Arizona’s men’s and women’s tennis teams both participated over the weekend. The men’s team has been on a hot streak lately by consistently winning matches.
The team went head to head with NAU on Friday and won all six of its singles matches and all three of its doubles matches.
Sumeet Shinde, one of the two seniors on the team, improved upon both his doubles and single records over the weekend.
“I am getting better; I feel it every match,” Shinde said. “I am getting better, and my confidence is going high.”
Shinde said his mentality for each game has stayed the same throughout because he takes it one match at a time.
His teammate Jason Jaruvang said he feels great about how he is currently playing. According to Jaruvang, his confidence comes from keeping a solid mentality throughout the weekend until he finishes all of the matches.
The team played Utah State on Sunday where two teams tied 3-3 in singles, but UA took the win in doubles 2-0.
Arizona men’s tennis head coach Tad Berkowitz said he enjoyed seeing how all of his players trust each other out on the court, even though tennis is an individual sport.
“[In] college tennis, we play as a team, and I really feel the good team chemistry from our guys right now,” Berkowitz said. “They are pulling for each other. They trust each other. They are supporting each other, and I think that makes the guys when they go on their individual courts feel comfortable that they can go out there and play their match knowing that their teammates are getting it down for them as well.”
The women’s tennis team played Nevada on Friday, and Inge Hendrikx completed her singles matches in two sets, 6-0 and 6-0.
“In the beginning, it was kind of close, but then I was like, you just need to go for it,” Hendrikx said. “So, I tried to move my feet more and step into the ball, and that worked really well, and I took that into singles, and that worked out pretty good.”
Having matches postponed last week did not show in Hendrikx’s game as she dominated in her singles match.
“I was a little worried, because we didn’t play matches for a long time, but I don’t know — I felt I was ready to go,” Hendrikx said. “I was more excited, since it was a while since we didn’t play.”
The UA matched up against Sacramento State on Sunday. Having played doubles on Friday showed in their game on Sunday, as the Wildcats won 7-0.
“I think we did a great job with doubles today,” head coach Vicky Maes said. “We did a really good job, we did a much better job with the basics — and it put the opposing team a little on edge, and that’s all we needed.”
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