Waves enter LATC seeking revenge
M. tennis readies for Pepperdine, one
year after bouncing them in Region VIII
By Mark Singerton
UCLA faces No. 10 Pepperdine today at the Los Angeles Tennis Center in what should be their toughest match of the early season.
The fourth-ranked Bruins will have to be mentally prepared for the Waves, who look to avenge last year's loss to UCLA in the Region VIII Championships, where UCLA defeated them 4-3 to advance to the NCAAs. With the match tied at 3-3, Bruin sophomore Eric Lin pulled off a crucial 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 win over the Waves' Troy Budgen for the team victory.
Budgen and his teammates will look to up-end the favored Bruins, who are coming off a hard-fought 6-1 victory over UNLV Saturday. UCLA will have to play better tennis against Pepperdine however, if they hope to remain undefeated.
The Waves enter the match on a three match winning streak. On Friday they edged the University of Alabama, Birmingham 4-3, and followed with a 5-2 victory over Alabama. The Waves finished matters with a 6-1 romp over 11th-ranked Miami.
Sophomore Loren Peters knows his team must be extremely focused for this match.
"It was important for us to get the win (today)," Peters said after Saturday's victory. "It gives you a lot more confidence when you're playing the next match. We're going to need that against Pepperdine."
The Bruins will need plenty of focus considering the talent Pepperdine has. The Waves are led by Charles Auffray, who cruised past the Miami's Srdan Muskatirovic 6-2, 6-0 last weekend. Muskatirovic was the No. 1 player in the country.
On the flip side, Robert Janecek comes off a three-set loss to UNLV's Roger Petterson. But the senior star isn't worried about today's match.
"I'll be ready," Janecek said Saturday. "It can't get much worse match-wise for me than this particular one."
Head coach Billy Martin and his players have looked forward to this match for the past week, and know that a win today would give them a solid footing in the Pac-10.
"This is a huge match for us, and we know they're going to come in here fired up to beat us, especially after what we did to them last year," Martin said. "They're going to be very hungry. But they better be prepared to play really well if they expect to come in here and beat us because we defend our territory pretty well."