So far, so good. The Wildcats women’s tennis team (5-0) knocked off their first ranked opponent of the season — Intercollegiate Tennis Association No. 45-ranked San Diego (3-2) — by a score of 6-1.

“”The intensity was amazing,”” said head coach Vicky Maes. “”The doubles on court one could have gone either way, yet our girls … did a sweet job of stepping up and taking the tie-breaker to close the deal. It was a battle, but we came out on top.””

Despite some close individual match scores, the Wildcats handily won the match over a San Diego team that had recently upset Louisiana State University, the then-No. 28 ranked team in the country. 

The Wildcats earned the doubles point with wins on courts No. 1 and 2. On court 1, Arizona sophomore Natasha Marks and freshman Alexandrina Naydenova won a close match 9-8. On court 2, sophomore Sarah Landsman and senior Claire Rietsch quickly moved through their match 8-1.

The women’s team of senior Ariane Masschelein and junior Jane Huh lost on court No. 3 after a score of 8-6.

Singles followed the same pattern, with only one match swinging towards San Diego. Starting on the first court, ITA’s No. 46 ranked singles player Marks swept her sets against Juliette Coupez 6-2, 6-4.

UA followed up that win with victories on court Nos. 2 through 5. Masschelein, who moved up to the No. 2 spot Saturday, defeated Laura Claus 6-3, 6-0. Following her, Landsman defeated Maja Sujica 6-3, 6-1 and Naydenova earned the victory 6-3, 6-0 over Lise Marbach. Rietsch then defeated Alexandra Demidova 6-2, 6-1.

“”We were so fired up going into those singles,”” Maes said. “”I think our girls are really starting to see how balanced we are as a team and that everyone is doing a great job of competing.””

The only singles match that was lost for the day was on court No. 6, where San Diego’s Marite Raygada defeated UA sophomore Debora Castany in a close 6-4, 6-3 match.

“”Beating this team so handily was a huge confidence boost,”” Maes continued. “”I feel our team is starting to understand its potential and that is a huge transformation from a year ago. As coaches, it’s a joy to watch this and I just hope we continue to grow as the season goes on.””

The Wildcats will begin their first road trip of the season next weekend with matches at Rice on Friday, Feb. 12 and Texas Tech on Saturday, Feb. 13.