A great week of practice, confidence and a rowdy home crowd – all are key to the success of any tennis team. Despite the fact the No. 36 Arizona men’s tennis team (10-4) had all of those ingredients, victories against No. 32 Stanford and No. 38 California were unreachable.

The Wildcats lost each match by a score of 4-3.

“”These two matches, we believe we should have won,”” said Arizona head coach Tad Berkowitz. “”As competitors, we are angry we lost, but we (still) believe we can beat whoever we step on the court against.””

Almost exact incidents took place on both days, with the scores tied at 3, and one Arizona player to be held accountable for the overall series-clinching match.

The pressure sat on sophomore Ravid Hazi’s shoulders in playing Stanford – who lost two of three games – then swapped over to freshman Jay Goldman’s against California, who also lost two of three.

“”It was a tough experience for the guys who had to clinch the matches, but they tried their hardest and battled,”” said senior Claudio Christen. “”Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but it’s just hard because it happened two times in a row.””

Senior Bruno Alcala said when he spoke with the frustrated Goldman after the match, he could relate to what Goldman was feeling.

“”It’s tough, especially for a freshman. You have so many things running through your head,”” Alcala said. “”You get tired, you get nervous, and then you get excited because you know you can win it for your team. But I’m a hundred percent sure that Jay would win it for us, if he were put in that situation again.””