Gymnastics strives for first-place, Arizona tennis hosts season opener

Gymnastics looking for first-place finish this weekend

Arizona gymnastics placed third and second in its first two meets.

Saturday, the Wildcats will attempt to win their first meet of the season as they compete against Texas Woman’s, BYU and Wisconsin-Whitewater in Denton, Texas, at 7 p.m. MST.

This weekend will be the third consecutive quad meet. The only Division I opponent the No. 13 Wildcats will face is No. 25 BYU, which is led by sophomore Megan Bain. Bain scored career highs in both the beam and floor events against rival Utah State in BYU’s only meet of the season, and also won the all-around with a score of 38.950.

Division II Texas Woman’s won its season opener against Bowling Green a week ago. Wisconsin-Whitewater tied for the Division III national championship in 2012 and already has a win under its belt this season, a first-place finish in the Gustie Triangular last weekend.

Tennis opens season at home

UA tennis opens its season Friday at 1 p.m. at the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center.

The Wildcats will face NAU on Friday and Nevada on Saturday at 11 a.m., both of which are also playing their first matches of the season.

Last year, men’s tennis stumbled to a 9-14 finish under head coach Tad Berkowitz, who’s in his eighth season as head coach.

Luckily, Arizona returns seven players from last season, so experience is on its side.

As for the UA women, their Saturday opponent will be UC Davis.

Arizona’s No. 29 preseason ranking makes this the third consecutive year that the Wildcats have been ranked in the top 50.

Last season, Arizona was 16-9 overall with a 5-5 conference record.