The Arizona women’s tennis team ended its dual-match season this weekend at the Robson Tennis Center when it lost to No. 14 ASU on Saturday by a score of 6-1.
Court Nos. 2 and 3 lost, handing the first doubles point to the Sun Devils (14-7, 5-4 Pacific 10 Conference), but UA juniors Danielle Steinberg and Claire Rietsch weren’t in the mood to lose their match. They beat the No. 26 pair, sophomore Nadia Abdala and junior Laila Abdala, by a score of 6-5 (5) on the No. 1 court.
Arizona (7-17, 0-8) couldn’t pick up the momentum soon enough once singles play rolled around. No. 37 Steinberg earned the only point for the Wildcats when she downed No. 26 Nadia Abdala, 7-6 (4), 0-6, 10-5 on the top court.
“”I lost to her earlier in Tempe, but I’m glad I didn’t lose twice to her in the season,”” Steinberg said. “”There’s no way that girl was going to come to my court and beat me. I’m pretty pleased with my meet overall.””
The rest of Saturday’s matches had multiple 6-0 sets in ASU’s favor.
Even though the match was held on Wildcat territory, several Sun Devils fans made the 90-minute drive to Tucson.
“”At the beginning of the match, we had a big (Arizona) crowd and so did ASU. But then (Arizona fans) started leaving,”” Steinberg said. “”It’s just sad they had more of a crowd than we did at the end.””
After the match, the team gathered in the locker room and already started to talk about preparation for next year.
“”The overall message (in the locker room) was that it’s the end of a not-great season, but we better be ready for the fall because it’s going to be intense – ‘boot camp’ were the exact words that were used,”” said sophomore Katie Orletsky. “”We have this week off then we start back up on Monday. We’re going to practice for a couple weeks until school’s out.””
Though the season is over for most of the team, Steinberg and Rietsch prepare for this week’s Pacific-10 Conference Championships that will be held in Ojai, Calif.
Men’s team loses 7-0; Carrasco injured in final battle at ASU
The No. 62 Arizona men’s tennis team lost its final dual match of the season to No. 21 ASU in Tempe this weekend by a score of 7-0. The previous encounter with the Sun Devils (15-4, 3-4) was a close 4-3 home loss for the Wildcats (11-11, 1-6).
Saturday’s match started out on the dark side for Arizona when senior Claudio Christen and freshman Jay Goldman were defeated by junior T.J. Bellama and sophomore Matt Brooklyn by a score of 8-5 on the No. 1 court. After ASU took the No. 2 court, the third match became a draw.
When the first point was in the clutches of the Sun Devils, it was time to start singles play.
UA freshman Andres Carrasco was only in his second set on the No. 2 court, when he fell to the ground.
“”I was going to hit a back hand, but my body went one direction and my ankle went the other,”” Carrasco said. “”Then I heard a loud cracking sound from my ankle. It was
so painful.
“”Teammates, coaches and trainers came over to me to help me,”” Carrasco added. “”My ankle got really, really big – it looked like a balloon.””
Carrasco’s teammates were worried when they saw he injured himself and all court activity ceased.
“”I remember I finished a point,”” said senior Bruno Alcala. “”I turned around and I saw Andy on the ground yelling in pain. Then I saw (senior) Claudio (Christen) run over from his court to help him take his shoe and ankle brace off.
“”Everything stopped for like five minutes,”” Alcala added. “”We didn’t know what was going on. We thought he broke his leg or something.””
Carrasco’s injury ended up being a bad sprain to his right ankle, but doctors said he would be OK.
From that point on, the Wildcats spiraled downward.
Alcala and sophomore Pat Metham played the closest singles matches of the day on the No. 3 and 4 courts, but both still lost. The Wildcats couldn’t find a single point anywhere.
“”It was tough to compete against (ASU) because it was their home court and they’re all good players,”” Alcala said. “”It’s pretty frustrating to see your season pass by like that, especially for the seniors. We all had a great experience at Arizona, I’m just hoping these guys can beat ASU next year and make the NCAA Tournament.””
