Cal’s DeVries Does His Homework and Teaches USC’s Leach a Lesson

Perhaps Steve DeVries of Cal and Rick Leach of USC have been seeing too much of each other. People are starting to talk.

They go way back. When the two tennis players were fixtures of the junior scene, neither was able to gain the edge, although Leach was the more celebrated junior. Since they have been in college, DeVries has beaten Leach twice; once two years ago at the Pac-10 Championships and again Sunday in the Volvo Tennis/All-American Championships at the Los Angeles Tennis Center at UCLA.

You might say DeVries’ 6-3, 6-3 win was an inside job. He and Leach both played on the Junior Davis Cup team this year, and they were doubles partners on the satellite tour last summer.

“I know him pretty well,” DeVries said. “I trained with him this summer. We got along real well. We played pretty well, too. I think when you play doubles with someone, you learn his tendencies. Of course, we’d practice together when we weren’t playing doubles.

“I learned what he likes better and what he’s comfortable with. I learned where he likes to serve on the big points.”

Since DeVries went to school on Leach, he’s had the edge. Leach is a serve and volley player with improving ground strokes. The USC sophomore is at his best when he can chip to the net and rely on sharp volleys for winners. DeVries knows that and canceled that weapon.

“He’s at his best when he comes to the net, and I think I took that away from him,” DeVries said. “I was trying to get my first serve in and keep him back. I tried to take the ball earlier and make it tougher so he couldn’t get a groove on his ground strokes.”

DeVries (which means ‘freeze’ in Dutch) chilled out Leach’s hot net game and neutralized his serve. DeVries broke serve in the third game of the first set.

“I was playing as well as I have,” DeVries said. “I feel I served a little better. He didn’t make as many first serves.”

DeVries broke again at 5-3 to take the first set.

“I lost a couple of three-all games early in the match,” Leach said. “I lost a lot of first serves. So, he had a chance to break me about every game. On his serve, he didn’t miss too many.

“He may have me figured out, but I sure haven’t got him figured out. I guess he knew what I would do. He just played too well.”

The second set began with a seemingly rejuvenated Leach passing well. His serve became a weapon again, allowing him to get to the net and volley. Leach won his first serve of the set on an ace.

It was a short-lived revival. DeVries broke in the fourth game, setting off a string of service breaks for each player.

“I think I was getting nervous or tentative or something,” DeVries said of the later games in the second set. “When I was serving, my toss was too low. I wanted to stay aggressive. I was over-anxious and it cost me.”

It was a victory of another kind for DeVries; a battle won in the North and South conflict.

The Berkeley tennis team is fed up with hearing about the Southern California Collegiate Axis.

“I think we are a little tired of that,” DeVries said of the USCs, the Pepperdines and the UCLAs. “I think we have a really talented team. Maybe we can get things going. I like Berkeley, it’s a great academic school, that’s one of my first considerations. It’s nice, too, that at Cal--when tennis is over--you can get lost in the crowd.”

DeVries better not get lost on his way to class today, he’s got a mid-term. So does Leach.

DeVries, a junior who has played No. 1 singles at Cal since he was a freshman, had defeated two seeded players to get to the final--No. 8 Jan Sandberg of South Carolina in the second round and No. 6 Jorge Lozano of USC in the semifinals. Leach, the No. 5-seeded player, was the only seeded player to advance and the third knocked off by DeVries.

DeVries became the first American to win this tournament in five years, and wins a wild-card entry into a Volvo-sponsored pro event--probably here in September.

The winner of this tournament is expected to be ranked No. 1 this season in the first collegiate polls. DeVries was ranked No. 15 last season.

In the doubles final Sunday, Trojan went against Trojan. The team of Lozano and Luke Jensen defeated Leach and Tim Pawsat, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

That was a mild upset, as Leach-Pawsat were seeded No. 4 and Lozano-Jensen were seeded No. 7. Leach and Pawsat were the No. 2-ranked collegiate doubles team last season.