat of battle, some would say it is wise to choose heart over health.
The No. 13 UCLA men’s tennis team won’t have a choice, as it takes an injured, yet reanimated squad into enemy territory at No. 8 USC today.
The Bruins (7-4) and Trojans (10-2) are coming off very similar weekends, both notching commanding wins over California and heartbreaking 4-3 losses to freshly crowned No. 1 Stanford.
But the Bruins, whose defeat at the Cardinal’s hand was literally as close as they come, may have actually found some strength from such heartbreak.
“In the beginning of the season we were all injured, but we kind of didn’t have the bonding and competitive spirit we (have now),” sophomore Holden Seguso said. “In the last match we just had, I feel like it brought us closer together.”
Seguso was at ground zero of the Bruins’ Saturday showdown with the Cardinal.
With the teams’ point totals tied at 3-3, Seguso’s Court 4 match with Stanford’s Matt Bruch went down to a third-set tiebreaker before Bruch finally pulled out the win. The second-year Bruin is still recovering from an injury that has severely limited his playing time this season, but despite his weakened conditioning, there was no denying the strength of his effort.
“It was frustrating to lose … but I went out there and did the best I could, and I couldn’t ask for more,” he said. “It was a great match and a great situation, to have it come down to my match and all those people watching. … I’d rather have that experience than not.”
Senior Harel Srugo also played with an injury ““ and a cast on his off-hand ““ winning on the No. 3 doubles court. Showing such tenacity against a Pac-10 rival and national contender, even in the face of these setbacks, impressed coach Billy Martin.
“The bottom line I told my team was I was very encouraged with what I’d seen,” Srugo said. “It was probably one of the best matches I’d seen (this year).”
Now, the Bruins shift their focus across town, where the Trojans await a chance to avenge last season’s three losses to UCLA, one of which came in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament.
“I think (USC’s) going to be even more determined,” Martin said. “It probably still stings a little bit, but I think they’re going to be ready to get their fair share of victory.”
One of the more telling aspects of this match for UCLA will be how they handle USC’s infamous crowd noise.
“It’s always tough to play over there,” Martin said. “They’ve got a great following. They’ve got a very vocal crowd, I’ll call it. We’ve got to be prepared to take a little bit of verbal abuse.”
The Trojans bring more than just a fan base to the table, however.
USC has the newly ranked No. 1 player in the nation, Robert Farah. Farah, a 2008 Pac-10 first-team honoree, has not lost a set in singles play all year.
Although USC has started three freshmen in their lineup in the last few matches, their youth has yet to let them down. The Trojans have already pulled off an upset of then-No. 2 Texas at the National Team Indoors as well as a run of six straight wins to start the season.
The Bruins have not been so lucky recently, having lost four of five, but each of those losses has come to a team in the top 15.
Now, with a renewed sense of esprit de corps, battle-tested UCLA knows that in these rivalry matches anything can happen.
“It doesn’t matter if UCLA is the best or the favorite or if USC has the margin, it really can go either way every single time you play them,” Seguso said.
The result of this match may not have much postseason ramifications this early in the season, but the emotional effect of its outcome could influence a good portion of the Bruins’ year, especially in their battered state.
“It is going to be a very, very tough match,” Seguso said. “I’ve never experienced losing to USC, and I don’t want to. Hopefully we can bring it together and then if we beat ‘SC it could really give us a confidence boost, but either way it’s just going to get us stronger.”