It will be a battle of titans when the Cal men’s tennis team heads down to Los Angeles this weekend to face tennis powerhouses USC and UCLA. With all three squads undefeated so far, at least one of the squads will walk out next week with its perfect season snapped.
In one of its toughest tests of the season, the Cal men’s tennis team will face two of the nation’s top three squads in one weekend.
The No. 13 Bears will battle No. 2 USC (7-0) at the David X. Marks Tennis Stadium at 1:30 p.m. on Friday. On Saturday, they will follow that game with a match against No. 3 UCLA (5-0) at 1 p.m. at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
Although Cal will face some of its stiffest competition, the Bears’ main concern is that these matches will be their first away games of the year.
“These first away games will certainly set the tone for the rest of the year,” said Cal coach Peter Wright. “It’ll tell us how well we can play when we’re not in familiar courts.”
USC, the four-time defending NCAA champion, claimed the crown at the prestigious 2012 ITA National men’s team Indoor Championships. This season, the Trojans have swept their last seven opponents in clean wins, never letting the other team notch more than one match victory.
The squad features seven nationally ranked singles players, including No. 10 Raymond Sarmiento and No. 24 Roberto Quiroz. As a freshman last year, Yannick Hanfmann clinched matches for the Trojans in both the NCAA Team Championships and the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.
UCLA’s team features two players ranked in singles, led by No. 12 Marcos Giron. The sophomore has clinched all but one of his singles matches this season.
“They’ve always been very good,” said senior co-captain Riki McLachlan. “We’re not changing the way we play, but we’ll have to step up our game mentally and physically this week.”
Cal boasts four nationally ranked players, including senior Christoffer Konigsfeldt and junior Ben McLachlan, as well as the No. 7 doubles duo of the McLachlan brothers. Although the Bears are the only team among the three with a nationally ranked doubles pair, Cal cannot solely rely on its doubles play.
According to Wright, in order to pull an upset of either of their opponents, the Bears must instead focus on clinching their singles matches.
“Winning the first half is important, but it’s winning at the end that is critical,” Wright said. “Once that (double) point’s over, we have to focus on playing in singles, where six of the seven points are.”
This weekend, Wright will assess how well the team approaches playing on unfamiliar territory. After winning their first couple of matches at home, the Bears will look to build on the momentum from the past few weeks as they start competition on the road.
“If we can establish how well we play on the road early in the year, that can be something we build on,” Wright said. “If not, it’ll have to be something we evaluate and look upon as we move forward.”
Janice Chua covers men’s tennis. Contact her at [email protected].