While UA seniors Colin O'Grady and Paul Warkentin are roommates off the tennis court, they rarely team up in doubles action on the court. That will change Friday through Sunday when the duo plays singles and doubles at the Midland Tennis Classic in Midland, Texas.

O'Grady, who typically pairs with junior Roger Matalonga to make up the country's fifth-ranked doubles team, said Warkentin has sent him about 10 text messages in anticipation for this matchup.

"I'm looking forward to it," Warkentin said. "When you get to play with the number five guy in the country you're happy. It'll definitely be a good time. He's my roommate so I party with this guy on Friday night and Saturday night, so now I get to play a little bit on Saturday morning."

Coach Bill Wright said UA will compete against eight of the top teams in the country, including Texas A&M, Texas, UCLA, USC and Pepperdine, with each school sending two players. He said the tournament should provide his players with "tremendous experience."

"What we're trying to do in the fall is get everybody some tennis," Wright said. "The reason we're going there is to play some good players they wouldn't normally see other places. It's going to be good."

Warkentin said he is mentally prepared after winning two singles matches in the Icy Hot/ITA Men's All-American Championship pre-qualifying tournament Oct. 1-3.

"It's a very mental sport," he said. "You've got to get to that happy place before you can go out and play good tennis. You've got to get the mind. I feel as mentally prepared as I've ever felt before a match. I definitely feel ready to battle, ready to compete, ready to represent the University of Arizona Wildcats."

O'Grady, the 85th ranked singles player in the country, said he is "getting back into the grind" after taking two months off this summer. The Midland Classic will provide him with more matches after beginning his season in the singles All-American qualifying tournament last week, where he won a singles match, before winning one doubles match in the main draw.

"I think this is a really fun tournament," said Warkentin, who played it two years ago. "It's a great atmosphere, you get a pretty good number of fans out there and there's a lot of good competition. Last year there were a lot of top players. It's a good opportunity for both of us to get some wins and move up in the rankings and me to maybe make my rankings debut."

Warkentin said he hopes a strong showing can boost him into the national rankings composed of the top 125 players in the country for the first time in his career. However, the most important goal in this tournament is to get prepared for the team season.

"Obviously, you're gearing up for the spring where our goal is to get to the top 10 this year and host for nationals," he said. "The preseason is definitely a good gauge to see where you're at and where all the other teams are at, but then again you're still training through it and just trying to get ready for the spring. That's kind of the main goal. Don't put too much stock in the results, but it's definitely nice to play some good tennis going into the regular season."