TUCSON, Ariz.- The Wildcats welcomed No.17 California and No.3 Stanford to LaNelle for a weekend of play in Tucson. The Cats fought hard but fell to both teams in their start of the PAC-12 regular conference season.
Arizona began their weekend against Cal on Friday, March 8th. Representing Arizona in doubles were Reece Carter and Brandelyn Fulgenzi on court one, Belen Nevenhoven and Martyna Ostrzygalo on court two, and Teja Tirunelveli and Kayla Wilkins on court three. Cal earned the doubles point.
No.123 Carter was the first to put Arizona on the board with a straight set, ranked victory over No.46 Valentina Ivanov 6-4, 7-5(Cal). The Wildcats put up a great fight as Kayla Wilkins earned a top 25 win. Wilkins dominated on court two taking down No.23 Hannah Vill Moeller (Cal) 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. The Bears ended the match leading the Wildcats 5-2.
The Cats took on No.3 Stanford the following evening. Arizona started of the day gathering great momentum when Carter and Fulgenzi dominated on court one. This doubles pair secured the first win for the Wildcats with a ranked victory against No.54 Connie Ma and Alexandra Yepifanova 6-3. The Cardinals put up their win on court three. The deciding match for doubles was almost secured, but Stanford took the doubles point on court two 7-5.
Arizona put up a great fight in singles competing against four ranked Stanford players. Carter stuck it out into a tiebreaker for her first set and Midori Castillo put up numbers for her first set leading after a 6-4 finish. Stanford took home the win 7-0.
The Wildcats head to the west coast to face-off against USC and UCLA. The USC match will take place at the Marks Stadium Friday, March 15 at 1:30 PM. Saturday, March 16 at 12:00 PM the Cats will compete against UCLA at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
