No. 111 Rudy Quan walked to the net after posting a match-clinching forehand shot.
The sophomore turned to thank the umpire in a routine conclusion to his 33rd collegiate dual-match singles performance.
Maybe it was a sound that caused him to turn back.
Maybe it was the pack of Bruins marching towards him.
But Quan kept turning his head, until he realized.
“Did we win?” he asked.
The thumbs and nods gave him his answer, prompting a Quan smile. He raced across the court, giving one of his teammates a mid-air chest bump.
He had done it.
No. 15 UCLA men’s tennis (4-2) defeated No. 24 Pepperdine (5-3) 4-2 Saturday at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center in Malibu. The Bruins have flipped their record after a 2-4 opening last season.
“We started out last year losing a bunch of really close matches such as this. It feels good to start the year winning some of these,” said coach Billy Martin. “It does breed confidence, and I’d rather get some confidence going now than towards the end of the season.”
No. 35 redshirt junior Emon van Loben Sels played hero for the Bruins with a dual-match-clinching third set tiebreaker against then-No. 23 California last week.
It was Quan’s turn this week.
After trouncing All-WCC first-teamer Maxi Homberg 6-0 in the first set, Quan lost the second set 3-6 and trailed 2-4 in the third.
“I told myself to keep fighting,” Quan said. “In college tennis, anything can happen, and with a year under my belt, I realized that. I knew I wasn’t out of the match.”
Quan delivered, winning four consecutive games to clinch the dual-match for the Bruins.
Although Quan secured the most significant victory Saturday, No. 118 junior Spencer Johnson’s efforts set the stage.
With UCLA and Pepperdine knotted at two apiece, Johnson broke the stalemate with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory against All-WCC first-teamer Edward Winter.
“Spencer lost the first set badly,” Martin said. “(He) came out that second set determined to get back in the match and did so and won that to allow Rudy to clinch. So that was a huge win for Spencer. I don’t want that to be forgotten among Emon’s win last week – or Rudy’s clincher this week. Spencer’s was a hell of a win.”
Redshirt freshman Cassius Chinlund, who defeated David Fix 6-1, 6-2 in straight sets to give UCLA its first singles point, also helped spark the Bruins’ win Saturday.
Chinlund has opened his UCLA singles career with a 4-1 start.
“From moment one, I was hitting the ball really well,” Chinlund said. “My forehand was my biggest asset in that match. Moving the guy side to side, finding the backhand, my volleys came through today, my first serve percentage was high.”
Chinlund added that a “let-the-chips-fall-where-they-fall” mentality has fueled his early-season success.
“He is a spark plug for our team,” Martin said of Chinlund. “He’s a street fighter kind of guy. You’re gonna have to beat him. He’s going to bite you to the very end.”
Martin tinkered with his doubles lineup to begin his 33rd season at the helm. That trend continued Saturday, when freshman Bengt Reinhard replaced junior Andy Nguyen as Quan’s No. 3 doubles partner.
Nguyen and Quan had recorded an 0-2 start in doubles play.
The pivot appeared to work, as Quan and Reinhard eked out a 7-6 (9-7) victory against Homberg and Gustavo Ribeiro de Almeida to clinch the doubles point.
“Rudy and Andy had not been clicking,” Martin said. “Not just because they were losing, but they were losing badly. … We needed to try something new. Did I know it was going to work? Not necessarily, but it was worth a try. And doggone it, they really fought hard.”
Martin said that Reinhard has flashed promise in his limited playing time.
From cracking a rotation to scoring a dagger, members of the ten-man crew took strides in Saturday’s victory. But the Bruins said the weekend festivities in Malibu didn’t breed complacency.
Instead, it marked another scaled peak toward the summit.
“They go to bed at night dreaming about these kinds of matches,” Martin said. “From when we lost last year at Texas, we all committed to come back and try to be as successful, if not more so, this year.”
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