The Arizona men’s tennis team put together a strong showing in the Larry Easley Memorial Classic in Las Vegas over Halloween weekend.
The Wildcats sent Trevor James, Shoki Kasahara and Will Adkisson to compete in the tournament where they finished with a combined 8-5 overall record.
Day one was successful for the doubles tandem of Kasahara and Adkisson, as they defeated Felix Schueller and Alex Roggenkamp of Grand Canyon University to advance to the quarterfinals on day two.
Singles play didn’t go as planned for the Wildcats on day one, as only Adkisson made it out of the round of 16 to the quarterfinals, where he fell 7-5, 6-2 to Richard Solberg of UNLV.
Kasahara and James both lost their opening round matches, but James would bounce back to defeat NAU’s Tim Handel (6-2, 6-7, 10-8) in the consolation quarterfinals.
Day two was an exciting one for Arizona as it combined to go undefeated in singles play. However, the doubles team of Kasahara and Adkisson fell in the quarterfinals to Ruben Alberts and Jakob Amilor of UNLV, by the score of 8-4.
Kasahara and James both managed to pick up wins in their matches in the consolation semifinals flight one. Kasahara earned a spot in the consolation final after defeating Linus Holthey of Mesa Community College 7-6, 6-0. James beat Schueller 6-2, 6-3 to advance to the consolation final match in flight one against teammate Kasahara.
Adkisson won his match against Boise State’s Abe Hewko by a score of 4-6, 6-4, (12-10) in flight two.
Arizona head coach Tad Berkowitz felt his doubles team could have played better, but overall he was happy to see the success in singles play.
“Doubles, I felt like we didn’t capitalize as well as we should have when looking to finish off points,” Berkowitz said. “As for singles, all of the guys did a nice job making the proper adjustments needed from [Friday] to get the wins [Saturday].”
The Wildcats finished with a positive note on getaway day of the Larry Easley Memorial Classic. Both Adkisson and James were able to salvage wins in their matches. Adkisson defeated Tillman Haynes of Boise State (7-6, 7-5), while James was able to outlast teammate Kasahara in the flight one consolation final 6-4, 4-6, (10-7).
The team combined for an 8-5 record to Berkowitz’s approval.
“All in all, it was a productive tournament for us,” Berkowitz said. “We picked up some solid wins but also have a great understanding of the things we need to work on heading into the spring.”
Arizona will look to carry its momentum into its upcoming tournaments, which are the Dick Vitale Lakewood Ranch Intercollegiate Clay Court Classic in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, and the Jack Kramer Club Invitational in Los Angeles. Both tournaments will be held from Nov. 13-15.
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