Coming into yesterday’s match, the No. 34 Arizona men’s tennis team had lost four in a row, including three conference match-ups. But Sunday’s win against the Oregon Ducks salvaged the weekend after falling to the No. 21 Washington Huskies on Friday.

Saturday against Oregon (12-7, 0-4 Pacific 10 Conference), the Wildcats (11-8, 1-3) were able to silence the Ducks with poise and confidence, two necessary traits that were lacking Friday against the Huskies (16-3, 1-2).

Against Washington, the Wildcats were unable to shed the frustrations from their tough Bay Area losses last weekend, losing 6-1.

“”They’re a top-20 team. I feel we were at their level, and we can definitely beat a team of their caliber,”” said head coach Tad Berkowitz. “”They were just a little tougher than us that day.””

Despite the routing, the continuous ferocity of the doubles team dubbed Los Dos Andres, junior Andres Carrasco and senior Andres Arango, was able to prevail against the No. 65 team of Tobi Obenaus and Alexander Rosinski from Washington.

“”They have a unique style of doubles that they play, and they’re tough to beat,”” Berkowitz said. “”The one thing that they are always going to bring is intensity and great energy out there, and if they keep improving with that fire and emotion that they play with, then they are going to be able to beat a lot of good teams.””

Against the Ducks, however, Arizona was firing on all cylinders on the way to their 5-2 win.

The singles play of both Jason Zafiros and Geoff Embry gave the Wildcats the confidence that paved the way for the ultimate win.

The victory had a little more meaning for Embry, who only two years ago was playing for the Ducks.

Embry was able to beat his opponent, Nico Bjerke, in three sets, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5.

With their first conference win against Oregon, the Wildcats now have a little momentum to finish out their conference schedule.

“”It was nice for us to be able to get a good win today,”” Berkowitz said. “”Even after those few losses, the guys didn’t panic and went back to work today and got the job done.””

Ladies leave Los Angeles with a pair of wins

The No. 53 Arizona women’s tennis team restored its confidence after two wins in Southern California against the California State University, Northridge Matadors on Friday and the Loyola Marymount Lions on Saturday.

After a weekend against Cal and Stanford where they were only able to accrue one point, the Wildcats (12-6, 1-4 Pacific 10 Conference) were able to defeat the Matadors(8-6, 2-3 Big West Conference) 5-2 and the Lions

(3-12, 0-2 West Coast Conference) 6-1, with solid efforts in both doubles and singles action.

“”We fought well. We were confident in the matches that we played in,”” said sophomore Natasha Marks. “”Because Cal and Stanford are great teams, (the losses) didn’t affect our confidence too much.””

Marks, who before the weekend started was ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association at the No. 105 spot, was able to rebound from her difficult matches last weekend.

In singles action, she played in the No. 1 spot over the weekend for Arizona and easily handled her two opponents, beating LMU’s Jasmin Heckel 6-3, 6-2, and Northridge’s Brooke Doane 6-2, 6-1.

“”I just worked on a few things that I needed to work on to get to the next level and the next step,”” Marks said. “”It actually paid off, and I played a lot better in my matches this weekend, so it worked out quite well.””

Marks success was an important part of the team’s recent wins.

“”It was definitely a successful weekend,”” said head coach Vicky Maes. “”Now we have to focus on a good week of practice.””