Men lose third in a row
Despite picturesque weather for their trip to Northern California, there was no sunshine for the No. 32 Arizona men’s tennis team, who returned to Tucson saddled with a pair of 6-1 losses against the No. 16 California Golden Bears on Friday and the No. 15 Stanford Cardinal on Saturday.
In their first two conference matchups, the Wildcats (11-7, 0-2 Pacific 10 Conference) learned why the Pac-10 is one of the most dominant conferences in the nation.
“”I thought if we played well this weekend we could have come out on top,”” head coach Tad Berkowitz said. “”The Nor Cal schools just got us.””
On Friday, the Wildcats were swept by the Golden Bears (10-4, 1-0) in their doubles matches, with the No. 20 team of Jonathan Dahan and Pedro Zerbini clinching the Cal victory with their 8-4 win over the Arizona duo of Borja Malo and Pat Metham.
The Golden Bears weren’t much kinder in singles action either, taking home all of the matches except Arizona junior Andres Carrasco’s defeat of the No. 120 Dahan in a third-set super tiebreaker.
In Palo Alto, the Wildcats again only scrapped away one win against the fierce Cardinal (12-3, 1-0) opposition.
“”We had our chances again today,”” said assistant coach Tom Lloyd. “”Stanford just played better than us when those opportunities presented themselves.””
Like the previous day, the Wildcats fell in all three doubles matches with their only victory coming from Andres Arango’s solid win over No. 35 Alex Clayton, 6-3, 6-3.
“”I was really proud of the way that Arango played this weekend,”” Berkowitz said. “”He has been a huge contributor for our team this year.””
Arizona returns home for its next five matches, and Berkowitz and company will seek redemption when visited by the Washington Huskies and the Oregon Ducks next weekend.
Home court advantage unable to help women
The No. 55 Arizona women’s tennis team followed suit with its male counterparts, tallying two disappointing conference losses to No. 10 California and No. 12 Stanford at the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center in Tucson over the weekend.
In their 14 matches, the Wildcats (10-6, 1-4 Pacific 10 Conference) only managed to come away with one win against the Stanford Cardinal (13-1, 2-0) on Saturday.
“”Both matches this weekend turned out to be a little too much for our team,”” head coach Vicky Maes said. “”We battled hard but we’re not quite at the stage where we are going to contend with a top-20 team.””
On Friday, the Golden Bears of California (13-3, 1-0) swept the Wildcats 7-0, with their dominating singles players in No. 50 Mari Andersson and No. 2 Jana Juricova. Andersson and Juricova easily handled Arizona’s top players, Sarah Landsman and No. 93 Natasha Marks, respectively, in straight sets.
Arizona’s one win came in singles action against Stanford, where Landsman managed to defeat No. 40 Lindsay Burdette, 6-4, 6-2.
Arizona’s loss to the Cardinal on Saturday added another tally to Stanford’s five game winning streak.
“”We definitely had opportunities, but against teams like this, you simply cannot waste any,”” Maes said.
“”The girls have shown some serious pride and resilience,”” she added. “”This group is growing and building for the future, and that is a really good sign for things to come.””
