The Arizona men's tennis team comes home to welcome California and Stanford today and tomorrow, respectively.
After having their four-game winning streak snapped last weekend at Washington, the Wildcats (12-7, 1-3 Pacific 10 Conference) look to start a new streak against a Cal team they defeated earlier in the season. They also seek to improve their home winning streak to four.
"Hopefully we can finish the home stand with a bang," senior captain Tom Lloyd said. "It would be nice to squeeze two wins out this weekend."
California (6-12, 1-1) came into the season with high expectations, but the loss to Arizona, among other teams, has dropped them to 29th. The Golden Bears come into the match tumbling, having just lost 7-0 to both Southern California and UCLA.
But the Bears still bring in a tough roster with three ranked singles players, led by No. 16 Conor Niland and one ranked doubles team. On Monday, Cal upset Stanford, giving the Bears momentum coming into Tucson.
"They're coming off of a pretty big win," Lloyd said. "They're looking to come in and try to stir us up. We just have to stick to our game plan the same way we played them the first time. The team that wants it most is going to win."
Tomorrow, the Wildcats will face an even tougher Stanford squad, to whom they lost 5-2 earlier this season. No. 10 Stanford (12-5, 2-0) is led by No. 11 Sam Warburg, who defeated UA senior Whi Kim earlier in the season. The only two wins Arizona managed in the last meeting were from sophomore Roger Matalonga, who will be playing on court one, and junior Colin O'Grady.
"We're on our own turf this time," Lloyd said. "They had an advantage last time with the crowd. We're going to be looking to foil their game plan. We're on our home court, so we have the advantage."
This weekend will be the last time three Arizona seniors will lace up their sneakers at home, as Kim, Lloyd and Carl Hagman will be making their exits with a senior ceremony tomorrow.