Sophomore Tobias Clemens is used to all
of the travel playing tennis entails.
By Gilbert Quiñonez
Daily Bruin Contributor
Two days. Two plane flights. Two different states. Two tennis
matches. While travel plans like these are unheard of in most
sports, UCLA isn’t concerned about it.
“Tennis players are used to it,” No. 1 starter
Tobias Clemens said. “They play in a lot of tournament
matches where they have to travel.”
The Bruins (16-3) will play at Washington (16-4) today at 1:30
pm and at Oregon (12-7) tomorrow at noon.
Looking at their records, the casual fan might think that
Washington and UCLA are closely matched great teams. The Huskies,
though, have had a much weaker schedule than the Bruins and are
currently ranked No. 33 in the nation. The Bruins are No. 3.
“Washington is a good team, strong at No. 1 and No. 2
singles,” UCLA head coach Billy Martin said.
Those strong points at singles are Alex Vlaski and Matt Hanlin,
both ranked nationally. With Vlaski and Hanlin, Washington can
usually count on having two of the seven points in the match.
However, UCLA not only has good players at the top of their lineup,
but also have a lot of depth.
Clemens is currently ranked No. 10 in the nation, and No. 2
starter Marcin Matkowski is No. 15. Behind them are two more ranked
players, Rodrigo Grilli and Jean-Julien Rojer, along with Erfan
Djahangiri, Lassi Ketola and Alberto Francis.
Unlike Washington and UCLA, Oregon has struggled this year.
Oregon is currently last in the Pac-10.
“Oregon has had a down year,” Martin said. “If
we get by Washington, we should be okay for the weekend.”
Oregon may not be a problem for the Bruins this weekend, but
Grilli’s health might be. He missed last weekend’s big
matches against Cal and Stanford because of a groin injury.
“I’m recovering little by little,” Grilli
said. “I hope I’ll be able to play this
weekend.”
“Rodrigo looked good in practice,” Martin said.
“I hope he can play this weekend.”