April 1, 2011

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TUCSON - The No. 56-ranked University of Arizona men's tennis suffered a tough loss today at home to No. 6 California at the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center. After dropping two out of the three doubles matches, Arizona claimed three of the six matches, coming up short, 4-3 to the Golden Bears.

"I'm proud of the way the guys competed today," said head coach Tad Berkowitz. "They gave it everything they had. We just came up a little short."

The Cal Golden Bears (10-5, 2-1 Pac-10) jumped out to a 1-0 lead after securing two of the three doubles matches. In the No. 3 spot, Cal's tandem of Ben and Riki McLachlan jumped out to a 6-0 lead over the Wildcat duo of Andre Vidaller and Jason Zafiros, before they earned a game, but Vidaller and Zafiros couldn't overcome the deficit, falling 8-1.

Arizona's (8-10, 0-3 Pac-10) freshman-senior duo of Geoff Embry and Giacomo Miccini battled the No. 22-ranked duo of Nick Andrews and Christoffer Konigsfeldt in the No. 1 slot. The two teams tied at 2-2, then Andrews and Konigsfeldt built a 4-3, and notched the next two games to go up 6-3. After trading games, Cal took the 7-5 lead and snatched the next game to win 8-5.

The Wildcat's other freshman-senior duo of Andres Carrasco and Kieren Thompson took the third doubles match in the No. 2 slot against Tommie Murphy any Pedro Zerbini. After falling behind early, 4-1, the Wildcat tandem came rolling back to claim three straight games to tie it at 4-4 before Murphy and Zerbini garnered the next game. The two teams traded games before Thompson and Carrasco forced the 6-6 tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker it was all Wildcats clinching the 7-4 win.

Cal carried over their momentum into singles play to build a 2-1 lead after No. 17-ranked Zerbini cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 win over Jay Goldman in the No. 1 spot. Goldman returned to action after sitting out since the March 4 Sacramento State match.

The Wildcats got on the scoreboard in the No. 4 spot with a win from Miccini. The Recannati, Italy native jumped out to a 2-1 lead against Konigsfeldt in the first set, before Konigsfeldt notched the next two games to take the 3-2 lead. After that it was all Miccini sealing three straight games. The two traded games, with Miccini capturing the 6-4 first set. In the second set, in similar fashion, Miccini roared out a 3-1 lead, before Konigsfeldt grabbed a game. After the two traded games Miccini marked a 5-4 win and clinched the next game to win 6-4.

The Golden Bears earned their third point of the day in the No. 3 slot. No. 96-ranked Andrews and Zafiros battled in straight sets. In the first set, Zafiros jumped out to a 4-1 lead, before the two traded games. Zafiros led 5-2, with match point on the line, but Andrews propelled his way back securing six straight games to come behind to win 7-5. In the second set, this time, Zafiros fell behind 3-1, then the two traded games, and were tied at 4-4, before Zafiros earned a game and Andrews notched the next two en route to a 7-5 second set win.

After that Arizona took control, tallying their second point of the day to come within 3-2. Vidaller came back to win against Ben McLachlan in straight sets. In the first set, after trailing 5-2, the freshman overcame the deficit to seal four straight games to force the 6-6 tiebreaker. It was all Vidaller in the tiebreaker, winning 7-3 to notch the first set. After that the freshman carried over his momentum into the second set, downing McLachlan 6-1. The freshman took the early 2-1 lead and never trailed earning four straight games. Vidaller now has 10 dual match singles wins.

The final two matches came down to three-setters with Arizona trailing 3-2. In the No. 6 spot, freshman Mario Urquidi, battled senior Bozhidar Katsarov. In the first set, Urquidi fell 6-4, after being down 5-2, he battled back to notch two games but fell short. In the second set, Urquidi gained momentum roaring back to down Katsarov 6-1. In the third set, the two battled back and forth, until they were deadlocked at 4-4, Katsarov held off Urquidi to snatch the next two games to clinch the set and the match for Cal 6-4.

In the final match of the day, No. 111-ranked Carrasco took on No. 65-ranked Carlos Cueto in the No. 2 spot in a three-setter. In the first set, the Wildcat senior fell 6-3, bounced back in the second to win 6-3 and powered his way to a 6-2 third set to give Arizona their third and final point of the day. Carrasco has now notched 66 singles win in his career.

With the loss, Arizona drops to 8-10, 0-3 in Pac-10 action, while Cal improves to 10-5 and 2-1 in the Pac-10.

The Wildcats will take on No. 12 Stanford on Sunday at 1 p.m. in their final home match of the season.

Complete Results

No. 6 California 4, No. 56 Arizona 3

LaNelle Robson Tennis Center -- Tucson, Ariz.

Doubles

1. No. 22 Andrews/Konigsfeldt (CAL) def.  Embry/Miccini (UA) 8-5*

2. Carrasco/Thompson (UA) def. Murphy/Zerbini (CAL) 7-6 (4)

3. McLachlan/McLachlan (CAL) def. Zafiros/Vidaller (UA) 8-1

California Wins Doubles Point

Order of finish, 3,1*,2

*Clinched doubles point

Singles

1. No. 17 Pedro Zerbini (CAL) def. Jay Goldman (UA) 6-2, 6-3

2. No. 111 Andres Carrasco (UA) def. No. 65 Carlos Cueto (CAL) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2

3. No. 96 Nick Andrews (CAL) def. Jason Zafiros (UA) 7-5, 7-5

4. Giacomo Miccini (UA) def. Christoffer Konigsfeldt (CAL) 6-4, 6-4

5. Andre Vidaller (UA) def. Ben McLachlan (CAL) 7-6 (3), 6-1

6. Bozhidar Katsarov (CAL) def. Mario Urquidi (UA) 6-4, 1-6, 6-4*

Order of finish, 1,4,3,5,6*,2

*Clinched the match