Men's tennis team loses home opener

Ryan A. Mihalyi Arizona Daily Wildcat Junior tennis player Jean-Noel LaCoste slams a backhand during yesterday's doubles match against Fresno State at the Robson Tennis Center. LaCoste and his partner, Pascal Salasca, defeated the Bulldogs' Peter Luczak and Nick Fustar 9-7, but UA lost the meet 6-1 overall.

The scores might not indicate close matches in singles, but players from both teams agreed they were strenuous matches.

The number one court was occupied by Bulldog sophomore Peter Luczak, ranked No. 40 in the nation, who defeated UA senior Adnon Novo 7-5, 6-2.

"I had a shaky start when Novo came out so strong, but I was more consistent, I believe," Luczak said. "After winning the first set I became more confident, which helped."

Novo said he was not expecting to be in the number one spot.

"I played decent for the first game, but I made stupid mistakes," he said. "I need to work on building and holding points in the future. But I won't give up because I love to play and I love these guys out here."

In the No. 3 spot, senior Pascal Salasca earned the only singles victory over Andy Scorteanu 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.

"I didn't play that well last year, but so far I am happy with the way I am playing," Salasca said. "Everyone had tough matches. Fresno is a tough team, but we did well for our first match."

In doubles the Bulldogs took the point by winning two out of the three matches.

Salasca and junior Jean-Noel LaCoste held the only win for the Wildcats in doubles, defeating Luczak and Nick Fustar 9-7.

"Salasca and LaCoste did very well in doubles," UA head coach Bill Wright said.

Freshman Caleb Marquadt and junior Michel Stopa lost 8-2 to David Mullins and Kevin Vieira. It was the two Wildcats' first time playing together as a doubles team.

"It's tough the first time out," Stopa said. "When you play doubles you have to play like one person. It will just take some time."

The day ended in a loss, but the team learned a lot from the matches, Wright said.

"I am not discouraged at all," he said. "We played pretty darn good."

The men's tennis team gets one day off before going against UCLA tomorrow and against Southern Cal Saturday at the Robson Tennis Center.

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