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Freshman Haythem Abid took part in one of the hard-fought battles of UCLA’s 4-1 loss to Pep

SAN FRANCISCO — The NCAA Quarterfinals on Sunday were unlike anything ever seen before. In fact, the entire tournament was a first for college tennis, with both women’s and men’s competitions being held at the same venue.

The new format might offer more in terms of tennis spectacle, but from a team point of view, the idea got mixed reviews.

“I was not supportive of the idea from the start, and now that we have gone to the first one, I am not a big fan,” UCLA coach Billy Martin said.

Court occupation was on tight schedule all day, and when the weather took a turn for the worse and matches were delayed by up to one and a half hours, things got even tougher

“I have had rainouts before but never faced anything like that,” Martin said. “It was chaotic in a lot of ways.”

It started raining at about midday on Sunday. All the men’s quarterfinals were scheduled for that afternoon. The UCLA-Pepperdine matchup was originally expected to begin around 1 p.m. After deliberation in light of the rainy conditions, the NCAA committee decided to suspend the women’s semifinals until the weather cleared up, and sent the men’s teams back their hotels until further notice. By 3:30, teams were informed that they would play indoors at 5 at the San Francisco Tennis Club, a good 30 miles from the Stanford campus.

“I just find it stupid that we had to drive more than an hour to play indoors,” junior Chris Surapol said. “The whole day was delayed. We lost our rhythm. I am just not very happy with anything right now.”

Indoor tennis is a different game than the one played by most college tennis teams, especially those from Southern California such as UCLA and Pepperdine. The courts are much faster indoors, the ball does not respond in the same way, and big hitters are definitely at an advantage.

“We had twenty minutes to adjust to the courts when it takes at least two days to get used to a different surface,” Surapol said.

UCLA and Pepperdine are two schools that enjoy outdoor tennis under year-round sunshine, so going indoors was not going to be an advantage to either team.

To both sides, the decision to take men’s tennis indoors in San Francisco seemed a perplexing one.

“Women’s tennis would be much less affected to go indoors than men’s,” Surapol said. “We already had an indoors national tournament. Why would we have another one?”

With three of the four men’s quarter-finals going on at the same time in the San Francisco Tennis Club, the venue was loud throughout the matches. Calls could not be heard, fans celebrating a point from one match echoed throughout the twelve courts, and the constant noise emerging from all corners made for a unique environment.

While Surapol and Martin agree that the conditions were something of a disturbance, some players managed to get around the potential problem.

“It was different, but it was the same for everyone and I managed to remain concentrated on my match,” freshman Haythem Abid said.

But the Bruins did not manage to cope with the hectic rescheduling, folding to Pepperdine 4-1.

No player on the team used the location as an excuse for the defeat, on the grounds that all teams were faced with the same situation.

Still, the Bruins would have been much happier to end their season – win or lose – outdoors, where they are more comfortable with the style of play.

“It was a great tournament, but very unfortunate to have to go indoors,” Martin said.