Enlarge
#gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/7399
Alvin Chow

Hampered by injuries for much of his 2007 campaign, sophomore Matt Bruch came out strong as ever for last weekend’s Pac-10 Championship. After successfully defending his 2006 singles title, Bruch paired with teammate Blake Muller to bring back the doubles crown as well.

SophomoreMatt Bruch may be outside the top 125 in the national collegiate tennis rankings, but his opponents in last weekend’s Pacific-10 Conference Individual Championships might have guessed otherwise.

At the 107th tournament in Ojai, Calif., Bruch mowed down the field in the men’s singles championship competition, winning the title without dropping a single set in his five matches. Plagued by multiple injuries this season, the sophomore found his title-winning form at the championships and successfully defended his 2006 Pac-10 singles championship. In doing so, Bruch won the Cardinal (8-16, 2-5 Pac-10) its fourth straight conference singles championship.

On his road to the title, Bruch eliminated Arizona’s Peter Zimmer, Washington’s Andy Kuharszky, Southern California’s No. 67 Kaes Van’t Hof, California’s No. 30 Pierre Mouillon and Washington’s No. 87 Alex Slovic. Mouillon had defeated him in dual-match play earlier this season, but Bruch got his revenge in the semifinals, taking out the Cal junior, 6-4, 6-2.

“Matt did a great job,” assistant coach David Hodge said. “I was really proud of how the guys pulled together as a team, too. They all fought hard and competed hard.”

Stanford fielded four players in the men’s singles championship; sophomore Blake Muller, senior Eric McKean and No. 77 freshman Richard Wire all fell in the first round of play. Freshman Paul Morrissey, sophomore Jeff Zeller and senior David Ryan were entered in the invitational singles competition. Zeller lost in the first round, while Morrissey advanced to the second round before dropping a 7-6 (6), 6-3 contest to USC’s Adam Loucks. Ryan won two matches to reach the quarterfinals, but was eliminated by eventual invitational champion Jason McNaughton of USC, 6-4, 6-1.

Bruch’s outstanding play was not limited to singles competition, as he and Muller (the No. 12-ranked doubles tandem in the country) rolled through the doubles championship bracket and clinched the 2007 Pac-10 men’s doubles title with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over USC’s Van’t Hof and Robert Farah.

On their way to fulfilling head coach John Whitlinger’s prediction that they would be “a threat to win this tournament,” the Stanford duo also took out Arizona’s Jason Labrosse and Peter Zimmer, Arizona State’s Matt Brooklyn and Wes Miller and UCLA’s Mathieu Dehaine and Jeremy Drean.

Dehaine and Drean were the defending Pac-10 doubles champions, but Bruch and Muller knocked them out with a solid, 8-5 triumph.

“Blake and Matt played really solid,” Hodge said. “They set each other up well, and they’re getting better and better. They’ll be a tough team to beat at the NCAAs.”

Because of their strong play and high ranking throughout the season, Bruch and Muller will very likely be given a bid to play in the NCAA men’s doubles championship, hosted by the University of Georgia, starting on May 17. The bracket will be released this Wednesday, and the duo will look to continue their title-winning form in Georgia and end the season on a high note.

Wire and Morrissey also qualified as a team for the doubles championship contest, but they suffered a first-round loss to Arizona’s Bruno Alcala and Ravid Hazi, 8-5.

In the invitational doubles competition, Zeller teamed with UCLA’s Andrew Eklov to reach the semifinals. They were defeated by Washington’s Derek Drabble and Andy Kuharszky, who went on to win the bracket. The Washington duo also eliminated the other Stanford team in the invitational doubles, seniors Eric McKean and David Ryan. Hodge called McKean and Ryan’s performance a “fantastic result.”

The two seniors had never played doubles together at Stanford, although they did in high school as teammates at Brentwood High in Los Angeles. Over the weekend, the two seniors made an admirable run to the final before falling in defeat to Drabble and Kuharszky, 8-5.

For most of the team, including the two seniors, the Ojai tournament marked the end of the season. But their performance there sent a message to the rest of the Pac-10: Watch out for Stanford next year.

“It’s a great way to finish up a tough season for us,” Hodge said. “Next year, expectations will be high. The future is really bright, and that’s what this tournament showed.”