The Arizona men’s tennis team won two out of six matches over the weekend in Albuquerque, N.M., to open the spring season.

The Wildcats fell to New Mexico 4-1 and to No. 67 Texas A&M Corpus Christi 4-2 on Sunday.On Saturday they defeated UC Irvine 4-0 but lost 4-0 to New Mexico. Arizona split Friday’s doubleheader, beating UC Irvine 4-2 and falling 4-2 to Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

“Six matches in three days is a total grind, and I am proud of the effort we put forth all weekend,” Arizona head coach Tad Berkowitz said. “This will only make us tougher as a team, and we will definitely benefit from this as the season gets going.”

Berkowitz said the close matches on Friday and Saturday affected the way the team performed on Sunday, but he was proud of the players.

“This afternoon we had to rebound quickly after a really close loss,” Berkowitz said. “We did that, and I am really proud of the guys for that.”

On Friday, Arizona senior Kieren Thompson had a tough third set against UC Irvine’s Rafael Davidian, but he was able finish strong.

Thompson fell short 3-6 in the first set, defeated Davidian 6-3 in the second set and finished with a 6-4 win after the third set, giving Arizona its very first win of the season.

Thompson is one of nine returning players this season and one of Arizona’s senior leaders, along with Fredrik Ask and Mario Urquidi.

Urquidi and sophomore Naoki Takeda both had victories on Friday during the match against Texas A&M Corpus Christi, but Arizona still fell short.

“The morning match, I felt we were a little tight for the first hour or so,” Berkowitz said. “We settled in later in the match, but it was a little too late.”

After a weekend on the road, Arizona will have its home opener on Friday when it hosts NAU.

Arizona topped the Lumberjacks 7-0 last year during the spring season opener, and currently holds the 26-1 advantage of all time.

The matches will be held at the Tucson Country Club.

Follow Rose Aly Valenzuela @RoseAlyVal