OJAI, Calif. -- The Arizona Wildcats preserved their season on Wednesday, beating Utah 4-2 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 championship. This is Arizona's first Pac-12 tournament win since the tournament became a team competition in 2012.
Utah jumped out to a hot start in doubles with 6-4 wins from their top two doubles pairings to take a 1-0 lead going into singles.
The Cats flipped the switch in singles play. Randy Cory made it 2-0 Utah after defeating
Jonas Maier 6-1, 7-5, but it was all Arizona after that.
Filip Malbasic got the Wildcats on the board with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Egbert Weverink, and
Aaro Pollanen evened things up with a 6-2, 6-3 victory against David Micevski.
Igor Karpovets put the Cats ahead with a 6-4, 6-4 win on court one, and senior
Trent Botha rallied from down a set to clinch the match for Arizona.
"I'm proud of our team," said head coach
Clancy Shields. "We have been knocking on the door all season to have a breakthrough like today. I'm happy Trent was the one to clinch the match. It's only fitting a senior gets that opportunity. We got a big monkey off our back getting that Pac-12 win and tournament victory. We will be loose and ready to swing away tomorrow against UCLA."
The Wildcats take on No. 2 UCLA tomorrow at 12 p.m. MST.
Results
Singles
Igor Karpovets (ARIZ) def. Dan Little (UTAH) 6-4, 6-4
Aaro Pollanen (ARIZ) def. David Micevski (UTAH) 6-2, 6-3
Alejandro Reguant (ARIZ) vs. Santiago Sierra (UTAH) 4-6, 6-4, 2-2, unf.
Filip Malbasic (ARIZ) def. Egbert Weverink (UTAH) 6-3, 6-2
Randy Cory (UTAH) def.
Jonas Maier (ARIZ) 6-1, 7-5
Trent Botha (ARIZ) def. Slava Shainyan (UTAH) 3-6, 7-5, 6-4
Order: 5,4,2,1,6
Doubles
Russell Benkaim/Randy Cory (UTAH) def.
Igor Karpovets/
Aaro Pollanen (ARIZ) 6-4
Joe Woolley/Egbert Weverink (UTAH) def.
Jonas Maier/
Alejandro Reguant (ARIZ) 6-4
Carlos Hassey/
Filip Malbasic (ARIZ) vs. Dan Little/Azat Hankuliyev (UTAH) 4-4, unf.
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