Matt Breen and the Bruins advance.

Bruins win in first round of NCAA Championships.

May 23, 1998

ATHENS, Ga. - Down 0-1 heading into singles play, the UCLA men's tennis team rallied to win four out of five singles matches en route to a 4-2, first-round victory over the University of Texas Saturday, at the NCAA Men's Tennis Championships held at the University of Georgia. UCLA faces No. 1 seeded Stanford, who beat Minnesota today 4-0, tomorrow in a quarterfinal match beginning at Noon.

Doubles action started the afternoon as UCLA's No. 1 team of Matt Breen / Jean-Noel Grinda gave the Bruins a slight advantage, taking an 8-3 victory over Texas' No. 1 duo of Nick Crowell / Paul Martin. The Longhorns answered on court No. 2, coming back from a 1-3 deficit, to win the next eight games and take the match 8-3. The deciding match came down to court No. 3, where Jack Brasington / Gwenael Guiet edged UCLA's Noah Newman / Jason Cook 8-6. With the victories on court Nos. 2 and 3, Texas took the one point awarded for doubles play.

Heading into singles action, UCLA needed to win four of the six matches to pull out a victory. The Bruins got off to a quick start, winning the first set on every court but one. First to finish was court No. 2, where UCLA's Vince Allegre cruised to an easy 6-0, 6-0 win over Crowell, tying the match at 1-1. Cook, who has won nine of his last 11 matches, put the Bruins up 2-1 when he recorded a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Guiet on court No. 4. UCLA's No. 1 player Grinda, became the Bruins' third straight-set winner of the afternoon when he registered a 6-3, 6-4 win over Martin on court No. 1.

Despite the 3-1 UCLA advantage, the match was still up in the air as court Nos. 3, 5 and 6 were all in the third set. Michael Blue brought the Longhorns to within a point as he pulled out a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Brandon Kramer on court No. 6, bringing the match score to 3-2. UCLA then pulled off a comeback of its own, as Alex Decret, down 1-3 in the third set, rallied back to win five straight games, notching a thrilling 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 match-clinching victory over B.J. Stearns on court No. 5.

"I tried to keep the heat out of my head," said Decret. I felt I was in good shape to play in these conditions and I think you have to go out there with that frame of mind in order to win your match. You don't need to rely on your teammates to do it.

"Texas is a very competitive team," said UCLA head coach Billy Martin. "I felt we had to go out there and give it everything we had. We've been weak in doubles all year so it wasn't a surprise to be down after doubles. Singles is our strong point and we don't panic after doubles. We are going to have to play great tennis tomorrow."

At the time of suspension, Breen and Brasington were tied at 3-3 in the third set. Brasington took the first set 7-6 after a 19-17 tiebreaker. Breen rallied back to win the second set 6-2.

With the victory, UCLA improves to 17-7 on the season, while Texas finishes the 1998 campaign 24-5 overall .

Doubles
No. 1 - (32) Matt Breen / Jean-Noel Grinda (UCLA) def. 
        (14) Nick Crowell / Paul Martin(UT)      8-3
No. 2 - Michael Blue / B. J. Stearns (UT)  def. 
        Alex Decret / Brandon Kramer  (UCLA)     8-3
No. 3 - Jack Brasington / Gwenael Guiet (UT) def. 
        Jason Cook / Noah Newman (UCLA)          8-6
        (Texas wins the one point awarded for  doubles)

Singles
No. 1 - (22) Jean-Noel Grinda (UCLA) def. (74) Paul Martin (UT) 6-3, 6-4
No. 2 - (11) Vince Allegre (UCLA) def. (91) Nick Crowell (UT)   6-0, 6-0
No. 3 - (34) Matt Breen (UCLA) vs. Jack Brasington (UT)         Suspended
No. 4 - (92) Jason Cook (UCLA) def. Gwenael Guiet (UT)          6-2, 6-1
No. 5 - Alex Decret (UCLA) def. B. J. Stearns (UT)              6-2, 3-6, 6-3*
No. 6 - Michael Blue (UT) def. Brandon Kramer (UCLA)            3-6, 6-3, 6-2

FINAL SCORE:   UCLA 4, Texas 2  
* Clinching Match

Printer-friendly format

Email this article