The Arizona women’s tennis team hopes a couple of late-season wins can propel it into a strong showing at the Pac-12 Tournament this week in Ojai, California.
The Wildcats, who went 3-7 in Pac-12 play and are 16-12 overall, won two of their final three regular-season matches, beating Utah and Colorado at home on April 14-15.
UA will rematch against the Utes (13-10, 4-6) on Wednesday in the tournament’s first round. Arizona enters as the No. 9 seed, with Utah at No. 8. The seeds were reversed in last year’s tournament, as Utah won 4-1 before going on to lose 4-0 to No. 1 seed California.
This year, No. 1-seeded Stanford awaits the winner.
“You (have) to find a way to win, especially in-conference,” coach Ryan Stotland said. “Everybody wants to win, everybody’s got a desire, and we see each other every year, so it makes it hard because everybody knows everybody.”
The Wildcats will have more experience going into a new setting this week, as they have played three more neutral-site matches than the Utes this season.
After suffering a five-match slide later into the season, the Wildcats have found their footing and have gotten close to playing at the level they were at when they started the season 8-2.
UA beat the Utes 4-3 on April 14 as Midori Castillo-Meza clinched the match with a win at No. 4 singles. It was the second straight year that Castillo-Meza clinched a Wildcats regular-season win over Utah.
Arizona's Midori Castillo-Meza wins on match point for her UA team in a 4-3 victory for the UA over visiting Utah Friday, April 14, 2023, at LaNelle Robson Tennis Center. Video courtesy Arizona Athletics (via Twitter)
UA followed the close win over Utah this year by routing Colorado 4-1 the next day.
“Getting a win always helps your confidence,” Stotland added following the team’s home victory against the Buffaloes.
The Wildcats’ other Pac-12 win came at Washington State on March 17. UA ended the regular season by losing 4-0 at home to Arizona State on April 22.
A large reason for the late-season success has come from the added camaraderie of the players, which has helped their chemistry in both singles and doubles.
“We try to do some bonding things with the team; we all love to hang out with each other,” Castillo-Meza said. (Our bonding has made it) so we’re always connected and united as a team.”
