By Steve Fanucchi
Arizona Daily Wildcat
The UA men's tennis team suffered a 4-3 loss to intrastate rival Arizona State, ending a regular season in which it failed to earn a single conference victory.
The Wildcats (7-15 overall, 0-10 in the Pacific 10 Southern Conference) must now wait to find out whether they will be one of the schools invited to participate in the regionals.
Against the Sun Devils, senior Sten Sumberg was defeated by Sergio Elias 7-5, 6-4. Sumberg ended his senior year with a 9-13 record.
Roland Kupka won his second consecutive match, beating Dave Critchley 6-4, 6-7, 6-4.
The 16th-ranked Sun Devils (12-8, 3-7) were led by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's No. 2 singles player, Sargis Sargsian, who downed No. 35 Jan Anderson 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Anderson struggled throughout the last half of the season, and finished with a 24-16 record. In 1994, Anderson suffered only nine losses.
Against Sargsian, Anderson got off to a slow start, but came alive to win the second set as he broke Sargsian three times, the last being for the set.
On the day, Anderson had 10 aces, but unfortunately for the Wildcats, he double faulted six times and committed far too many unforced errors Ä 17 in the first set alone.
With Anderson trailing 5-4 in the final set, Sargsian was serving at triple match point (40-0) when the UA star came firing back to win three consecutive points, making it deuce on a forehand winner that hit off of the net and landed in bounds.
Sargsian would get the last lick, however, as he gained the advantage and hit a volley winner at the net for the match. Sargsian has now won four straight matches against Anderson.
"I lost, but the thing I need to do is stay positive," Anderson said. "I still am struggling a little, but I played really well and if he is the best, I can play with the best."
Sargsian is now 36-6 (7-3 in the Pac-10).
"He is so solid and he can really play, he does not make any errors," Anderson said.
Edward Schwartz defeated Tsolak Gevorkian 7-6, 6-4 for his 17th win on the year. Schwartz earned only three victories all of last year.
"Last year I was hurt and did not play much, but this year (UA head) coach (Bill Wright) gave me a chance and I proved it," Schwartz said. "I played really well today and I had such great confidence with my game."
The Arizona duo of Anderson and Schwartz has teamed up to be the Wildcats' most successful doubles team this season.
The duo lost to the Sun Devils' Paul Reber and Gevorkian 9-7.
James Rey, who took a week off to rest a sore shoulder, returned to his usual No. 6 spot and defeated Wolf VonLindeau 6-4, 7-6.
Arizona struggled all season and had difficulty finding a set lineup because of injuries and inconsistent play. The only Wildcat to participate in every dual match was Jenkins.
"We had a tough year with the injuries to almost everyone and some guys being sick throughout the year," Schwartz said. "That is the nature of life and you can not do anything but go about taking one match at a time and do the best we can."
The Wildcats will practice this week and wait to hear whether they will qualify for regionals for the second consecutive year.