UCLA
LSU
No. 1 UCLA Advances to NCAA Finals with 4-1 Win over LSU
June 21, 1999 | Men's Tennis
May 24, 1999
ATHENS, Ga. - The No. 1 UCLA Bruins will look to contend for their 16th NCAA mens tennis title tomorrow, after advancing to the finals of the 1999 NCAA Championships with a 4-1 win over LSU. With the win UCLA improves its record to 26-2, while the No. 5 LSU Tigers end their season with a 20-7 mark.
Despite losing the doubles point to LSU, the Bruins played an impressive match, winning the first set on all but one court and winning singles matches on four courts. While the final point was awarded after LSUs Ed Rubin retired due to injury, the Bruins were leading on both court Nos. 3 and 4 and looked to be close to closing out the match against the Tigers.
UCLA dropped the doubles point for the first time in the NCAA tournament, but challenged LSU until the end. The Tigers duo of Michal Chmela and Daniel Kiernan recorded the first win in doubles play for LSU, defeating UCLAs No. 6 Jean-Noel Grinda and Jong-Min Lee 9-7 on court No. 1. UCLAs No. 7 Jason Cook and Brandon Kramer fought hard against No. 42 Tom Hand and Ed Rubin, but fell 8-6 to the Tigers on court No. 2. After trailing for most of the match, UCLAs Marcin Rozpedski and Chris Sands battled back and were leading 5-1 in the tie-breaker when the match was abandoned.
The Bruins have never lost a match this season after dropping the doubles point and went into singles play determined to keep it that way. No. 100(t) Brandon Kramer won his third singles match of the tournament and equalized the score in the match at one when he defeated Jonas Samuelsson 6-1, 6-4 on court No. 5. UCLAs Marcin Rozpedski increased his winning streak to 17, handing Jesse Smatt a 6-3, 6-2 defeat on court No. 6. The Bruins went up 3-1 in the match when No. 7 Jean-Noel Grinda defeated No. 13 Michal Chmela 6-1, 5-7, 7-5 on court No. 1. With one more win needed to clinch the match, the Bruins were in control on all three remaining courts. Zack Fleishman had won the first set and was leading in the second on court No. 2, while Jason Cook and Jong-Min Lee were both leading in the third set. But it was on court No. 3, where LSUs Ed Rubin retired when Cook was leading 5-2 in the third, that the match was clinched for UCLA. When the final point was won, Lee was leading 4-2 on court No. 4 in the third while Fleishman was beginning the third set on court No. 2.
The last time UCLA beat LSU in the NCAA tournament the Bruins went on to win the national title (1984) and the Bruins will look to repeat that feat tomorrow, when they meet the winner of the Georgia/Mississippi match at 5 p.m. at Henry Feild Stadium. The Bruins will be making their ninth appearance in the final match and have ensured that a Pac-10 team will compete in every NCAA finals match since the team format began in 1977.
Here are todays position-by-position results:
Doubles
#1 - M. Chmela / D. Kiernan (LSU def. (6) J. Grinda / J. Lee (UCLA) - 9-7
#2 - (42) T. Hand / E. Rubin (LSU) def. (7) J. Cook / B. Kramer (UCLA) - 8-6
#3 - M. Rozpedski / C. Sands (UCLA) vs. J. Samuelsson / J. Smatt (LSU) - DNF
Singles
#1 - (7) Jean-Noel Grinda (UCLA) def. (13) Michal Chmela (LSU) - 6-1, 5-7, 7-5
#2 - Zack Fleishman (UCLA) vs. (39) Tom Hand (LSU) - DNF
#3 - (81) Jason Cook (UCLA) vs. Ed Rubin (LSU) - 6-2, 3-6, 5-2 (Retired)
#4 - Jong-Min Lee (UCLA) vs. Daniel Kiernan (LSU) - DNF
#5 - (t100) Brandon Kramer (UCLA) def. Jonas Samuelsson (LSU) - 6-1, 6-4
#6 - Marcin Rozpedski (UCLA) def. Jesse Smatt (LSU) - 6-3, 6-2
Final Team Score: UCLA 4, LSU 1
