Women’s tennis struggles at Pac-10s

Day one of the Pac 10 Championships did not go as planned for sophomore Danielle Steinberg and the Arizona women’s tennis team. Out of the four singles participants, only freshman Natalia Toporowska remained in the draw.

Arizona also has two teams in the doubles draw which begins tomorrow.

Steinberg, ranked No. 42 in singles, was the team’s first casualty, losing in the first round to California’s Cristina Visico, 6-3, 7-5.

UA assistant coach Brian Ramirez said it was just a tough day for Steinberg.

“”It just ended up being a rough first round match,”” he said. “”I don’t know how else to explain it.

“”It wasn’t a bad loss. Just sometimes you come out on top and sometimes you don’t, and she just didn’t today.””

Other than Steinberg, the rest of Arizona’s participants made it past the first round. However only Toporowska won her second-round match as both junior Juliette Mavroleon and freshman Katie Orletsky fell.

Toporowska, the only player still alive for Arizona in the singles draw, won her first round match 6-1, 6-2. In the second round, USC’s Anca Anastasiu defaulted due to injury moving Toporowska on to the third round, where she will play ASU’s Laila Abdala today.

While she remains alive in the singles draw, UA assistant coach Brian Ramirez said he wished Toporowska had gotten more competition.

“”She played a good first-round match,”” he said. “”She wasn’t really challenged, however, but she played reasonably well.

“”If she continues to show improvement and play well, I like her chances in that third-round match.””

Despite only having one player remaining in the singles draw, Ramirez said he was happy with the way his squad competed.

“”They have continued to do what we have expected them to,”” he said.

With the doubles draw beginning today, the three eliminated singles players will still get more competition.

“”We expect the girls to continue what they’ve been doing for a month now,”” Ramirez said of the doubles teams. “”If they continue improving with each match and competing well, they should do well.””

Men eliminated from singles at Pac-10s

The losing bug struck again for the Arizona men’s tennis team yesterday in Ojai, Calif. The Wildcats put up a disappointing showing, losing five of their six singles matches in the first round of the Pac-10 Championships.

“”We had some good matches, but this is just kind of the way the year has gone,”” UA assistant coach Tom Lloyd said of Arizona’s competition yesterday. “”This is the best of the best in the Pac-10.””

Junior Jason Labrosse was the Wildcats’ only winner. He defeated Stanford’s Blake Muller, 6-4, 6-4. Labrosse said he was simply “”a little tougher than (Muller).””

“”I didn’t serve all that well, but I was returning pretty well,”” he said. “”I just tried to not give him any free points and put pressure on him. I was just tougher than him (yesterday).””

Labrosse did not repeat the performance in the second round, losing in straight sets to ASU’s Juan Carlos Rebaza, 6-4, 6-2. Rebaza also beat Alcala in the two team’s dual match last Saturday.

“”I was in the match the whole time,”” Labrosse said, “”but in the second set he broke me early, and after that it was over.

“”It was a tough match. He just played a really solid game.””

Other than Labrosse all but one of Arizona’s losses were in straight sets. The only other player to win a set was freshman Milos Romic in the invitational bracket.

“”(Romic) snuck away with the second set, but then (ASU’s Nick) Hegarty just played a better third set overall,”” Lloyd said. “”But Milos played awfully well to take that second set.””

Although there are no more singles matches for Arizona this season, the team will send three doubles teams to the courts today to compete in the doubles draw.

Despite the team’s rough day yesterday, Lloyd said he expects the team to remain positive going into the doubles matches.

“”We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t believe we were going to win,”” he said. “”The guys will get a night to get some rest and collect their thoughts, and then we’ll go out (today) looking for that ‘W.'””