On the rebound from its tumultuous showing at the Pacific 10 tournament, the No. 30 Arizona men’s tennis team is gearing up for their first-round match of the NCAA Championships against the No. 35 University of Minnesota Golden Gophers on May 14 in Austin, Texas.
In their last meeting in September, the Wildcats (13-10, 2-4 Pacific 10 tournament) fell hard to the Gophers (13-10, 6-4 Big Ten Conference) with Arizona’s Ravid Hazi picking up the only win of the day for the Wildcats.
“”Our guys are stronger and fitter than they were in September,”” said head coach Tad Berkowitz. “”I think if we can play well and put some things together that day then I like our chances. Minnesota’s a very good team, they’re definitely one of the top teams in the Big Ten, we did see some of their guys in the fall so we know what to expected and we know its going to be a really tough match.””
After singles and doubles dynamos Andres Carrasco and Andres Arango picked up All-Conference honors over the weekend, the Wildcats will look to them to lead the team to victory in the most coveted tournament of the season.
Along with Los Dos Andres, Arizona as a whole had some solid team wins that proved that they belong in contention with the nation’s elite teams.
“”We know what level we can play at, and we know that we belong in the tournament,”” Berkowitz said. “”Our ultimate goal is to try to advance and do as best we can.””
Minnesota boasts a pair of singles players ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Top 125, the No. 64 Sebastian Gallego and the No. 106 Tobias Wernet, that will be focused on breaking Arizona’s confidence.
If the Wildcats can get past the Gophers in the first round, they will take on the No. 3 Texas Longhorns and the University of Texas, San Antonio, Roadrunners, two match ups that are expected to be even more difficult for the Wildcats than their bout against the Gophers.
“”Seeing our name called (in the tournament draw) gave the guys a little spark of energy and refocused them,”” Berkowitz said. “”So we’re excited and we’re looking forward to a good couple of practices in the coming weeks. The guys are excited about it and it’s definitely their goal to rise above. We know we will do our best and this is what we’ve worked for all year.””
