Men's tennis team opens season against Fresno St.

The Wildcats have not gone up against Fresno State in two years, a match UA lost. Fresno has made it to the NCAA Tournament the last four years. This year the Bulldogs are led by junior Oliver Le Jeune, who is ranked 43rd in the country and just recently became academically eligible to play.

"I think we are going to do fine," UA head coach Bill Wright said. "There are always a lot of questions going into the first match. We will have a lot of firsts out there today."

The Wildcats have a youthful appearance this year with two seniors, five juniors, two sophomores and three freshmen on the roster.

Freshman Caleb Marquardt has been one of the stand-outs so far for UA, winning three singles matches at last week's Arizona State Winter Invitational. Other key players for the Wildcats include senior Adnan Novo and juniors Jean-Noel LaCoste and Michael Stopa.

"Personally I'm ready to play, to start the season," LaCoste said. "The outcome will depend on if we have all of our team ready and if their team will be ready."

Fresno State's only match so far was a loss to UCLA, but that was without Le Jeune and the Bulldogs' No. 2 player, Andy Scoteanu, who was also ineligible. With the Bulldogs now at full strength, the Wildcats know they're in for a battle, putting extra pressure on themselves in practice this week.

Assistant coach Bob Helmig said that effort will pay off, but it still won't be easy to upset the Bulldogs.

"Our team is better prepared for the dual matches than in the past," he said. "It is tough to start a season against a tough team. We have a great team full of great athletes."

Arizona will then get a day of rest before No. 5 UCLA comes to town Friday at 1:30 p.m. and No. 15 Southern Cal arrives Saturday at noon.

Katie Fonken can be reached at Katie.Fonken@wildcat.arizona.edu.