The men and women’s tennis team traveled to Ojai, Calif., on Wednesday to compete in the Pac-12 Conference championship tournament. Everyone on the men’s team participated, but a certain few were selected from the women’s team.
Sophomore Lauren Marker and senior Briar Preston are competing in the singles championship bracket and freshman Devin Chypyha and junior Inge Hendrikx are competing in the invitational section. Preston and junior Shayne Austin, Chypyha and senior Laura Oldham were all selected to compete in the doubles bracket.
Marker, currently ranked No. 62 with a 16-5 record, has played in the No. 1 spot for the Wildcats all year and has taken down five of the 11 nationally ranked opponents she has played against. She is 5-5 in conference matches this year. Preston, ranked No. 98 with a 14-6 record, has played in the No. 2 spot for Arizona all year and also has a 5-5 record in her conference matches.
In the invitational bracket, Chypyha will go against ASU’s Alexandra Osborne. Chypyha has competed on courts four, five and six this season. Hendrikx, who has also played on courts five and six for Arizona, will play No. 92 Karla Popovic from California.
On Thursday, Marker won her first round against Washington’s Capucine Gregoire, so she will advance on to the next round. Preston is set to play Washington’s Elianne Douglas-Miron. The duo of Preston and Austin will play USC Gabby Smith and Madison Westby on Friday at 10:15 a.m.
The other Arizona duo, consisting of Oldham and Chypyha, will compete against ASU’s Osborne and Sahagun. The first two rounds of the tournaments will be played at the Ojai Valley Athletic Club and the second two rounds will be played at Libby Park.
Pac-12 Networks will be broadcasting the singles championship live at 10 a.m. and will show the women’s doubles finals Saturday at 7 p.m.
The men’s team concluded its season after traveling to Ojai, Calif., to compete in the Pac-12 Championships. Unfortunately for the Widcats, the tournament was cut short, as they were defeated by Oregon, 4-1.
The Wildcats fought hard until the last minute, but like many other matches this season, they could not come out with a victory.
Arizona lost the doubles point. Junior Jason Jaruvang and junior Trevor James were defeated on court three. Junior Matt Dunn and partner sophomore Will Kneale were close to pulling off a victory but ended up falling 8-6. Junior Naoki Takeda and freshman partner Shoki Kasahara were close to grabbing the victory against the No. 77 team in the country, Daan Maasland and Simon Stevens, but the game was suspended due to Oregon taking the point. Jaruvang defeated Daniel Sardu and was the only Wildcat who grabbed a win in singles, winning in just two sets, 6-4 and 6-1.
The Wildcats were down two strong players, senior Sumeet Shinde and freshman David Mushayev, due to personal reasons.
“It’s just the character with the guys,” Arizona coach Tad Berkowitz said. “They’ve been through a lot this season, with a bunch of key guys out of the lineup throughout the whole season. Just their ability to show up everyday with a great attitude and fight to compete — I think that shows a lot about them as a team.”
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