Four men from Arizona’s tennis team traveled to Malibu, Calif., to compete in the ITA Southwest Regionals: Nick Lagaev, Igor Karpovets, Carlos Hassey and Alejandro Reguant. 

Hassey finished the tournament with two wins and one loss. On Thursday, he played well, getting himself to advance on Friday by beating Blaz Seric by a quick game of 6-2, 6-2. Seric was incapable of putting up much of a defense against Hassey’s attack shots.

On Friday, Hassey advanced himself to the Round of 16 by beating Joel William Gamerov but, unfortunately, lost to Tim Zeitvogel in that round. Hassey was the only American to travel for Arizona, and he happened to only play people from Germany or Sweden.

Nick Lagaev made an impressive freshman appearance by making it to the quarterfinals, farther than any of his upperclassmen teammates who also competed in the tournament. His determination got him wins in the first three rounds against Daniel Traxler, Jakub Novak and Pawel Jankowiak. His final match was against Evan Shamlian, and he definitely refused to go down without a fight as he battled it out on the court to a third set with Shamlian.

Igor Karpovets had an unexpected outcome at the ITA regionals. Karpovets went into the tournament having had no losses in singles but, unfortunately, went out in the Round of 16 against USC’s Daniel Cukierman. USC has a strong tennis program, so Karpovets was facing a semifinalist singles player in the Round of 16, making it harder for him to get to the quarterfinals than others.

Alejandro Reguant also made it only to the Round of 16 like two other fellow Wildcats. He too was expected to make it further; however, he faced one of USC’s singles quarterfinalists early on in the rounds. 

Overall, the Wildcats faced a new type of competition at the Southwest Regionals and held on strongly. They all made it at least three rounds in and, impressively, it was Arizona’s freshman who carried the team the furthest.

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