Men's Tennis Falls to Cross-Town Rival Bruins
June 21, 1999 | Men's Tennis
February 13, 1999
LOS ANGELES - In one of the most heated rivalries in sports, the UCLA men's tennis team posted an impressive 5-2 win over cross-town rival USC in front of the largest crowd of the season at the Los Angeles Tennis Center today. With the victory UCLA, which is tied for No. 5 in the national rankings, improves to 6-1 overall and 2-1 in the Pac-10 Conference, while No. 15 ranked USC suffered its first loss to drop to 6-1 overall and is also 2-1 in Pac-10 action.
The adrenaline was flowing early on the court and in the stands as all three doubles matches proved exciting. USC claimed the first match completed as Ryan Moore and Nicholas Rainey defeated UCLA's team of Jean-Noel Grinda and Jong-Min Lee 8-6 on court No. 1. The Bruins quickly evened things with an 8-6 win of their own on court No. 2 as Jason Cook and Brandon Kramer defeated USC's Roman Kukal and Patrick Gottesleben. The final doubles match went into a tiebreaker on court No. 3 with USC's Gregg Hill and Andrew Park prevailing 9-8(6) over UCLA's Marcin Rozpedski and Chris Sands to claim the first point of the match.
Having lost the doubles point for the first time this season, UCLA needed four singles victories to claim the match and got the momentum early by claiming the first set on all six courts. Perhaps still feeling the sting from a tough doubles loss, UCLA's Rozpedski came out determined and posted a 6-4, 6-2 win over Hill in the No. 6 position to erase the Trojans' advantage. Following suit with his doubles partner, UCLA's Sands was next to finish as he won 6-3, 6-3 over Rainey on court No. 5.
Three matches went to tiebreakers in the second set with UCLA holding on for the straight-set victory in two, while the other as well as the No. 1 match went the distance. Cook gave UCLA a 2-1 lead by winning his tiebreaker 7-5 and claiming the match 6-3, 7-6(5) over Park on court No. 3. A short time later, Kramer clinched the team victory by claiming his tiebreaker 7-2 and the win over Kukal 6-4, 7-6(2) in the No. 4 slot.
The most exciting singles action of the day took place on the first two courts as both went three sets. UCLA prevailed in the No. 1 position as Grinda defeated Gottesleben 6-4, 5-7, 6-2. USC claimed its final point of the day in the last match completed as Moore won a battle of freshmen on court No. 2. UCLA's Zack Fleishman cruised to a 6-3 win in the first set, but Moore forced a marathon tiebreaker in the second set. Moore fended off several match points and held on for a 16-14 win then used that momentum to claim the final set 6-4.
The Bruins next action will be on the road in Seattle for a dual vs. the University of Washington on Tuesday, Feb. 16, then at the USTA National Team Indoor Championships hosted by Washington Feb. 18-21, where their first opponent will be Southern Methodist University. UCLA returns home on Thursday, Feb. 25 to host a twice rescheduled match with UC Irvine at 1:30 p.m.
UCLA 5, USC 2
Doubles - (USC wins point)
SinglesNo. 1 Moore /Rainey (USC) def. Grinda / Lee (UCLA) 8-6 No. 2 Cook / Kramer (UCLA) def. Kukal / Gottesleben (UCLA) 8-6 No. 3 Hill / Park (USC) def. Sands / Rozpedski (UCLA) 9-8(6)
No. 1 Jean-Noel Grinda (UCLA) def. Patrick Gottesleben (USC) 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 No. 2 Ryan Moore (USC) def. (66) Zack Fleishman (UCLA) 3-6, 7-6(14), 6-4 No. 3 Jason Cook (UCLA) def. Andrew Park (USC) 6-3, 7-6(5) No. 4 (t92) Brandon Kramer (UCLA) def. Roman Kukal (USC) 6-4, 7-6(2) No. 5 Chris Sands (UCLA) def. Nicholas Rainey (USC) 6-3, 6-3 No. 6 Marcin Rozpedski (UCLA) def. Gregg Hill (USC) 6-4, 6-2
