A slow start proved too much to overcome for the Arizona men’s tennis team at yesterday’s ITA West Regional Tennis Championships at Pepperdine in Malibu, Calif.
Senior Claudio Christen continued to bury opponents throughout the fall tournament season with a convincing win over Dmitry Popov of Loyola Marymount, 6-0, 6-1, and a victory in doubles play with freshman Jay Goldman over Craig Faulk and Jeff Fitch of Hawaii, 8-3.
Christen will be the only Wildcat to compete in the singles draw today.
“”We look for him to continue on and keep it rolling for us,”” said UA head coach Tad Berkowitz. “”He’s done a nice job.””
The tandem of senior Bruno Alcala and sophomore Ravid Hazi also won their doubles match over Jeremy Drean and Michael Look of UCLA, 8-4. Berkowitz praised the two doubles teams’ play over solid opponents in a very competitive region.
For the rest of the Wildcats, a strong singles draw proved too much. Redshirt senior Nathan Cochrane lost to Matan Shitrit of San Diego State, 6-1, 7-5, and Alcala fell to James Lemke of Loyola Marymount after he withdrew.
“”We just got off to a slow start,”” Berkowitz said. “”They fought hard and tried to compete back, but it was a little too late.””
Three more losses hurt the Arizona singles draw, as Hazi lost to Gary Sacks of USC, 7-5, 6-3, junior Peter Zimmer fell to Mathieu Dehaine of UCLA, and freshman David Humphreys lost to Jaak Poldma of USC, 1-6, 7-6, 7-6.
“”We learned they needed to get off on the right track and be ready to play their matches right on,”” Berkowtiz said.
