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Monday, April 29, 1996

By Mark Shapiro

Daily Bruin Staff

When it came down to the team competitions this season, USC couldn't hold a candle to the firepower of the UCLA men's tennis team, as the Bruins rolled to two victories. At this weekend's Pacific 10 Championships, however, the Trojans were able to exact some measure of revenge.

In a tournament with no team competition, just a singles and doubles draw, the Trojans were responsible for knocking three of the four Bruins out of the first flight singles competition.

Cecil Mamiit, ranked second in the nation, edged senior Heath Montgomery in a tough three-set match. Montgomery, who is not ranked nationally, gave Mamiit quite a scare before finally succumbing in their first-round matchup. Sophomore Matt Breen also took a tumble at the hands of a Trojan, losing to senior Adam Peterson in yet another three-set match. Although both players lost in the first round, they managed to give opponents who play two or three spots above them in dual-match play a run for their money.

"Heath played really well and so did Breen," UCLA head coach Billy Martin said. "For them to hold their own against those opponents really makes me happy. Heath really played his best tennis of the season."

Senior Srdjan Muskatirovic, who was the highest ranked Bruin in the tournament at No. 19 in the nation, retired in the third set of his second round match. After taking his first rounder in three sets, an old hip injury began bothering him and so, at 2-1 in the third set, Muskatirovic called it a tournament rather than risk further injury.

"We both felt that it was not worth pushing," Martin said. "It was his second match of the day and we didn't want to get aggravated and be a problem at NCAAs."

The torch bearer for the Bruins this weekend would be Eric Taino, who, like he did at the Rolex Championships earlier this season, put together one of his best runs of the year. He charged through his early-round matches into a semifinal matchup with Peterson. This time, Taino's run would end in the semifinals as Peterson came out on top.

"Taino played extremely well but Peterson played a flawless match, probably the best I've ever seen him play," Martin said.

In the second singles draws, for players who play below the fourth position on their respective rosters, the Bruins boasted another semifinalist in the form of freshman Vincent Allegre, who raced through the draw until he fell to Stanford's Ricky Becker, who has been his nemesis this season. Junior Jason Thompson, who had fallen out of the regular singles lineup in recent weeks, forged through to the quarters where he was upended by Stanford's Grant Elliot.

After winning his first-round match, Eric Lin also fell victim to a Trojan, losing to Kyle Spencer in the second round and Jay Jackson, in his first singles action of the season, fell in his first-round match as well.

In the first flight of doubles play, Breen and Taino fell in the first round to the Arizona team of Hogland and Wagner in a grueling three-setter, and Lin and Thompson were edged by Paul Goldstein and Jim Thomas from Stanford, who make up the No. 2 doubles team in the nation.

In the second flight, the team of Jackson and Darren Miller got through to the second round and Montgomery and Allegre fell in the first round.

FRED HE/Daily Bruin

USC senior Adam Peterson knocked UCLA's Eric Taino out of the Pac-10 Championships in the semifinals.