UCLA
Illinois
Bruins Capture National Team Indoor Championship
June 21, 1999 | Men's Tennis
February 21, 1999
SEATTLE - In a match up of teams tied for fifth in the country, UCLA defeated Illinois 4-1 at the Nordstrom Tennis Center to capture its fifth USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championship in the 1990s and sixth overall. UCLA has also won the title three out of the last four years. The Bruins improve their record to 11-1 and Illinois falls to 9-1. It is the thirteenth straight year that a Pac-10 school has won the title. No school outside the state of California or Texas has won the event.
UCLA took a quick 3-0 lead by virtue of winning the doubles point and straight set wins in the No. 3 and 5 singles matches. Illinois' 44th-ranked Cary Franklin defeated 100th-ranked Zach Fleishman 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 in No. 2 singles to cut the score to 3-1.
Illinois had a chance to tie it up by lost two second-set tie-breakers in the No. 4 and 6 singles slots. The match came down to the No. 1 singles position between UCLA's 14th-ranked Jean-Noel Grinda and Illinois' seventh-ranked Oliver Freelove.
The two split the first two sets and headed in to a third-set tie-breaker to decide the match. Freelove took an early 2-0 lead but Grinda battled back to knot the score at four. Grinda then went on to win to win two more points to up his score to 6-4. On championship point, Freelove hit long to give UCLA the victory.
UCLA 4 Illinois 1Singles
1. Jean-Noel Grinda(UCLA) d. Oliver Freelove (I) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 2. Cary Franklin (I) d. Zach Fleishman (UCLA) 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 3. Jason Cook (UCLA) d. Jeff Laski (I) 6-4, 6-1 4. Brandon Kramer (UCLA) vs. Jakub Teply (I) DNF 5. Jong-Min Lee (UCLA) d. Royce Ramey (I) 6-3, 6-3 6. Chris Sands (UCLA) vs. Mike Kosta (I) DNF
Doubles
1. Grinda-Lee (UCLA) vs. Franklin-Freelove (I) DNF 2. Cook-Kramer (UCLA) d. Nathan Zeder-Teply (I) 8-2 3. Marcin Rozpedski-Sands (UCLA) d. Kosta-Laski (I) 8-2
