JACOB KONST/Arizona Daily Wildcat Senior Whi Kim returns a shot against an Arizona State player on Saturday at the Robson Tennis Center. The Wildcats defeated ASU, winning 6-1 against the Sun Devils.

It was a rivalry game, but only one team came to play Saturday, as the UA men's tennis team defeated Arizona State 6-1 in front of one of its largest crowds of the season at the Robson Tennis Center.

The 24th-ranked Wildcats improved their record to 11-6 on the season, while dropping the No. 34 Sun Devils to 7-8.

Arizona started strongly, gaining the doubles point by winning two of three matches.

"The doubles point was huge for us," said assistant coach Tad Berkowitz. "That lifted the guys a little bit."

After sophomore Roger Matalonga and junior Colin O'Grady easily handled the team of Andy Colombo and Jonathan Kinsella, 8-2, the combo of Whi Kim and Tim Mullane lost to Chris Stewart and Daniel Davies, 8-4.

Then, the match on court three became the deciding factor. Senior Tom Lloyd and junior Paul Warkentin battled Clinton Letcher and Ryan McBride - as well as heavy winds - and the match was tied 7-7 after Arizona State broke Warkentin's serve.

"I had a rough service game at 7-6, but we broke right back," Warkentin said. "It was tough. There was a lot of pressure."

After breaking Arizona State's serve, Lloyd served for the match and succeeded in tearing the heart out of the Sun Devils.

"Tom stepped it up and hit a couple of great shots," Warkentin said. "It was exciting to pull it out. It set the tone for the whole match."

In singles play, the Wildcats won five of six matches, despite the loss of sophomore Daniel Andrus, who sat out because of flu-like symptoms.

"We decided during the warm-ups that he wasn't fit to play," Berkowitz said.

Even with his absence, Arizona had no trouble with Arizona State. Roger Matalonga led off on court one by beating Letcher, 6-4, 6-4. Kim defeated Stewart 6-3, 6-3 and O'Grady defeated Kinsella by the same score.

Lloyd lost the only match of the day, falling 6-1, 6-2 to Christopher Biro.

Warkentin, who played on the fifth court in place of Andrus, and Mullane, also won. Mullane won the first game of his match against Davies before Davies was forced to retire because of an ankle injury.

Arizona's win was its third straight. It heads to the Pacific Northwest next week.

"It gives the guys a lot of confidence, especially going into the road trip to Oregon and Washington," Berkowitz said. "It gives the guys confidence to know that they could go ahead and beat solid teams like that. We've had solid wins all year along."