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Junior Benjamin Kohlloeffel seeks to capture the first NCAA singles title for UCLA since current

The season is over for UCLA men’s tennis as a team, but there is still one Bruin hoping to bring an NCAA title back to Westwood.

After the Bruins lost to Pepperdine in the quarterfinals, No.1 player junior Benjamin Kohlloeffel stayed at Stanford to compete in the singles draw.

As the No. 1 seed in the tournament, Kohlloeffel is hoping to achieve what has been missing at the LATC for more than thirty years – an NCAA singles title. Kohlloeffel will face Florida’s No. 38 Vladimir Obradovic in the first round of the tournament at 3:30 p.m. today.

“I think he is the guy with the biggest chance of claiming it since I have been (coaching) here,” coach Billy Martin said.

As a 9-16 seed in 2005, Kohlloeffel reached the quarterfinal but fell to Old Dominion University’s Izak van der Merwe 3-6, 7-5, 3-6. Back then, however, he was entering his first NCAA Singles Tournament. He had also just clinched an emotional national title with the team late in the night before his first round.

“I think he is mentally in a better place than last year,” Martin said. “He knows what it is about and has the maturity to do well here.”

Building upon a strong 37-4 record from his regular season, Kohlloeffel won both his singles matches during the team tournament last week, and expectations are higher than ever. Still, he remains focused on his game and says he does not feel any added pressure.

“I am feeling a lot better physically than last year,” Kohlloeffel said. “I have had two days off and practice has been going well.”

Despite earning the 2-seed for the doubles tournament alongside junior Philipp Gruendler, the pair pulled out of the draw. Gruendler and Kohlloeffel did not manage to succeed at Stanford to the same degree that they have in the past few months. Their 9-7 defeat against Illinois was the first match lost by the duo this season, and their close 6-6 match against Pepperdine was cancelled after the other two UCLA doubles teams lost.

“Gruendler’s shoulder was hurting and with the disappointment of the day before, they decided to pull out,” Martin said.

Martin was the most recent UCLA player to win the NCAA singles title, in 1975, and would like nothing more than to have another member of the Bruin family finally reclaim the honor.

Martin said he has been teasing Kohlloeffel about the accomplishment all year, but the junior is concentrating on taking the tournament one match at a time.

“It would be great, considering he is also the current coach,” Kohlloeffel said. “I am not thinking about it, but if I make the final, you can ask me again.”