UA men's tennis opened its Pac-10 schedule this weekend and was immediately put to the test by two of southern California's finest.

Nationally ranked squads No. 4 UCLA and No. 28 Southern California handed Arizona its first losses of the Pac-10 season. After dropping Friday's match to the Bruins by a score of 5-2, the Wildcats came back strong on Saturday against the Trojans but failed to avoid a weekend sweep. The Wildcats waged an emotional battle against the Trojans in an afternoon decided in the final set of the final match with USC taking the match 4-3.

"When you think how bad it was, how hard it was for those guys to play, and how well they played and how hard they fought, it was a phenomenal match. Absolutely phenomenal," said head coach Bill Wright of his Wildcats' effort against the Trojans and gusting winds. "One the best I've seen in a long time, and I see them all."

Down three games to two, with two left to play against the Trojans, Arizona's first Pac-10 victory would rest on the shoulders of Roger Matalonga and Carl Hagman.

After winning his first set 7-5 against Johan Berg, Hagman dropped the second set 5-7. Down 1-4 in the third set with Arizona trailing by two games, Hagman regrouped and reeled off an impressive five straight wins to earn the victory and tie the match for the Wildcats.

All eyes then shifted to Matalonga's match. Matalonga fell behind early in the third set going down 2-3 and was unable to recover.

Despite dropping both matches of the weekend, Wright said the Wildcats need to keep their focus and can't get down on themselves.

"You're disappointed but you can't be sad; these guys really stepped up," said Wright of the loss to the Trojans. "It was a rough ending to a great day. We don't have too long to wait; we get to do it again Wednesday. We don't have time to take it hard."

Women's tennis swept in SoCal

The UA women's tennis squad dropped both its matches this weekend in southern California, including a near upset of number 4 ranked Trojans of Southern California.

On Friday, the 46th ranked Wildcats were overpowered by the 12th ranked Bruins winning only one match, 1-6. Graduate student Emilie Scribot earned the only victory for the Wildcats against the Bruins defeating 23rd ranked Jackie Carleton, 6-3, 7-5. The 20th ranked Scribot avenged an earlier loss to Carleton on February 23 in Tucson.

Saturday, Arizona took a talented Trojan team to the limit before falling short in a bid to win their first Pac-10 match of the season. The Wildcats were led by their top three singles players Scribot, Maja Mlakar and Dianne Hollands who earned hard-fought victories over the Trojan's top three. Arizona failed to win any of the remaining three singles matches having already dropped the doubles point. Arizona lost the match 3-4.