Refusing to lose seems to be the motto of the No. 55 Arizona men’s tennis team. With their first meets back on their home courts after spending last weekend at the Tucson Racquet Club, the Wildcats (4-0) defeated No. 69 UC-Santa Barbara (4-3) by a score of 4-3 on Friday and then posted a 6-1 win yesterday against Pacific.
“”(We) didn’t play as well as we wanted, but we found a way to win,”” said sophomore Jason Labrosse.
It was a slow start for Arizona after losing the doubles point yesterday, with the only win coming from sophomore Bruno Alcala and redshirt freshman Peter Zimmer over Pacific’s Mortiz Starke and Alan Kelly with a score of 8-6. This was a complete opposite of the sweep in doubles the team claimed on Friday against the Gauchos.
“”Losing got us mad, so everyone came back with more fire,”” Labrosse said. “”It shows that we want to win and we are a competitive group and that is going to be our trademark for the rest of the season.””
Alcala started the momentum yesterday with a victory against Kelly. A big win came from senior Jeff Groslimond, who is playing in the No. 2 spot, when he upset Pacific’s Arnar Sigurdsson in only two sets.
“”It shows us he can beat great players because we didn’t really know him since it’s his first semester,”” Labrosse said.
Over the weekend, senior Roger Matalonga showed why he is the No. 1 player for the Wildcats. On Friday, he defeated UC-Santa Barbara’s Nick Brotman in a match that decided which team would clench the victory. Matalonga refused to give up when the match went to four sets. The Wildcat continually fought back and finished off the final match with a score of 12-10.
After such a hard fight, Matalonga was again successful in singles play yesterday, defeating Jorgen Vestil in three sets.
SUBHED: Women’s tennis stays undefeated
By Katie Miller
Confidence is a key factor in the game of tennis, and the No. 59 Arizona women’s tennis team has it covered.
Over the weekend, the Wildcats improved their record to 5-0 after road wins in Texas over No. 66 Southern Methodist (3-2) yesterday and Texas-Arlington (0-1) Friday.
“”The girls are being able to come back and win and show some consistency,”” Arizona head coach Vicky Maes said.
The Wildcats swept their opponent for the third time when they beat SMU to finish the road trip.
“”We executed our game plan,”” junior captain Kasia Jakowlew said. “”Coach Maes gave us goals for each match and we achieved them.””
On Friday, Arizona defeated Texas-Arlington 6-1 with the only loss coming from doubles play.
“”We played some close matches, but after losing the doubles point, we came back to win all singles,”” Maes said.
The team understands that each player is contributing in her own way and playing at the level that is expected of her, Maes said.
“”Our team spirit is at its best since I’ve been here,”” Jakowlew said. “”The win streak is a good thing to have going into Pac-10 play in a couple of weeks.””