The Arizona men's tennis team sent No. 31 San Diego packing Sunday afternoon, posting a 6-1 win to improve its record to 8-4.
The Toreros (5-3) put up a fight early only to be blown out in the end. USD won only one singles match and one doubles match.
"We wanted to send them home packing with a big bang," said senior captain Tom Lloyd. "Those guys were talking pretty big this year, and we took it to them."
The doubles matches got the No. 34 Wildcats started, as they won two out of three to gain the first point of the afternoon. Roger Matalonga and Colin O'Grady beat Oscar Plotnik and Nic Beuque 8-4, thanks in part to Matalonga's crowd-pleasing hustle. Whi Kim and Tom Mullane went down to Robbie Blair and Mirza Koristovic 8-3.
"Roger really does the stuff that I can't do, and I do the stuff that he doesn't do," O'Grady said.
The early split brought the decisive point to court two, where Paul Warkentin and Daniel Andrus battled Jason Pongsrikul and Matt Ozurovich. After struggling in the beginning of the set and throwing his hat over the fence, Warkentin came back to hit a forehand volley to win the match and the doubles point.
"I wasn't playing that well, but it was great that Daniel, my partner, really stepped it up," Warkentin said. "We really needed the doubles win against a team that was really talented. It was great to get the doubles point to get up on them early. Daniel really picked it up and picked up the slack."
Arizona won five out of the six singles matches, led by Roger Matalonga, who dispatched Pongsrikul 6-1, 6-4. O'Grady, playing on the fourth court, won once again over Koristovic, 6-4, 6-4.
"I've been playing well since the beginning of the year," O'Grady said. "I have a little more confidence after the win against UCLA."
O'Grady said the biggest difference in his game has been mental and not physical.
"Last year I got in a little funk, and I didn't know how to respond," O'Grady said. "Now I do."
"Colin is an amazing story with what he's done this year," Warkentin said. "It's amazing to watch him play. It's great to see him get better and better each week."
Lloyd, playing in the third position and coming off a groin injury, beat Beuque 6-1, 7-6. Andrus and Warkentin also won their singles matches over Jeff Das and Ozurovich, respectively, while Kim had the lone loss - 7-6, 6-3 to Blair.
"Everybody was confident," Warkentin said. "We knew we were going to win. It came down to everybody feeling good today and pulling out their wins. Six to one over a team like that is kind of a feat."