By
David Stevenson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Wins likely earn team a berth in Regionals
At the beginning of the year, the UA men's tennis team had one dream: reaching the NCAA Regionals. After a weekend sweep of No. 12 Washington and Oregon, the Wildcats likely earned a trip to the tennis version of the "Big Dance."
"From these wins, it looks like we'll go to Regionals," freshman Carl Hagman said. "That was our goal all year."
Friday's win against UW marked the second straight upset for the Wildcats.
The Huskies (16-5 overall , 1-2 in PAC-10 Conference) opened the match winning the doubles point, although junior Steve Capriati and Hagman managed to beat No. 58 Jeremy Berman and Andy Posavc, 9-8.
UA was forced to rely on its singles play to salvage the win.
In singles play, Capriati beat No. 54 Matt Haskin, 6-3, 6-4; freshman Whi Kim knocked off Berman, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, for his third consecutive win; and junior Bruno Aropovic beat Maruier Lunte, 6-2, 6-4.
Hagman chipped in with his second upset of the year, a 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 win over No. 45 Andrej Bizjok to put an exclamation point on the win.
"At the end of the first set, I got off to a slow start and started missing balls," he said. "I just kept trying to battle my way back, and I thought that I could just play with this guy."
While Hagman may crack the NCAA rankings this weekend, he said he isn't too concerned with individual success.
"It's not a major thing to be individually ranked," he said. "But it would be nice to be recognized."
The win against UW was an emotional win for both teams. In fact, UA senior Jari Niskala found it hard to watch Hagman's match because it was so close.
UA head coach Bill Wright was a little calmer regarding the upset.
"It was an emotional four hours," he said. "At first we were ahead, and then they were (ahead). It was just like a roller coaster ride."
On March 30, Arizona defeated No. 30 California, 4-3. Players said that the Cal win, coupled with Friday's upset of the Huskies, are the two most impressive victories of the season.
"Both wins were extremely important," Hagman said. "The Cal win gave us confidence, while the Washington win kept us going."
Saturday, No. 48 UA routed Oregon, 7-0. In the win, Aropovic defeated the Ducks' Greg Dobuidieu, 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (8).
All the other Wildcat wins came in straight sets, to the delight of their coach.
"The guys did a wonderful job of coming to play against Oregon," Wright said. "Everybody played very well."
