Although the Arizona men’s tennis team fell to No. 5 UCLA and No. 1 USC over the weekend to remain winless in Pac-12 Conference play, freshmen Sumeet Shinde and Carlos Bermudez added to their winning conference records.
Shinde and Bermudez were the only two Wildcats (5-14, 0-4 Pac-12) to pull off wins in their matches as the Wildcats fell to both the Bruins and Trojans 6-1.
On Friday, Shinde went on to be the only Arizona player to remain undefeated in Pac-12 play as he took on UCLA’s Marcos Giron. After Shinde dominated the first set 6-1, he struggled and dropped the second set 2-6. Shinde and Giron’s match ended up being the final match of the day, so naturally all eyes fell on the third-set battle. In a super tie-breaker and an exchange of points, Shinde defeated Giron 10-8.
“UCLA showed why they are top five in the country,” head coach Tad Berkowitz said. “They played well and just beat us. Sumeet is playing well. For him to have three wins against top Pac-12 teams, he is playing really well.”
Even though Shinde lost his first Pac-12 match on Saturday, Bermudez added a second Pac-12 win against USC.
In a grueling two-set match, Bermudez took on the Trojans’ Eric Johnson on court five. In a series of ties in both sets, Bermudez and Johnson were the last to finish out the day. Bermudez won both sets 7-5, 7-5.
“They are making top teams earn it and making them work,” Berkowitz said. “These guys didn’t come in here and blow us out. They had to earn it. It’s a great experience to play the number one team in the country on our home courts. They competed with these guys today.”
W-Tennis drops pair of matches
As senior Natasha Marks and sophomore Lacey Smyth took the court on Friday, they had one goal in mind: Take down the No. 2-ranked duo in the country from USC — Kaitlyn Christian and Sabrina Santamaria. Marks and Smyth did just that and clinched the doubles point for the Wildcats (12-8, 2-5 Pac-12).
“I was really proud of the girls how they played doubles,” head coach Vicky Maes said. “I think that is one of the better doubles teams in the country. They haven’t lost a whole lot, so to be able to go out on their home court and pull out that point was very emotional and energetic.”
Even with the momentum in Arizona’s favor the team could not pull out a singles win, losing the match to the No. 4-ranked Trojans 6-1.
On Saturday, it was the exact opposite situation for the Wildcats as they took on No. 1 UCLA.
After dropping the doubles point, sophomores Susan McRann and Kim Stubbe were the only two players to earn match points for Arizona. McRann won in three sets with scores of 4-6, 7-5, 1-0; while Stubbe won in two sets with scores of 7-6, 6-1. Arizona lost 5-2.
“Going into singles having lost the doubles point, it was all about the girls going out strongly,” Maes said. “We had our changes to pull out the win in singles we just didn’t get it done. We took chances.”
