SAN DIEGO, Calif.- The Arizona men's tennis team is now 9-9, and is heading back to Tucson after an impressive comeback victory over the San Diego State Aztecs on the final day of the San Diego Classic today.
"We bounced back from a tough loss yesterday to scrap a win out at SDSU," said head coach
Clancy Shields. "This was almost an identical match, but this time we were able to step over the finish line. The guys should be extremely happy with the progress they have made in the last couple weeks. We are so far from what we are capable of, but we have taken ownership of the program and out moving in the right direction."
Arizona failed to secure the doubles point and would enter singles play in a 1-0 deficit. The SDSU tandem of Sophomore Sander Gjoels-Andersen and senior Milen Ianakiev beat junior
Shoti Meparidze and sophomore
Will Adkisson by a score of 6-3 on court one not long before junior
Trent Botha and senior
Oliver Plaskett fell to SDSU junior Santiago Cevallos and freshman Nicholas Mitchell by a score of 6-2 on court two.
SDSU added another point to their lead in singles play when Rafael Gonzalez Almazan's beat Plaskett on court six, but Botha quickly narrowed the gap with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Gjoels-Andersen on court three. Courts three and six would end up being the only singles matches that didn't go to three sets.
Goles-Babic took down Meparidze in a hard fought match on court one, bringing SDSU within one point of victory, but junior
Shoki Kasahara would keep Arizona alive with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 victory over Cevallos on court five, bringing the score to 3-2 in favor of SDSU.
Senior
Will Kneale tied things up with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win over Ianakiev on court two, and freshman
Alejandro Reguant came through on court four, besting SDSU freshman Joel Popov in three competitive sets (7-5, 6-7, 7-6), and giving Arizona the crucial fourth point.
The Wildcats have almost two weeks to prepare for their next matches: away contests against #20 Stanford on Friday March 31st and #13 California the following day. The matches mark the beginning of conference play for Arizona.
Arizona-4 SDSU-3
Doubles
1. Goles-Babic/Ianakiev (SDSU) Def. Meparidze/Adkisson (UA) 6-3
2. Cevallos/Mitchell (SDSU) Def. Botha/Plaskett (UA) 6-2
3. Reguant /Kasahara (UA) vs. Andersen/Popov (SDSU) 3-5, uf
Order: 1,2
Singles
Goles-Babic def. Meparidze (UA) 6-2, 1-6, 6-1
Kneale (UA) def. Ianakiev (SDSU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
Botha (UA) def. Andersen (SDSU) 6-1, 6-3
Reguant (UA) def. Popov (SDSU) 7-5, 6-7, 7-6
Kasahara (UA) def. Cevallos (SDSU) 6-3, 5-7, 6-2
Gonzalez Almazan (SDSU) def. Plaskett (UA) 6-0, 6-3
Order: 6, 3, 1, 5, 2, 4
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