Bryan Uses All of His Shots to Beat Netter : NCAA tennis: Texas sophomore defeats UCLA junior, 6-3, 6-4, to win singles title.

Sophomore Steve Bryan of Texas, doing whatever he had to in order to win, beat UCLA’s Jason Netter in straight sets in the NCAA men’s singles final Sunday.

Using lobs, hard baseline shots, volleys and moonballs, Bryan defeated Netter, 6-3, 6-4, on an overhead slam before 2,319 at the Hyatt Grand Champions. The match lasted 1 hour 17 minutes.

“I talked with my coach and assistant coach last night, and I knew I was going to have to change up the pace,” said Bryan, who became the first University of Texas player to win the championship since Kevin Curren won it as a senior in 1979.

He also is the first sophomore to win since Utah’s Greg Holmes in 1983.

“Jason missed some shots he normally makes, which helped,” Bryan said. “When I gave him the pace, he moved me around a lot. So I had to change it up out there, so he couldn’t get into the groove.”

Bryan said he may follow in Curren’s footsteps and turn professional after playing the satellite tour this summer, depending on his performance. Certainly, he already knows how to make sponsors happy. Before Bryan faced the reporters and cameras waiting for him after the match, he decided to change into a clean T-shirt. He fished through his sports bag and put on an official, sponsor-laden NCAA tournament shirt.

Netter (33-18), ranked No. 30 nationally and unseeded in the tournament, knew he had his work cut out for him against the third-ranked Bryan (53-6), who was seeded alphabetically in the 5-8 group.

Before the match, Netter said he and Bryan played similar-type games. Netter plays a game of endurance, moving opponents around the court with his hard baseline shots. And so does Bryan, just not exclusively.

“Steve picked up the pace and I got a little too impatient,” said Netter, a junior. “I didn’t play that bad. I just missed some big shots. We got into a groove while hitting baseline shots, then I got impatient and tried to do too much too soon.”

It was Bryan’s versatility that got him to the final. He virtually breezed through the tournament until he met San Diego’s Jose-Luis Noriega in the quarterfinals, whom he beat, 6-7 (9-7), 6-0, 6-2. After losing the first set, Bryan changed his baseline game to one of serve and volley.

“That match was my toughest in the tournament,” Bryan said. “After I won that, I started thinking more positive--it was the turning point for me.”

Against Netter, Bryan’s first turning point came in the second set. He broke Netter to take a 3-1 lead, scoring 10 consecutive points in the process. Netter did come back to tie the set, at 4-4, however.

Then with Netter serving, Bryan moved ahead, 30-40, and broke Netter to lead, 5-4, when Netter’s hit a lob long.

“The momentum started to change after I broke him,” Netter said. “Steve isn’t going to give you a point. But then I made errors and he broke me back. Steve’s got an amazing backhand. So in the middle of the second set I went to his forehand more, but I should have gone to it sooner. He’s so quick he seemed to get to a lot of everything.”

Netter and Bryan battled to deuce in the final game, but Netter gave Bryan the advantage when he hit a backhand long. Bryan served and volleyed the final point until he slammed Bryan’s approach shot into the corner to win the match.

Netter said he hopes to be back in the final next year. Meanwhile, he will be playing tennis this summer--somewhere. “I applied to the U.S. Tennis Assn., Canada, even Malaysia.”

Netter was only 10-15 in dual matches this season, but had a 23-3 record in tournaments. He was attempting to become the 10th Bruin to win the title, as well as the first unseeded player since Michigan’s Mike Leach in 1982.

In the doubles final, California’s Doug Eisenman and Matt Lucena, the top-ranked team in the country, beat Texas’ Mitch Michulka and Michael Penman, 6-3, 6-2.

Eisenman and Lucena are the eighth Cal team to win the doubles title, but the first since Cliff Mayne and Hugh Ditzler in 1952.

The last seven NCAA men’s doubles champions are from schools in California.

Texas was attempting to become the first team since Stanford in 1974 to win the singles (John Whitlinger) and doubles (Whitlinger-Jim Delaney) titles.