It was a successful weekend for Arizona men’s tennis, as the Wildcats improved to a 5-3-season record with two wins over New Mexico State University and Gonzaga.
After completing its second sweep of the spring season, a 7-0 defeat of New Mexico State, the Wildcats’ momentum carried into their Sunday play against Gonzaga, as they topped the Bulldogs 6-1.
Both matches started with early wins in the doubles.
Against New Mexico State, there were several wins in doubles play that gave the Wildcats the first point going into singles play.
Even though Arizona dominated doubles play, head coach Tad Berkowitz saw room for improvement.
“As for doubles, we still need to find our niche, but we hung in there to get the point,” Berkowitz said in a press release.
Halfway through the singles play against New Mexico State, the Wildcats took the lead after victories from sophomore Trent Botha, who put up the first point in singles play, and senior Naoki Takeda whose win put the match score at 3-0.
The UA went on to defeat New Mexico State 7-0.
As for Sunday against Gonzaga, the weather conditions didn’t stop the team from playing hard and learning to adapt to all situations.
Nearing the end of the match the winds picked up, according to Berkowitz, and it was a little difficult to keep focus.
The doubles play started off well for the Wildcats, with Harry Busby and Botha earning the first victory of the day.
Things started to shake up a bit as junior Oliver Plaskett and freshman Will Adkisson were defeated, but Takeda and sophomore Shoki Kasahara won their doubles play, giving Arizona a 1-0 lead going into singles play.
Takeda had an impressive weekend, winning both of the day’s singles play, and getting Arizona an advantage point in doubles play.
Along with Takeda, Botha too had a dominating weekend: he put up a 6-4 victory in the singles play against Gonzaga after earning a 6-2 against New Mexico State.
The Wildcats went on to defeat Gonzaga without much trouble. Will Kneale clinched the match with a 6-2, 6-0 win, giving Arizona a controlling 4-0 match lead.
Berkowitz only had good things to say from the Gonzaga match.
“Overall I thought the guys competed well today,” he said.
Arizona will be back home on Feb. 13 to play NAU at 10 a.m., and Feb. 15 to play UC Santa Barbara at 11 a.m. at LaNelle Robson Tennis Center.
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