Arizona men's tennis falls short against Lobos, dominates UC Riverside

This weekend was a tough test for the Wildcats, who returned home to host the New Mexico Lobos at Reffkin Tennis Center on Saturday. Coach Berkowitz stated that though New Mexico presented itself as another top-100 match up, “Tennis is very deep up and down. And even though they are a good team, there is a lot of depth at the division one level in college tennis and I feel we match up well with New Mexico.”

When the match began Saturday, the Wildcats players responded to what the coaching staff had emphasized in practice the week leading in, improving in doubles play. The Wildcats took the doubles point against both New Mexico and UC Riverside (Sunday).

Yet their early success in doubles did not translate into solo play, as the Wildcats dropped two straight singles (Miccini, Vidaller) and found themselves in a hole going into the last of the singles. Sumeet Shinde and Kieren Thompson both followed up with wins in their matches, giving the Wildcats a chance at one last push for the team win.

Coach Lloyd gave praise to both Thompson, and Shinde: “Kieren has been a solid force that has turned into a reliable team player, I couldn’t be happier with him (Thompson)… Sumeet has been improving every match, and has been showing great strides in his game as well as mental toughness.”

Freshman Takeda fell short in his matchup after playing well in the previous match on the road against San Diego. The most intriguing matchup came down to the number one spots, giving Fredrik Ask a chance to shine for the Wildcats. Unfortunately, after jumping out to a promising (4-0) start in his set, Ask fell on 6 straight points to lose the first set, and eventually the match.

Assistant coach Tom Lloyd spoke on Fredrik Ask’s match at the number one spot Saturday: “Fred (Ask) started off great, but then got a little sidetracked. Before he knew it his opponent had won the first set… He competed well at times, but his opponent (Iftikhar) was locked in from start to finish and got the best of him.”

This loss, as well as the Takeda match allowed the Lobos to clinch the win over the Wildcats (4-3). When asked about how the coaching staff felt about the players performance coach Lloyd said that the mood in the locker room, “was not pleasant, our guys knew that they let one slip away at home. Granted that New Mexico beat us straight up, we handed them two singles matches due to our poor effort. Our team’s demeanor and mentality was unacceptable.”

With the tough loss, and watchful eye of the coaching staff; the Wildcats came out sunday with something to prove. They tightened up the screws and handed UC Riverside a one-sided shutout (7-0). Head coach Tad Berkowitz said sunday that the team, “took out their frustrations from the day before on UC Riverside. We took care of them pretty comfortably. It was nice to see guys get back on track and adjust sunday.”

Needless to say the Wildcats made a positive turnaround Sunday, improving to a (6-2) record for the year.

Vs. UC Riverside
Doubles:
1. Miccini/Urquidi (UA) def. Roberts/Simon (UCR), 8-3
2. Shinde/Takeda (UA) v. Griffin/Vizcarra (UCR), 6-5 DNF
3. Dunn/Thompson (UA) def. Ngo/Ruffin (UCR), 8-2
Order of finish: 3,1*
*Clinch doubles point

Singles:
1. Giacomo Miccini (UA) def. Jimmy Roberts (UCR), 6-4, 6-1
2. Kieren Thompson (UA) def. Luis Gastao (UCR), 6-4, 6-3
3. Sumeet Shinde (UA) def. Julian Ruffin (UCR), 6-4, 6-1
4. Naoki Takeda (UA) def. Kevin Griffin (UCR), 6-3, 6-2
5. Mario Urquidi (UA) def. Calvin Ngo (UCR), 6-2, 6-2
6. Matt Dunn (UA) def. Marcus Vizcarra (UCR), 6-4, 7-5

**Results from arizonawildcats.com and Media Relations Press Release