It was a bittersweet weekend for the No. 65 Arizona men’s tennis team.
The bitter taste came from the Wildcats’ 4-3 loss in Friday’s match against Washington (13-7, 1-3 Pacific 10 Conference).
But the sweetness of it all came from its performance yesterday when Arizona (11-8, 1-5) came out and smoked Oregon (11-11, 0-5) by a score of 6-1. It was the team’s first conference win that snapped a six-match losing streak.
Senior Bruno Alcala was happy about the much-needed victory – so content that the most negative thing on his mind was the fact that he forgot to wear sunscreen.
“”My face is burning – it looks like a tomato,”” Alcala said. “”Other than that, I was really happy with the way everything went. It was nice to finally break the losing streak we had. It was a good Sunday afternoon.””
Teammates raved about how well certain players did, and senior Claudio Christen seemed to be first on the tips of their tongues.
Christen won 6-2, 6-1 against sophomore Marcos Verdasco and won his doubles match 9-8 in a tiebreaker.
“”I served well and had a pretty good overall match in singles and doubles,”” Christen said. “”It was good for us to win this match, but at the same time, we expected it from ourselves.””
Because of the easy victory, in which all but one singles matches were won, the Wildcats hope their confidence will begin to build and create solid momentum going into some tougher matches to come.
“”We’ve been working so hard in practices, so it’s nice to win and get that confidence,”” Alcala said. “”Hopefully it carries over into next weekend against UCLA and USC.””
Women’s tennis team drops 2 more matches
The Arizona women’s tennis team added two more tough losses to its record this weekend.
The Wildcats (7-14, 0-10 Pacific 10 Conference) first traveled to Seattle to battle No. 49 Washington (12-8, 2-5) but lost 4-0 playing tournament style, in which the first to four points is the winner, versus traditional play, which is the best of seven.
“”We had to get to the airport on our way to Pullman (Washington), so we decided right before the match to score like this,”” said sophomore Katie Orletsky. “”I didn’t like it because you never know when the match is going to be called. I’d rather play the match and know I’m going to finish it.””
The squad did make its flight on time and landed in Pullman by 5 p.m. Friday for the Saturday contest against No. 41 Washington State.
Arizona dropped Saturday’s match against the Cougars (13-9, 1-6) 5-2, the first time the Wildcats have lost to WSU since 2000.
In doubles play, Orletsky and freshman Jane Huh won their match Saturday, but the small battle wasn’t enough to win the first point for the day as WSU won the other two doubles matches.
Singles play was a little tougher to swallow for the Wildcats when the Cougars took the first four singles games.
Sophomore Ariane Masschelein and Orletsky won the only singles points, enhancing the score to a less painful 5-2 loss.
“”You go out there and play your match to the best of your ability, and there’s nothing you can do about it from there,”” Orletsky said of her singles victory after the match was already lost. “”It sucks to lose as a team, but I know I did all I could do.””
