Danger strikes when teams overlook their opponents.
The Arizona women’s tennis team (4-0) defeated New Mexico State (1-3) with a team score of 7-0 Thursday, taking it one game at a time. The Wildcats’ focus was entirely on the court for Thursday’s match despite a contest looming against Intercollegiate Tennis Association No. 45 San Diego on Saturday.
“”I really wanted a team win,”” said head coach Vicky Maes. “”I wanted everyone on the board today. Today was a good lesson and good confidence going into Saturday.””
The Wildcats only lost one of the day’s matches, as senior Ariane Masschelein and junior Jane Huh fell 8-7 on doubles court No. 3. But because the Wildcats won their other two doubles matches they still earned the one possible doubles point.
“”I really thought they should have had more of a killer instinct on the third court,”” Maes said. “”They almost just went on cruise control after being up 6-2 and didn’t close it out. We can’t have those letdowns on Saturday and against better teams.””
For singles, there was no such letdown. While there were some struggles, UA did not drop one match.
Starting out on court No. 1, Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s No. 46-ranked singles player, UA’s sophomore Natasha Marks, quickly cruised to a 6-0, 6-1 win against New Mexico State’s Isabela Kulaif. On court No. 2, sophomore Sarah Landsman took down Marks’ sister, Sophia Marks, 1-6, 6-3, 6-0. Sophia Marks, a senior, is ranked by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association as the No. 110 singles player in the country.
“”She grinded her heels in the ground and carried it out,”” Maes said, after the match. “”After the second set, her confidence was up and she was carrying herself differently. She has the ability to beat a lot of the top players.””
On the No. 3 court, Masschelein made up for the doubles loss by handily beating Aleksa Costa 6-0, 6-0. Freshman Alexandrina Naydenova contributed by posting a 6-2, 6-3 victory against Manon Sylvain on the No. 4 court. Senior Claire Rietsch won a super-tiebreaker on court No. 5 to earn the win, 6-1, 5-7, 10-5. Lastly, sophomore Debora Castany finished on court No. 6 with a 6-1, 7-5 victory against Natalia Salum.
With their confidence building after four consecutive wins, the women will end their five-game home stand against San Diego University, the highest ranked team they have played this season.
The match will take place at LaNelle Robson Tennis Center at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
