UCI Serves Notice With Tennis Season

They regarded UC Irvine as . . . well, not an intruder, but close.

The select few, the elite of men’s college tennis, can be an extremely tough group to enter. Cal State Long Beach was first to crack the barrier this season, knocking off UCLA and Pepperdine on its way to a No. 2 ranking. And even though the Anteaters reached the NCAA team tournament in Athens, Ga., for the second time in school history, some regarded their presence as a fluke. An aberration.

Finally, all the doubts disappeared last week during the individual tournament. UC Irvine, which never had an All-American tennis player, had four by the time the last ball was hit Saturday. Zero to four, UCI Coach Greg Patton’s favorite kind of math.

“I think we’ve served notice to a lot of people,” said Patton. “I mean, to other college coaches. I think before the individuals, they felt we had some fluke wins. What has happened is that we had knocked down some guys in the street. Now, after the individuals, they know they better start getting out of our way.”

The Anteaters came within a service break of winning an NCAA doubles title. Julian Barham and Darren Yates led, 5-4, in the third set against USC’s Rick Leach and Scott Melville. All Irvine needed to do was break Leach’s serve--granted, not an easy task. But Leach, who had been struggling, hit three strong first serves. Five all. Two games later, USC broke serve and won, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.

“At the end of the match, with the goal getting so close, they did some things that are young,” Patton said. “One guy poached when he gave the signal that he wasn’t going to. They did some things that were uncharacteristic.”

However, Barham and Yates were far more critical of their efforts in the doubles match against Cal State Long Beach during the second round of team competition.

Barham: “We choked it off.”

Yates: “We choked.”

In the previous three matches against the 49ers, the Anteaters (25-11) always fared well once the singles ended. Barham and Yates finished 34-8 and No. 7 in the nation, and Mark Kaplan and Trevor Kronemann finished 31-7 and No. 13. All four were named All-Americans.

Both UCI doubles teams lost and Long Beach won, 5-3.

“I think we felt relaxed because we had always beaten them in doubles,” Kaplan said. “After the singles we felt great to be tied, 3-3.”

Kaplan also came close to winning an individual title. He had played No. 4 as a freshman before assuming the top spot this season. The path cleared for him in Athens after 13 of the top 16 seeded players lost the first day of the individual singles tournament.

“No, I wasn’t worried about losing,” Kaplan. “I thought it was great for me. I thought, ‘I’m going to win it.’ ”

In the semifinals, Kaplan (33-14) lost to the eventual winner Andrew Burrow of Miami, 7-6, 2-6, 6-1. To reach the final four, he had defeated Scott Warner of Nevada Las Vegas, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. Kaplan had lost to Warner in the PCAA tournament. By the time he played Burrow, Kaplan was emotionally drained from the previous singles and doubles matches.

Now, after getting some valuable NCAA experience, the Anteaters say they are ready to take another step, to a higher level, next year. Barham is the only senior. His loss will be somewhat offset by incoming freshman Mike Briggs of Corona del Mar.

“That’s enough,” Kaplan said of Briggs. “Next year, we are going to have an experienced team. We know we can win now.”