The Wildcat women had an eventful day on Saturday, Feb. 3 as they were taken to the very last set by the  University of San Diego Toreros, ultimately winning 4-3. Meanwhile, they also experienced being in complete control from start to finish as the Wildcats were in their second match of the day against Grand Canyon University, winning 4-0.

University of San Diego

The Wildcats lost the doubles point to a Toreros squad that came to play on Saturday, putting Arizona on their backfoot. The two squads kept exchanging leads all morning as USD tried to capitalize on their early lead, but ultimately couldn’t put away the Wildcats in their own backyard.

Arizona junior Camila Wesbrooks played the role of the clincher in the matchup against USD, Wesbrooks lost her first set 6-4 against Kati Kukaras, but extended her match as she pushed it to a third frame after winning the second frame on a tiebreak, 7-5. As the last player on the court, and the score deadlocked at 3-3, Wesbrooks put Kukaras away clinically and locked up the win for the Wildcats. 

“We did a better job as a team today. Especially with the match against USD, which was such an emotional and mental battle. I felt like every court really stepped up, even the kids that were losing some matches, it wasn’t ugly,” said Arizona womens head coach Vicky Maes.

Grand Canyon University

As for the second match of the day, Arizona had little issue dismissing their in-state collegiate neighbor in a route that ended at 4-0. With the doubles point victory included, the Wildcats were helped out by the back part of their singles rotation, who ultimately laid the groundwork for the match official to call the matches early.

Even with the two victories, and starting off the year 5-0, head coach Maes wasn’t getting ahead of herself just yet.

“We played, we went for it, and we came up a little short a little bit, especially in the doubles…somethings still missing, and we still need to be able to improve on that…In some ways these mental battles are great for growth, but I felt like, at this point, we should be just a little bit better. But overall, a great day,” said coach Maes.

As they look to another two-match home stand next weekend against the University of Nevada, and the University of Houston, the Wildcats will be looking both in front and behind of them as they look to build off of the positives while also understanding that their journey has just begun.

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