The Arizona tennis teams, needless to say, have a very tough weekend ahead of them.
The No. 33 Arizona men's team kicks off the Pacific 10 Conference schedule with a trip to Palo Alto, Calif., today to play the No. 7 Stanford Cardinal (4-0), and then travel tomorrow to Berkeley, Calif., to play the No. 26 California Golden Bears (2-1).
"We're going in with the attitude and belief that we can win," said men's tennis assistant coach Tad Berkowitz. "We lost a close match last year, but with our extended lineup this year we have a shot."
The Wildcats (5-1), whose only loss came by Oklahoma State, have learned how important the double's point is, Berkowitz said.
"They understand how deep college tennis is," Berkowitz said. "Any team of any rank can win."
The Wildcats are coming off a solid weekend at home, having defeated No. 74 UC-Santa Barbara 5-2 and New Mexico State 6-1.
Berkowitz said the past weekend would help his team's confidence.
"We had a great weekend, we played very well," senior Paul Warkentin said. "It's great confidence for us going into one of the toughest places to play. This could be our year."
SUBHED: Wildcats head South for non-conference pair
The No. 41 Arizona women's team travels to Mobile, Ala. to face No. 48 South Alabama (3-1) today. The Wildcats then travel to New Orleans to face the No. 15 Tulane Green Wave (2-3) tomorrow.
The team is also coming off a successful weekend at home.
The Wildcats clawed and scratched their way to a win against Loyola Marymount 4-3, and then swept No. 50 San Diego.
The Wildcats (5-0) are off to their best start since 1997, when they started 7-0. Arizona can match that mark with two wins this weekend.
"We're good enough to do it," said assistant coach Brian Ramirez. "If we can go out there and attack them on the double's point and show them we're here to win, we've got a good shot at beating them."
Arizona lost to Tulane last year 3-4.
"We just have to go out there and give them a fight," Ramirez said. "These are essentially the same teams, except we're better this year."
Women's tennis head coach Vicky Maes expects nothing less than two wins from her team.
"If we go out there and compete hard, we'll play well and there's no reason to lose," Maes said. "The girls have been practicing hard. It's different once you start winning. Their confidence grows and they start believing in themselves."