UCLA
USC
Bruins Breeze Past USC
June 21, 1999 | Men's Tennis
March 4, 1999
LOS ANGELES - In this season's second round of one of the most heated rivalries in sports, the UCLA men's tennis team registered a 6-1 victory at cross-town rival USC at the Marks Tennis Stadium today. With the victory UCLA, which is tied for No. 5 in the national rankings, improves to 13-1 overall, while No. 15 ranked USC dropped to 9-2 overall, suffering both of its losses to UCLA. The Bruins also posted a 5-2 win at UCLA on Feb. 12.
The match got off to a better start for the Bruins than last time as UCLA claimed the doubles point with victories on court Nos. 2 and 3. Playing in the No. 1 slot today were the same two teams which met in the No. 2 position last meeting, but the outcome was reversed. USC's team of Roman Kukal and Patrick Gottesleben defeated UCLA's No. 9 ranked duo of Jason Cook and Brandon Kramer 8- 6. UCLA then reversed the fortunes from the last dual on court No. 3, where Marcin Rozpedski and Chris Sands defeated Greg Hill and Andrew Park 8-5. The doubles point was decided in a tiebreaker on court No. 2 where UCLA's team of Jean-Noel Grinda and Jong-Min Lee won 9-8 (1) over USC's team of Nicholas Rainey and Scott Willinski.
Both teams made slight lineup adjustments for singles play as USC's Ryan Moore, who was the only Trojan with a singles win in the earlier meeting, did not play today. Two matches went three sets and two used tiebreakers as the match was typically closer than the final score indicates.
The dual on court No. 1 was a rematch which again went three sets as UCLA's Grinda repeated his win over Gottesleben. This time Grinda had to rebound from a first-set tiebreak loss to win 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-3. The other three-setter was also a rematch with a familiar outcome, just in a different position in the lineup this time out as UCLA's Rozpedski rallied to claim a 2-6, 6-1, 6-0 win over Gregg Hill on court No. 5. In a meeting between two of the top California- produced freshman, UCLA's Zack Fleishman used a second-set tiebreaker to defeat USC's Park 6-3, 7-6(3) in the No. 3 slot.
The No. 2 position again provided the Trojans' only singles victory, but the players were not the same as the last dual meeting. USC's Kukal moved up from the No. 4 slot he played against the Bruins last time to post a 6-1, 6-1 win over UCLA's Cook, who also played a notch above his normal position, in the No. 2 slot. The other two matches to finish in straight sets were won by the Bruins. UCLA's Kramer dropped just one game en route to victory over USC's Rainey in the No. 4 position. Sands posted a 6-3, 6-4 Bruin win over Willinski on court No. 6.
UCLA's next action comes this weekend when the Bruins send four doubles teams to compete in the Pacific Coast Doubles Tournament at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, Thursday through Sunday.
Here are today's position-by-position results:
Doubles - (UCLA wins point)
No. 1 P. Gottesleben/R. Kukal (USC) def. (9) J. Cook/B. Kramer (UCLA) 8-6 No. 2 J. Grinda/J. Lee (UCLA) def. N. Rainey/S. Willinski (USC) 9-8 (1) No. 3 C. Sands/M. Rozpedski (UCLA) def. G. Hill/A. Park (USC) 8-5
Singles
No. 1 (14) Grinda (UCLA) def. P. Gottesleben (USC) 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-3 No. 2 (t50) R. Kukal (USC) def. J. Cook (UCLA) 6-1, 6-1 No. 3 (100) Z. Fleishman (UCLA) def. (t50) A. Park (USC) 6-3, 7-6(3) No. 4 B. Kramer (UCLA) def. (t91) N. Rainey (USC) 6-0, 6-1 No. 5 M. Rozpedski (UCLA) def. G. Hill (USC) 2-6, 6-1, 6-0 No. 6 C. Sands (UCLA) def. S. Willinski (USC) 6-3, 6-4
Final Team Score: UCLA 6, USC 1
