The weight of a long season was apparent in the Arizona men’s tennis team this weekend.
The Wildcats dropped yet another pair of matches, 6-1 at Washington yesterday and 5-2 at Oregon on Friday to extend their current losing streak to 10 matches.
Arizona (5-16, 0-6 Pacific 10 Conference) came out strong against the Ducks (10-12, 1-5), taking two of the three doubles matches to capture the first point of the match.
The intensity was carried into singles as Arizona took the first set in five out of the six matches. Despite holding the momentum, only junior Jason Labrosse managed to hold on for the win, while his four teammates fell in three sets.
For UA assistant coach Tom Lloyd, losing has become “”like a plague”” for the Wildcats.
“”The last time we won was against Denver (on March 10). It’s been a while,”” he said. “”The guys kind of forget how it feels to win, and that was very evident in the guys. (The way Arizona lost) was a tough thing to watch.””
The disappointment from Friday carried over to yesterday. Only junior Bruno Alcala managed a win, while the rest of the team lost in straight sets.
Alcala said Arizona simply “”got beat.””
“”There was nothing we could do,”” he said. “”I couldn’t see many of the matches because I was playing, but from what the scores looked like, they beat us. They were just too good.””
In many of the Wildcats’ matches this season, the team has walked off the court with a good feeling despite the losses. Against some of the Pac-10’s toughest opponents, the Wildcats managed to keep the matches close.
Unfortunately for Arizona, Friday was not one of those days.
“”The guys could have played better, absolutely,”” Lloyd said. “”We didn’t walk off the court with our heads thinking, ‘We played well today.’ It was one of those that just slipped right through our hands.””
As the Wildcats move further and further away from their last victory, Lloyd said losing is “”one of those things you can’t just stop; you must overcome it.
“”The only way to overcome it has to come from within the team,”” he said.
