The UA women’s tennis team took on the National Collegiate Tennis Classic over the weekend to start off the spring season. The team’s seven women went up against San Diego, Texas A&M, Pepperdine, Stanford and USC.
The Wildcats’ duo of Briar Preston and Lauren Marker put up a tough fight in doubles to come out with a win of 6-1 against San Diego’s Carly Naslund and Mikayla Morkel-Brink.
Marker also came out ahead against USC’s Meredith Xepoleas, winning two out of three matches, 3-6, 6-4 and 7-5.
“We still need to work on our doubles, but I felt Marker and Preston played well for a first time together,” UA women’s tennis coach Vicky Maes said.
Wildcats Shayne Austin and Laura Oldham never gave up against San Diego’s Drew Spinosa and Dana Oppinger but ended up falling 6-4. Inge Hendrikx and Devin Chypyha fell short 6-1 to Stanford’s Carol Zhao and Taylor Davidson.
“We are going one match at a time,” Maes said. “We have a lot of tennis to play between now and May, and we will be competitive every time we step on the court.”
Preston, Oldham, Hendrikx and Austin were other Wildcat women who won their single matches.
In Tucson, the Arizona men’s tennis team participated in the ITA Kick-Off tournament and went head-to-head against UC Irvine, New Mexico and Texas Tech. As a team, the Wildcats only gained one win over the weekend.
With the tournament being the first time the team got back on the court, Arizona men’s tennis coach Tad Berkowitz has said that his team has learned a lot.
“Each guy individually has some different things that we can address after this weekend,” Berkowitz said. “So, whether it’s getting out to a little better start, working on finishing balls [or] working on grinding the guy down a little bit, it’s just as you go down the line of our guys. Each guys has a few things that they can work on individually.”
Despite unfavorable results, the team chemistry was on full display as players cheered each other on both on and off the court.
“It got so much better as the weekend went on,” player Matt Dunn said about the tournament. “It’s always tough for the new guys trying to figure out the transition [from] playing for yourself to playing for others.”
Dunn and Jason Jaruvang both have high expectations for themselves for the rest of the season individually and as a doubles team.
“For me, I mean, I expect to play every point every match no matter what number I play,” Jaruvang said. “I could play like one or six. I’ll have to compete every point and during practice, too. I mean, just compete with the boys and make sure that they’re getting better and I am getting better.”
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