UC IRVINE NOTEBOOK : Clouds Have Silver Lining After Roberts’ Tennis Victory

As the threat of an upset gathered force, so did the threat of rain.

The weather was fine when Mike Roberts lost the first set last Friday, but worsening when he won the second.

By the time Roberts, serving at 5-3 in the third, was on the verge of defeating Miami’s Conny Falk, the second-ranked college player in the country, the clouds were heavy.

“It starts getting real dark,” said Roberts, a junior who recently took over UC Irvine’s No. 1 singles position from Brett Hansen-Dent, the Anteaters’ outstanding freshman. “At 30-love, it starts raining. Now I’m thinking to myself, great, it’s going to start raining at 30-love, it will pour all night, they’re leaving tomorrow. I’m not going to get to finish the match.”

Then he won the next point, setting up match point.

“It starts to pour, and he starts stalling,” Roberts said. “He’s thinking if he can hold on for one or two more points, the match will be called. I’m thinking about whether I should go for the serve. The rain’s really coming down. I serve to the forehand. He’s covering the backhand. I ace him.”

The match belonged to Roberts, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3.

While it rained, they shook hands at the net, and all matches in progress were stopped for the moment, though the match was later completed, a 5-3 Irvine victory.

The victory was another of a recent string for Roberts, who has won 10 of his past 11 dual meet matches, and four of five since being moved to No. 1. Overall, his record is 15-5.

“He has basically earned it. It wasn’t given to him,” Coach Greg Patton said. “I felt all along he could be No. 1. I wanted him to be team-oriented and apply himself in practice. He went out and earned it.”

Roberts, as yet unranked, had quite a week at No. 1. Besides beating Falk, he also beat No. 30 Greg Seilkop of Clemson and No. 64 John Yancey of Kentucky. Hansen-Dent, moved to No. 2, has thrived as well, going 4-1 and winning six of his past seven dual meet matches. His overall record is 14-7.

Patton says that despite the recent move, there is little difference between No. 1 and No. 2.

“I think they’re pretty even,” Patton said. “You always want to be sensitive to moving guys around. Brett got a taste of No. 1. We showed our confidence in him, and he got some good wins.”

To Roberts, who played No. 6 and No. 7 as a freshman, and No. 4 last year, the move up is a reward for the work that has helped improve his quickness, an important part of his serve-and-volley game.

“I’m a very competitive person. I hate to lose. I wouldn’t say I’m too competitive but . . . “

But there he was, a junior, with a freshman ahead of him.

“He got a lot of attention,” Roberts said. “He deserved a lot. I was jealous, not that he was getting attention, but it would be great if I was getting it, too.”

The usually ebullient Patton has been even more ebullient lately, thanks to the arrival last week of Chelsea Grace, the first child of Patton and his wife, Christa.

A search committee is being formed for the hiring of a women’s basketball coach to replace Dean Andrea, who was fired after the season.

Barbara Camp, an assistant athletic director, will head the committee. Because Andrea and his staff already had signed four players, including Jinelle Williams of Brea-Olinda High School’s State championship team, there is not an urgent need to fill the position for recruiting purposes.

Athletic Director Tom Ford said the criteria for the position will be similar to the criteria for the men’s job, with the emphasis placed on coaches with college experience.

Trishna Coleman ended her Irvine career last weekend at the NCAA regional diving championships in Tempe, Ariz. Coleman, who competed in the regional meet in each of the past four years, finished 14th in three-meter springboard and was 26th off the one-meter board.

The men’s golf team has won back-to-back tournaments, winning the Cal State Stanislaus Invitational last week and the Sacramento State Invitational the previous week.

Joey Sugar, a junior, was the medalist at the Stanislaus meet, finishing at 223 with rounds of 79-72-72. William Yanagisawa, a freshman, was two strokes back.

The Anteaters’ next tournament is the Western Intercollegiate at Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, beginning Monday.