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Wildcat tennis gets break from Pac-10

Both the Arizona men's and women's tennis teams will enjoy a break from Pacific 10 Conference play when they host non-conference opponents this weekend.

After splitting a pair of matches last week, the women's team has high expectations for Sunday's match against the University of Texas-El Paso.

Ranked No. 71 in the nation, the Miners are a strong team throughout the lineup, led by senior Tanja Magoa (8-5), who is ranked 57th in women's singles.

However, Arizona (4-1 overall, 1-1 Pac-10) is coming off of an intense week. Defeating sixth-ranked UCLA last week has helped the team build confidence for the upcoming season.

After losing for the first time to Southern California on Saturday, head coach Brad Dancer is thrilled about the weekend's match. By rotating the lineup this weekend, he is eager to give other girls a new look.

"Right now we're giving different people different looks," Dancer said.

"All the girls have been improving a lot, especially after our big win over UCLA."

Following the victory, Arizona moved up 10 spots in the rankings and is tied with Kentucky in the 21st spot.

The men's tennis team comes home after a tough week in Los Angeles. The No. 55 Wildcats opened Pac-10 play by dropping both matches against top-ranked UCLA and No. 12 USC.

"It's a rough way to start," assistant coach Bob Helmig said. "But it's not a negative, so we're going to learn from that weekend."

Helmig said he is cautious of today's match against the Loyola Maramount Lions (0-4).

"They've got a new coach and are somewhat of the unknown, but we can't take them lightly," he said.

Tomorrow, the University of California at Santa Barbara comes to Tucson after posting its first victory over Hawaii. Simon Chen (11-2) leads the way for UCSB , which is very strong in the first three singles spots.

With their aggressive playing style, Helmig wants the team to start off the match by sweeping the three doubles matches.

Junior Alex Aybar (3-3, 84th nationally) will have the No. 1 slot in the singles lineup going into the weekend.

The women's match on Sunday begins at 10:30 a.m., while today's men's match against Loyola starts at 1:30 p.m. and tomorrow's UCSB match begins at noon.

All matches are at the Robson Tennis Center.