February 2,  def. Cal (18),  7 - 0
Non-conference match
Bruins looked good against strong Cal team, but managed to win without losing a point.

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February 3,  def. Stanford (19), 7 - 0
Non-conference match
Astonishing. We’ve never beaten Stanford 7-0 before. Worse, Cardinals were 0-3 coming into this match. Sky is falling. They are not very strong this year...

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February 25, def. Texas A&M (18), 5 - 2
Non-conference match
The strong, hard hitting TAMU team traveled to Westwood. The match was a lot closer than the score indicates. And our usually sure-bet Michael Roll and Chris Surapol suffered singles loss each. Surapol looked injured after losing the third set tie-breaker. It is worrisome...

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March 9, lost @USC (9), 1 - 6
Non-conference match
I was reminded why I despised visiting Marks Stadium. It was ugly. There are a few unruly (drunk) boosters -- they call themselves “7th men” -- causing all sorts of havoc, the verbal interference maximally bothered normally cool Bruin squads.
Trojans are good, very good this year. They don’t need this kind of behavior from their fan to play, and I did not feel the score and the outcome reflected the true competition.
One bright point on otherwise wasted afternoon was a strong showing by #2 Hythem Abid, defeating their actual #1 player, Al-Agba.
I hope they’ve learned something though, as they will have to fight through hostile crowd at Georgia for the NCAA title this year.
Oh, well. It sounds like a sour grape (it is). Fine. We’ll settle the score on April 20 when the two teams meet again for the conference title.

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March 31,  def Washington (30), 6 - 1
Pac-10 Conference match
Huskies are tall, power hitting team. They may not be a championship team, but next to USC, one of the most dangerous team within Pac-10.
But Bruins showed up to play. They looked so tough, Huskies didn’t find much room to step in and do damage.

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April 21,  def USC (9), 4 - 3
Pac-10 Conference Title Clincher, Senior Day, Alumini Day
How sweet it is! Bruins avenged earlier loss to Trojans to clinch the 4th consecutive conference title.
Trojans showed up to play, as they stormed in to take doubles point by defeating our #2 and #3 pairs.
But Bruins were ready. #4 Gruendler quickly finished off his match to tie, while Trojans took #6 singles to lead again, which was short-lived as #2 Abid took his #2 match. Trojans claimed third point when they won the #3 singles, but by then, Bruins were up a break on both #1 and #5 spots.
First Dehaine finished then everything came down on Ben at #1. With a couple of exciting points, he finished his, then the celebration began.
It was a happy day, not only for the victory, but also because many former Bruins came to gather on Alumini Day, and there was a big celebration between doubles and singles matches.
It was also a sad day, as it was the final homestand for our senior players that include Nguyen, Gruendler, Surapol and Kohlloeffel.
Well, we still have NCAA tournament, and first couple of rounds to host here

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May 11, def UNLV (66), 4 - 0
NCAA Team Tournament 1st Round
The tournament started. UCLA is #9 seed and the regional host for the first two rounds of the competition.
Rebels qualified for the tournament for the first time since 1999, but frankly, was outclassed by Bruins. The match started almost an hour late near 2PM, but it was over by a little past 4PM. Hope they had fun.
Meanwhile, the competition will get much tougher for Bruins...

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May 12, def Texas Tech (36), 4 - 0
NCAA Team Tournament 2nd Round
Texas Tech is a much better team than its 36th ranking indicates. They upset 24th ranked Virginia Commonwealth yesterday, and looked very sharp. Bruins won the doubles point, but they still managed to defeat our #3 team of Dehaine/Drean. The singles competition was very tight in the first set (see photo in the gallery), but when #1, #3, #4 and #5 court won the set, they secured the advantage and never looked back. It was a good win against very good team.
Now, they are off the Athens, GA for the final 16 competition. If it goes according to the plan, they will face #1 Georgia in the round of 8. That’ll be the biggest test of the season.

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