TUCSON, Ariz.- The Arizona men's tennis team is now 3-2 on the season following today's 4-3 loss to Utah State University.

"I have mixed emotions," said head coach Clancy Shields. "Its funny because we could have won every one of those matches, and all of the little errors that we've been overlooking in practice came back to bite us today. Whether it's our fitness or whether it's executing our shots, or our energy on every court that we lost, there was a reason. It isn't like today is an anomaly because these are errors that we have in practice and we need to correct them. I thought our guys fought really hard, competed well and gave themselves a chance to win, but we have to take care of some things on our end in order to win matches like this."

Junior Shoki Kasahara and freshman Alejandro Reguant were the first Arizona team to fall in doubles, losing 6-1 to Utah State freshman Sergiu Bucur and junior Jaimie Barajas. Senior Will Kneale and sophomore Shoti Meparidze went back and forth with sophomore Samuel Serrano junior Kai Wehnelt but eventually lost 6-4, giving Utah State the doubles point.

After taking a back and forth set against Utah State Sophomore Jonas Maier, Botha managed to close out set two and tie up the match with a 7-5, 6-1 victory on court five. Kneale took down senior Jack Swindells in two sets on court two (6-2, 6-2) giving Arizona the 2-1 lead. Reguant fell to Barajas on court three (1-6, 6-1) and Plaskett's three-set loss to Serrano on court six brought Utah State within one point of victory.

Meparidze dropped his first set to Wehnelt on court one, but battled in his next two sets and tied things up with an impressive 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win. With the score tied at three it all came down to court four where Kasahara lost to Bucur in a close, three-set match (6-7, 6-4, 6-4).

The Wildcats will have one day to prepare for their next opponents who they will face in a double header on Sunday. Marquette is currently riding a four-match win streak and will face Utah State tomorrow at 11 a.m. GCU is also hot as of late. The Antelopes are 5-2 and have stayed perfect ever since their season-opening losses to UCLA and Baylor. Just like Marquette, GCU will face Utah State tomorrow (1:30 p.m.).

"The best thing about this loss is that we get to come back Sunday to play again and get to keep improving on things," said Shields. "You take losses one of two ways: you either improve after them or you dwell on them and let them effect you going into Sunday. We have two really good teams coming in on Sunday, and we are just going to have to keep our heads down and keep working."

Event Information
Date/Time: February 12 at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Location: LaNelle Robson Tennis Center.  Tucson, Ariz.
Twitter Updates: @ArizonaMTennis

The Field
Marquette, GCU

Who's Competing for the Wildcats
Will Kneale
Oliver Plaskett
Shoki Kasahara 
Trent Botha
Shoti Meparidze
Will Adkisson
Alejandro Reguant      

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