After a 20-day layoff from action, the Arizona men's tennis team has a new outlook. The Wildcats see the rest of the season as a new beginning.

"The best is yet to come. The break was great, but it's the second half of the season now," assistant coach Tom Hagedorn said.

No. 21 Arizona (8-5 overall, 0-4 in the Pacific 10 Conference) takes on No. 15 Cal today at 1:30 p.m. and No. 2 Stanford tomorrow at noon at the Robson Tennis Center.

"We have had three weeks off. We're eager, the batteries have been recharged and we are ready to go," Hagedorn said. "I think that we are a better team than No. 21, and Cal is ranked higher than us - a little bit but not by much - so this is a perfect chance to find out if we are better than No. 21."

Seven of the remaining eight teams on Arizona's schedule are ranked in the top 50 in the nation, and with four matches in the next eight days, UA will have the chance to work off any rust from the break.

The Wildcats' best win to date is its 7-0 win against No. 19 New Mexico. Against undefeated and No. 1 UCLA on March 8, the Wildcats took them to one match from being upset before losing 4-3. That match was the first time UCLA had lost the doubles point all season.

"Obviously, the UCLA match took a lot out of us. They are number one in the country, and we had them on the ropes. Emotionally, it hurt us, but we have to look at that match as a positive. We were right with them," Hagedorn said.

The UCLA match was a heartbreaker, but the Wildcats have focused on retaining that high quality of play they had against the Bruins.

"The word we use is resiliency, and champions have a lot of that. You have to be able to take a punch and get back up, and with our kind of schedule, you have to be able to take that punch and rebound," Hagedorn said. "Any great champion, it doesn't matter what sport it is, you have to love the battle, so to speak. If you don't enjoy competing then you shouldn't be doing it."