Arizona men’s tennis won seven of its 12 singles matches over the weekend at the Napa Valley Collegiate Invitational in Napa, Calif., to open the season.
Arizona got off to a hot start Friday as it won all four singles matches.
“The guys played with conviction [Friday],” head coach Tad Berkowitz said. “All four of them played with a purpose and we will look to build on this.”
Senior Mario Urquidi defeated Oklahoma State’s Nathan Roper 6-3, 6-4. Junior Sumeet Shinde took both sets 6-3 over Oklahoma State’s Trevor Horstman.
Senior Kieren Thompson defeated Oklahoma State’s Lucas Gerch 6-4, 2-6, 6-1. Sophomore Naoki Takeda also beat his competitor in two sets. He won 7-5, 6-3 over Oklahoma State’s Vasili Caripi.
Arizona split its singles matches on Saturday winning two of the four. Urquidi and Shinde claimed the two victories for the Wildcats.
“I thought we started out a little slow in both singles and doubles today,” Berkowitz said. “Overall though, all the guys competed very well.”
Urquidi defeated UNLV’s Jeff Vongman 6-4 in both sets to give him his second straight singles victory. Shinde dropped the first set in a 6-7 tiebreaker to UNLV’s Willie Sublette. However, he stormed back to win the final two sets 6-2, 6-1.
The Wildcats wrapped up the Napa Valley Collegiate Invitational on Sunday with a victorious effort from Thompson. He took on Fresno State’s Felipe Fritz and he topped him two straight sets, 6-4, 6-2. The victory marked Thompson’s second singles win of the tournament.
Urquidi and Shinde were both finally defeated on Sunday to give them each a singles record of 2-1 for the weekend. Takeda lost two of his three singles matches.
However, he was successful in the doubles department, winning two of three matches. Takeda’s doubles partner for the weekend was Urquidi.
The Napa Valley Invitational was the first of seven fall tournaments the Wildcats will compete in. Next, the men’s team heads to New Mexico where they will compete in the Aggie Invitational this weekend.
Meanwhile, Arizona’s women’s tennis team finished its Aggie Invitational over the weekend with a few stellar accomplishments in the first tournament.
Junior Laura Oldham was the star of the tournament as she claimed both the singles and doubles title. Senior Susan Mc Rann partnered up with Oldham and were doubles champions Las Cruces, N.M.
The women’s squad competes next in the at the UNLV Invitational, this weekend in Las Vegas.
—Follow Zach Tennen @ZTennen11
