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Junior Benjamin Kohlloeffel beat USC’s Jamil Al-Agba, 6-4, 6-3, to help the Bruins claim a

It may not have been the prettiest match, but it was a win. And when you’re playing USC, that’s what seems to matter most.

Tuesday, the No. 8 UCLA men’s tennis team proved that it can – and will – grind out victories, and the Bruins (10-3) were rewarded for their efforts with an emotional 5-2 win over the No. 26 Trojans (6-5). It was UCLA’s 16th straight victory over USC at home.

“It was close, but we didn’t expect anything different,” junior Benjamin Kohlloeffel said. “It’s not about who’s the better team, who has the better players. Against USC, you always have to play.”

UCLA’s freshmen appear to have embraced that fact, as Haythem Abid clinched the victory for the Bruins at the No. 2 position, scoring a 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) win over Trojan sophomore Dejan Cvetkovic, while fellow freshman Michael Look finished the match with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 come-from-behind victory over Adam Loucks at No. 5.

Though it was Abid’s first taste of the fierce rivalry, and though hundreds of pairs of eyes were transfixed on his court by end of his match, he handled each tiebreaker with the poise of a seasoned veteran.

“At the beginning you always get nervous, but when you start playing the points you relax more,” Abid said. “I just focused on putting the ball in the court and making him play.”

Trailing 4-3 in his second-set tiebreaker, the Tunisian freshman won four of the last five points to seal the victory and allow Bruin coach Billy Martin to let out a sigh of relief.

“I feel like he handled it a lot better than that young man from USC on this particular day,” Martin said. “He played pretty darn well.”

Martin seemed especially pleased with his players after the match, considering the circumstances they were forced to overcome.

Though junior Philipp Gruendler was penciled in to play at the No. 5 spot, he felt like he couldn’t compete in singles due to lingering tendinitis in his right knee.

Gruendler’s knee has been bothering him all season, and he said the only thing that will allow it to improve is rest.

This late development forced Look to No. 5, and junior Aaron Yovan entered the lineup at No. 6.

“After we had to pull Philipp, I thought it would be really tight,” Martin said.

The Bruin coach said that while he felt confident with Kohlloeffel and Chris Surapol, he knew that the other four singles matches could go either way.

True to form, Surapol took care of business with a 7-6 (0), 6-2 victory over Jeff Kazarian at No. 4.

“I’m pleased with the result, but not happy with my performance,” said Surapol, adding that Tuesday’s match was probably the worst he’s played all season. “I came out flat and tentative.”

Kohlloeffel was his usual consistent self, welcoming USC’s No. 1 Jamil Al-Agba to the singles lineup with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. It was Al-Agba’s first singles match of the season. Prior to Tuesday, he had played only doubles.

“I knew that they were going to put him in somehow, somewhere. It was obvious,” Kohlloeffel said, though he thought Al-Agba would likely play at No. 3 or No. 4.

The straight-set victories from Surapol and Kohlloeffel, combined with the doubles point, left the Bruins needing just one more match for the team victory.

Abid had been serving for the match, but he was broken by Cvetkovic for 5-5. Both players held serve to set up Abid’s tiebreaker heroics. His victory left UCLA 3-for-3 on tiebreakers for the day.

And that says something about a team.

“It says it’s hard to take us down,” Surapol said.