Arizona women’s tennis improved to 13-0 at home with a pair of victories over the weekend.
On Friday the Wildcats (16-3, 5-2 Pac-12) beat No. 30 Utah 7-0.
“That’s a solid win against a team that has had a good record,” said head coach Vicky Maes after Friday’s match. Senior Lacey Smyth and sophomore Shayne Austin beat Luisa Da Rosa and Sarah Richter 8-2, earning the first win of the match.
“We knew today was going to be tough,” Maes said. “After last weekend, when we got the short end of the stick, it was nice to come back home and play a match like this.”
On court three, seniors Susan Mc Rann and Akilah James rallied to win 8-4 and clinch the doubles point after losing games in the middle of the match. The Wildcats are 16-0 when starting matches by winning the doubles point. Arizona carried that through the rest of the match.
“I am proud of the way the girls stepped up in singles,” Maes said. “It didn’t look like we were going to lose in singles. The girls were fired up and we got off to a good start.”
Smyth, who is ranked No. 95, won the No. 1 match 6-4, 6-0, and James clinched the match with a win on court four, 6-1, 6-0.
“Kiki [James] had good energy and is starting to get her confidence back,” Maes said.
Freshman Lauren Marker beat Callie Craig, 6-3, 6-3. Senior Kim Stubbe completed the sweep with a comeback victory, winning 6-7 (1-7), 6-0, 10-5 after losing the first set.
“That is a real decisive win for us,” Maes said, “and a really important win for us, but we are not done.”
On Saturday, Arizona beat No. 73 Colorado 5-2. Up next for the women is a trip to Los Angeles, at UCLA on Friday, and USC on Saturday.
Arizona men’s tennis went 0-2 on its northwest road trip. The Wildcats lost 4-2 at Washington on Friday to open the trip.
“We came up a little short against a solid Washington team on the road,” head coach Tad Berkowitz said. “We are very close to getting over the hump.”
Then on Saturday, despite senior Mario Urquidi’s convincing victory, the Wildcats lost to Oregon 4-1 in Eugene, Ore.
Arizona earned its sole point in singles from Urquidi’s win over Daniel Sardu in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.
The Ducks took a 1-0 early lead by winning the doubles point on courts one and three. Robin Cambier and Kevin Farin defeated Naoki Takeda and Sumeet Shinde 8-4, while Kieren Thompson and Trevor James lost to Daniel Sardu and Jayson Amos 8-3. Urquidi and Matt Dunn’s match on court two was abandoned at 7-7. Will Kneale, Thompson and Shinde lost early to clinch the win for Oregon.
The men return home this weekend to host No. 2 USC on Friday and No. 3 UCLA on Sunday.
—Follow Zoe Wolkowitz @Zowolko
