• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

Photo

After a long rain delay and location change, coach Billy Martin and the UCLA tennis team fell to

SAN FRANCISCO — It was a day when nothing, and no one, seemed to cooperate with the UCLA men’s tennis team.

What started with rainy weather ended with the Pepperdine Waves (34-2), as the tenth-seeded Bruins (20-6) were sent home early with a 4-1 loss in the NCAA Quarterfinals, held Sunday night at the San Francisco Tennis Club.

The match, which began four and a half hours later and 30 miles away from its originally scheduled time and place, couldn’t have been played more closely.

“There were just so many close points,” junior Ben Kohlloeffel said. “It could have gone either way. It just didn’t go our way this time.”

The match was scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. outdoors at Stanford, but because of rain it was eventually moved to the indoor courts of the San Francisco Tennis Club. Play didn’t begin until 5:30 p.m., and by the time Pepperdine senior Pedro Rico clinched the match with a three-set victory over UCLA freshman Haythem Abid, four incredibly tense hours had passed.

“That was pretty tough conditions in there,” UCLA coach Billy Martin said. “You couldn’t even hear yourself think. It’s just so different from what we’re used to.”

The team isn’t used to playing indoors. It isn’t used to having the singles matches on Courts 4 through 6 starting after the matches on Courts 1 through 3.

And it isn’t used to falling behind early.

But it all happened Sunday, as Pepperdine appeared to handle the adversity better than did the defending champions.

The Waves, who also defeated the Bruins on Feb. 10, raced out to a 1-0 lead with dominating victories at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles.

“In doubles, they really shocked us,” Martin said. “We didn’t match their intensity.”

Singles, however, was a different story.

No. 1-ranked Kohlloeffel continued his two-year undefeated NCAA Tournament run, cruising to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over eighth-ranked Scott Doerner to even the match at 1-1.

But Pepperdine struck right back, as Ivor Lovrak registered a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Mathieu Dehaine at No. 3, leaving UCLA in need of three victories in the final four singles matches.

They didn’t even get one.

Philipp Gruendler lost 6-3, 7-5 at No. 4, and Abid lost a heartbreaking match, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-3, to seal the Bruins’ fate.

Chris Surapol was on serve in his second set after winning the first set on Court 5, while Michael Look was on serve in his third set on Court 6.

“(Rico) had a huge serve and he played all the important points well,” Abid said. “I just couldn’t break him.”

Abid had three break points to take a 5-4 lead in the second set, but he came up empty on all three chances. In the end, No. 31 Rico was just too experienced and too collected in the clutch.

“Abid played his best match of the year, bar none, and the guy just didn’t crack,” Martin said. “I’m not unhappy with Abid at all.”

But the Tunisian freshman, who lost 6-2, 6-2 to Rico in the first meeting between the schools, found his coach’s words to be little consolation.

“I’d rather play badly and win than play my best match of the season and lose,” he said.

Though the Bruins didn’t want to blame the loss on the weather or the organization of the tournament, which had the men and the women playing in the same location for the first time ever, such factors were clearly a bother.

“It’s always tough for both teams, but I don’t want to make any excuses,” Kohlloeffel said. “Obviously it was not optimal.”

But in the end, the Bruins can take some consolation from Sunday’s disappointment – UCLA’s roster has no seniors.

“We left a really good note on the NCAA Tournament,” Kohlloeffel said. “Before the tournament started, nobody really expected anything from us. I think everybody really knows us now. We know we’re going to be really tough next year.”