The Arizona men’s tennis team completed its fall season with a bang this weekend at the UNLV Rebel Fall Classic as junior Geoff Embry went undefeated in his matches, winning the individual tournament title.
“”All of our guys did well. It was a good result.”” said head coach Tad Berkowitz. “”We accomplished what we wanted to do to finish the fall.””
All of the ‘Cats in action advanced into the second round of the tournament on the first day. Senior Pat Metham rallied to win his match after dropping the first set, while junior Andres Carrasco was able to down his opponent in straight sets.
Senior Ravid Hazi advanced to the second round by default, and Embry enjoyed a first-round bye.
Hazi was unable to win his match in round two after being knocked off by Cal Poly’s Andre Dome 6-3, 6-3. However, the remaining Wildcat trio of Embry, Metham and Carrasco advanced to the semi-finals, each winning his second-round match.
On Saturday, day two of the tournament, both Carrasco and Metham played hard-fought matches against tough opponents, but were ultimately defeated. Carrasco won the first set in his match, but Mehdi Bouras of UNLV came back to win 6-7, 6-2, 6-2.
Embry kept his run alive on Saturday when he topped Cal Poly’s Sebastian Bell in straight sets 6-3, 6-2. The transfer from the University of Oregon met McPhee in the finals and swept the match by again winning in straight sets 6-3, 6-2. Embry was with the team last year, but was forced to sit out a year due to NCAA transfer rules. Berkowitz is excited to have the Phoenix native in action this year and expects him to be a contributor in the regular season.
“”Geoff is a huge addition for us,”” Berkowitz said. “”We expect him to have a big impact for us this coming spring.””
The tournament was the last event for the Wildcats this fall. The team will continue to practice for the rest of the semester, using the matches from the fall as building blocks for improvement.
“”With the combination of the results from the regionals and this weekend, we feel like we definitely have some confidence moving forward as a whole,”” Berkowitz said.
“”They’ll get after it in the weight room, and we’ll get better for the spring.””
