UCLA’s Tennis Team Goes Through Pac-10 Unbeaten

The UCLA men’s tennis team, with a little luck and a lot of depth, got two key wins from Michael Kures and a come-from-behind victory from No. 1 singles player Brad Pearce to cap an undefeated Pac-10 Southern Division season by beating Stanford, 7-2, Saturday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.

The Bruins had already clinched their second straight conference title, and fourth in six years, Friday with a victory over California and Stanford’s loss to USC. But Saturday’s victory kept the surprises coming for Coach Glenn Bassett.

“I guess going undefeated was unexpected, especially since it’s so tough to play away from home,” he said. “This team has been a very pleasant surprise. I didn’t know if we would be that good because of all the freshmen we have. Being 10-0 is a big surprise, and being 24-1 (overall) is a very big surprise.”

The depth comes with the four newcomers: Dan Nahirny of Maplewood, N.J.; Buff Farrow of Wichita, Kan.; Patrick Galbraith of Tacoma, Wash., and Tim Trigueiro of Santa Barbara. Farrow and Trigueiro won their singles matches and then teamed to beat Mark Jacobson and Gordy McKee, 7-6, 6-3. Galbraith joined Kures in another doubles win.

As if the competition needed more to worry about--San Jose State is up next in the first of three nonconference matches, Tuesday at the tennis center on campus--UCLA has also been getting the breaks of late.

Friday, the No. 1 singles player for Cal, Steve DeVries, was relegated only to doubles because of a wrist injury, and Saturday it was Stanford’s Jim Grabb who was slowed with a groin injury.

Eric Rosenfeld was the only Cardinal to win in singles, defeating Nahirny, 6-4, 6-4. In doubles, Patrick McEnroe and Grabb defeated Pearce and sophomore Ken Diller, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Earlier, Pearce, a 5-9 sophomore from Provo, Utah, had come back from a bad start to beat Dan Goldie, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, in 2 hours 10 minutes. Pearce was down, 5-1, in the first set before his comeback made the score close. He took control immediately in the second set and never trailed the rest of the way.

“We started well in most matches, but couldn’t put it away,” Stanford Coach Dick Gould said. “Once we got ahead, they (UCLA) we come back at us and we wouldn’t regroup. They’re a fine team.”