After losing the doubles point, the No. 26 Arizona men's tennis team won five of six singles matches to defeat NAU Sunday in the home opener of the dual match tennis season.
The Wildcats began the day without their top two singles players, junior Roger Matalonga and senior Colin O'Grady, who also form the team's top doubles pair. O'Grady and Matalonga were competing in Palm Springs, Calif., at the National Collegiate Tennis Classic as singles players and as a doubles team. Their absences gave some freshmen a chance to gain experience early on in the season.
"They came out in the beginning of doubles a little nervous," said assistant coach Tad Berkowitz of the freshmen in the lineup. "I compliment them on their ability to turn it around. It was great experience for them to play in a match like this."
In singles play, freshman Bruno Alcala played in the No. 1 spot and defeated NAU's Jeremy Coll 7-6 (3), 6-2. Alcala also played on the No. 1 doubles team with senior Paul Warkentin and defeated Thibault Schram and Henrik Lilja 8-6 for the Wildcats' only doubles victory of the day. Warkentin fell to Schram 3-6, 5-7 in the only Arizona singles loss.
Sophomore Jason Labrosse played in the No. 3 spot and easily defeated Jamie Maxwell 6-1, 6-1. Junior Timothy Mullane, Labrosse's doubles partner, played No. 4 and defeated Lilja 6-3, 6-0. The two lost their doubles match 8-4 to Jonas Jegers and Maxwell.
Playing in the No. 5 position was freshman Francois Vandermerwe, who defeated Jegers 6-4, 6-2. He played No. 3 doubles with fellow freshman Mitchell Brown and lost 8-4 to Brian Grooms and Coll.
Sophomore Nathan Cochrane finished out singles play in the No. 6 spot, defeating Aldert Jansma 6-3, 6-4.
In Palm Springs on Sunday, No. 58 Matalonga lost in the championship match of the NCTC to No. 13 Pedro Rico of Pepperdine University 4-6, 7-5, 2-6. In the doubles championship match, No. 18 Matalonga and O'Grady lost to Treat Huey and Somdev Devvarman of Virginia, 8-2.
"Roger is probably the hardest worker on the team. I'm so happy for him to win a match like this," Berkowitz said. "He should know now that no matter who he steps on the court with he can beat. It will do so much for his confidence."
To get to the championship match, Matalonga defeated the No. 1 singles player in the country, Catalin Gard of the University of Mississippi, 6-4, 6-4 Saturday. In doubles, Matalonga and O'Grady defeated No. 19 Rylan Rizza and Nick Meythaler of Virginia, 8-3.