COURTNEY STEWART/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Junior Lassi Ketola
follows through in a match last month.
By Greg Schain
Daily Bruin Reporter
This will be a big weekend for UCLA men’s tennis coach
Billy Martin.
Not only is his team playing two of the most important matches
to date this season, but he is also on the brink of recording his
200th career victory.
But that doesn’t matter much to Martin, who has 199
victories in his ninth season with the Bruins.
“It is so miniscule compared to so many other
coaches,” Martin said. “But it’s nice. I want to
make sure I uphold the tradition of UCLA tennis.”
Martin’s predecessor, Glenn Bassett, had 592 career
victories over his 26-year tenure.
Martin will get his first shot at number 200 when No. 2 UCLA
(16-1) takes the court against No. 22 Cal (13-3) this
afternoon.
The Golden Bears’ ranking is deceiving, because they have
recorded big victories over Stanford and Washington, and have won
nine straight.
“Cal is a very good team,” junior Lassi Ketola said.
“It can’t get any tougher than this weekend.”
But UCLA has won 10 in a row, and has enough momentum to extend
the streak to 12 this weekend.
Sophomore Tobias Clemens is ranked No. 10 in the country in
singles, and is 11-1 in match play.
And junior Jean-Julien Rojer, who struggled at the beginning of
the season, has won five of his last six matches.
“If we’re at the top of our game, we’ll
definitely beat Cal,” Clemens said.
The Bruins will then host No. 6 Stanford on Saturday, who beat
UCLA in two of three matches last year. The two losses were both by
the score of 4-3, and were heartbreaking blows to the UCLA
squad.
But the Cardinal (15-1) has been weakened by the loss of their
top player, Alex Kim.
“They were stronger last year,” Martin said.
“They had Kim, and now they’ve lost him.”
The match against Stanford will be an important signal as to
where the teams stand as the NCAA tournament approaches. Stanford
is a perennial tennis powerhouse, and will be a main obstacle to
winning an NCAA Championship.
“Stanford is a great tennis team,” Clemens said.
“And they are one of our main rivals.”
The matches this weekend will be the team’s last home dual
matches of the year, but they will return to the Los Angeles Tennis
Center to host a regional tournament when the NCAA Championship
rolls around in May.