UCLA
Florida
No. 1 UCLA Men's Tennis Defeats No. 8 Florida 4-1
June 21, 1999 | Men's Tennis
May 23, 1999
ATHENS, GA - It was a tough battle at Henry Feild Stadium today, but the No. 1 UCLA Bruins held on to defeat No. 8 seed Florida, 4-1 in the quarterfinals of the 1999 NCAA Men's Tennis Championships in Athens, Georgia. With the win UCLA improves to 25-2 overall, while Florida ends its season with a 20-6 record.
While the score ended with a 4-1 edge for UCLA, the match was much closer than the final score indicated. The doubles point came down to a tie-breaker on court No. 2 and, ultimately, the victory provided UCLA the momentum to sweep the bottom half of the line-up in the singles portion of today's match. But the Gators kept it close, winning doubles and singles on court No. 1 and forcing third-sets on court Nos. 2, 3 and 6 in singles play.
Doubles action between the Bruins and the Gators was a thriller, coming down to a 15-13 tiebreaker win by the Bruins on court No. 2 to clinch the point for doubles play. UCLA got the first needed win quickly, as UCLA's Marcin Rozpedski and Chris Sands defeated Florida's Trey Adcock and Amr ElSawaf, 8-5 on court No. 3. The No. 15 Florida tandem of Jeff Morrison and Nathan Overholser equalized the score in doubles play, defeating UCLA's No. 6 team of Jean-Noel Grinda and Jong-Min Lee 8-6 on court No. 1. Leading 14-13 in the tie-breaker in the decisive match in doubles play, UCLA's Brandon Kramer hit a service winner to Florida's Dylan Mann who returned the ball long. With the win, UCLA's No. 7 team of Jason Cook and Kramer handed Florida's Mann and Justin O'Neal their second straight loss and clinched the point for doubles play.
"It was tight throughout the whole match," said Kramer. "We were able to battle through it, and it gave us the momentum going into singles."
UCLA showed its depth in singles action, with the bottom half of the line-up claiming the three needed points to win the match. Jong-Min Lee finished first and put the Bruins up 2-0 when he defeated Florida's Amr ElSawaf, 6-2, 6-0 on court No. 4. The Bruins went up 3-0 behind No. 100(t) Brandon Kramer's win over Dylan Mann in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4 on court No. 5. Florida's No. 2 Jeff Morrison recorded the Gators only point of the match, handing UCLA's No. 7 Jean-Noel Grinda a 7-5, 6-3 loss. With court No. 2 in the third-set and UCLA's Jason Cook winning the tie-breaker in the second-set to force a third on court No. 3, UCLA's Marcin Rozpedski was leading in the third on court No. 6 and looked to be the one to clinch it for the Bruins. Rozpedski answered the call, defeating Trey Adcock 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 to clinch the match for the Bruins.
UCLA advances to the semifinals for the 17th time in the 23 years of the team format and ensures that the Pac-10 has put at least one team in the semifinals in each of the 23 years of the team format. The Bruins will next face No. 5 seed LSU at 2 pm Monday, May 24 at Henry Feild Stadium. UCLA is 3-0 all-time against LSU.
Here are today's position-by-position results:
Doubles (rank) winner def. (rank) loser score
#1 (15) J. Morrison / N. Overholser (UF) def. (6) J. Grinda / J. Lee (UCLA) 8-6
#2 (7) J. Cook / B. Kramer (UCLA) def. D. Mann / J. ONeal (UF) 9-8(13)
#3 M. Rozpedski / C. Sands (UCLA) def. T. Adcock / A. ElSawaf (UF) 8-5
Singles (rank) winner def. (rank) loser score
#1 (2) Jeff Morrison (UF) def. (7) Jean-Noel Grinda (UCLA) 7-5, 6-3
#2 Zack Fleishman (UCLA) vs. (23) Justin ONeal (UF) Suspended
#3 (81) Jason Cook (UCLA) vs. (50) Nathan Overholser (UF) Suspended
#4 Jong-Min Lee (UCLA) def. Amr ElSawaf (UF) 6-2, 6-0
#5 (t100) Brandon Kramer (UCLA) def. Dylan Mann (UF) 6-3, 6-4
#6 Marcin Rozpedski (UCLA) def. Trey Adcock (UF) 6-3, 2-6, 6-1
Final Team Score: UCLA 4 , Florida 1
