The University of Arizona rolled over Pepperdine University and the University of San Diego this weekend to stay undefeated at home. Matches took place at the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center on Friday, Feb. 3, and Sunday, Feb. 5, respectively. Arizona men’s tennis stays on a roll with their second-weekend sweep of the season.
No. 17 Arizona vs. Pepperdine: Friday, Feb. 3
The Wildcats squared up against Pepperdine on Friday securing another win at home. Due to an ongoing neutral-site match between NAU and Florida Atlantic University’s women’s tennis teams, the matchup was pushed back. This didn’t seem to affect the Wildcats at all.
The Wildcats moved on and secured the doubles point with wins from Jay Friend and Jonas Ziverts along with Colton Smith and Jared Horwood. Friend and Ziverts put up a convincing 6-2 victory against the No. 34 ranked doubles team in the country.
Arizona kept rolling in the singles matches making the final score of the match 6-1. Friend took the first victory beating Pepperdine’s Pietro Fellin in a battle of a match, posting sets of 3-6, 6-3 and 6-2. Ziverts secured the second win beating Pepperdine’s No. 94-ranked Tim Zeitvogel in three fierce 6-4, 2-6 and 7-5 sets. Smith battled for the clinch, beating No. 31 Daniel De Jonge 6-4, 5-7 and 6-2. Finally, Gustaf Strom took his match 1-6, 6-4 and 6-4. The Wildcats put up an excellent showing and kept that energy rolling into Sunday.
No. 17 Arizona vs. San Diego: Sunday, Feb. 5
Arizona continued to match their energy from Friday to beat San Diego. From start to finish, this match was a nail-biter.
For the doubles point, the Wildcats battled to win and secured the 1-0 match lead. Doubles pair Horwood and Smith took the first win 6-4, and Ziverts and Friend clinched in a 7-6 (7-3) grind.
The energy moved on to singles with every single court winning their first sets. Strom grabbed the first singles point of the day 6-4, 6-2 over San Diego’s Marvin Schaber. The second match featuring Friend finished in an intense third-set tiebreak 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(7-5). Following Friend, Ziverts won his match in a third-set battle 6-3, 4-6 and 6-2.
Both Ziverts and Friend won all of their doubles and singles matches for the matchups this week.
The Wildcats face a tough away matchup against No. 11 Baylor University in Waco, Texas on Friday, Feb. 10, at 6 p.m.
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