Bruins destroy spring break competition

Published: Monday, March 31, 1997

Monday, March 31, 1997

M.TENNIS:

Despite Eric Taino's fumbles, UCLA sports a No. 1 rankingBy Mark Shapiro

Daily Bruin Staff

Just stomping California teams isn't good enough for the UCLA men's tennis team anymore. They have to invite competition in from around the Mason-Dixon line or the banks of the Great Salt Lake to come and play.

Add 13th-ranked USC to the mix of Utah and fourth-ranked Middle Tennessee State and you have some pretty formidable competition, right?

Wrong. Or at least the Bruins think so.

It's easy to be confident when riding a 14-match win streak. The Bruins (18-1), ranked first in the nation, rode this momentum to a trio of victories and tossed three more scalps in their tennis bags.

USC was first onto the chopping block on March 13, and the Trojans gave UCLA its biggest scare of the vacation. With some timely play, however, the Bruins pulled out a 4-3 victory.

After two weeks off, Utah was next up on the slate. Playing the Utes was probably something of a relief after a grueling week of practice with a handful of two-a-days thrown in.

The work showed, as the Bruins cruised to a 6-1 victory.

The biggest challenge came in the form of the great unknown, Middle Tennessee State the fourth-ranked team in the nation, and no one knew anything about them.

"(Head coach Billy) Martin really stressed that match," senior Eric Taino said. "We'd never seen them before and we didn't want to lose to them."

No matter, for one 5-2 victory later, all fears were allayed.

"I didn't know any of those guys, but I didn't think they were very good at all," Taino said. " I'll be surprised if we see them in the (NCAA) semifinal."

As much as the Bruins have been charging forward, their muscleman has been going backwards. Taino, UCLA's standout No. 1 who found himself ranked 10th in the nation after Indoors, has fallen into a swoon unlike any other, dropping his last four matches.

What to do when you're mired in a four-match losing skid? Taino gets no mulligan, only a chance to play through.

"I've been playing bad ever since Indoors," Taino said. "I feel fine hitting the ball; I'm just playing a level down, at the level of my opponent. It feels really bad, but I've just go to play through it."

While Taino looks to right his own vessel, the Bruin ship steams on down the backstretch of its schedule.

The 17-match win streak will be put to the ultimate test this Friday when back-to-back national champ Stanford rumbles into town for the showdown of the year.

JUSTIN WARREN/Daily Bruin

Eric Taino struggled over the weekend, but hopes to get back on track.