Arizona men’s tennis’ season is back in full swing, as the Wildcats opened their season earlier this month and will host upcoming meets in the next few days.
After traveling to Lubbock, Texas, to begin the season, Arizona opened its home schedule this past weekend with a 7-0 sweep of University of California, Riverside.
Arizona took an immediate role in the match when it started out strong with doubles play. Arizona came out ready to play and it can only promise momentum to carry into this weekend’s matches.
“The neat thing about our guys is that they respond well to handling different situations in different ways,” head coach Tad Berkowitz said in an Arizona Athletics video.
The sweep over UC Riverside was a confidence booster for the Wildcats, who faced mixed results in their season-opening road trip to Lubbock.
Arizona opened the year with a close loss to Pacific, beat University of New Mexico and then dropped a match to then-No. 17 Texas Tech with a score of 4-0.
Berkowitz felt the defeat to a ranked Texas Tech team should help keep the Wildcats moving forward.
In particular, Berkowitz talked about how everyone is learning what it feels like to be the “hunter” and the “hunted” and how to approach every match aggressively.
In the recent UC Riverside match, the Wildcats were the hunted.
Because of this, Berkowitz said, “We need to learn to take it to guys a little more, and earn the win.”
The beginning games were only preparations for the season that helped to get some of the rust off. These early games against Texas Tech, New Mexico, Pacific and UC Riverside have taught the Wildcats to adjust and respond well to adversity, and respond well to a dominating win.
Berkowitz said there is a willingness among the team to learn and make adjustments moving forward and some players who might not have played their best against UC Riverside will most likely incorporate that into this weekend when Arizona hosts New Mexico State and Gonzaga University.
“It’s going to be another beautiful weekend. Our guys are excited, we love playing at home and there should be some competitive matches,” Berkowitz said.
Arizona’s Friday match against New Mexico is set for 10 a.m. The Wildcats will then face Gonzaga Sunday at 12 p.m.
Follow Gia Trevisan on Twitter.
