Wildcat Wrap: Arizona men’s tennis tops No. 5 Texas in signature program win

Editor’s note: With so many sports going on this winter and spring, we are re-introducing the Wildcat Wrap, a weekly recap that will focus on the Arizona programs that we do not have the time to cover on a regular basis but are certainly worthy of recognition.

Arizona men’s tennis won one of its biggest matches in recent program history last Friday when the Wildcats took down No. 5 Texas 4-3. The UA clinched the match quickly, winning the doubles point and the first three singles points to take a decisive 4-0 advantage.

Filip Malbasic won the clinching point for Arizona with a 7-5, 6-4 victory on court six.

“This is huge for our program. If you look back five years ago, you dream of a day like this, but we’ve been building this for a while,” head coach Clancy Shields said.

Two days later, the Wildcats found themselves on the losing side of a road match against No. 22 Pepperdine. The Waves won 5-2, with Arizona’s two points coming in singles play.

On Monday, Arizona won a significant battle off the court, landing highly touted recruit Dominique Rolland of West Hills, Calif. Rolland, who will enroll in Arizona in fall 2022, is ranked No. 178 in the International Tennis Federation Junior World Ranking.

“He plays with ease, he’s creative on court, and has a unique flow to his game,” Shields said. “His effortless style will suit him well at the next level and he will certainly help elevate our program here. We are looking forward to working with Dominique and his arrival in August!”

Men’s golf

Coach Jim Anderson’s team took care of business at home this week, winning the Arizona Collegiate at Tucson Country Club over several ranked opponents.

The Wildcats shot a 35-under across the two-day event (Jan. 24-25) to finish one stroke ahead of runner-up No. 37 New Mexico and five strokes ahead of Arkansas, the No. 5 team in the country.

Christian Banke led all individual scorers with a 14-under.

The victory should go a long way in bolstering the confidence of a program that lost several key members of last year’s Pac-12 championship team.

The Wildcats now have a few weeks off before they head to Likue, Hawaii for the Johns Burns Intercollegiate on Feb. 17-19.

Women’s golf

The Wildcats finished sixth out of seven teams in the Rapsodo Match in the Desert in Superstition Mountain, Ariz. The UA shot a six-over across the two-day event, led by a three-under second round by Ya Chun Chang. Chang finished in a tie for 10^th overall at one-under to lead Arizona.

Coach Laura Ianello’s squad is in for a rebuilding year after the departures of sisters Yu-Sang and Vivian Hou, who qualified for the LPGA Tour in December and chose to forego their final semester of college eligibility.

Track & field

Arizona track & field athletes won four events at last weekend’s Lumberjack Team Challenge in Flagstaff.

Talie Bond won the women’s high jump with a personal record of 1.78m, which is among the top 20 scores in the NCAA and first in the Pac-12.

Trayvion White-Austin won the men’s 60m dash with a personal record time of 6.71.

Arizona swept the men’s and women’s 600m behind performances from Tanner Hagstrom and Alisa Lyesina.

Arizona next competes at the Texas Tech Open & Multis on Jan. 28 and at the UW Invitational on Jan. 28-29.

Swimming & diving

The Arizona men’s and women's swimming & diving programs were swept on the road by Stanford and Cal last weekend.

The men fell to Cal 173-80 and to Stanford 170-101. The women lost to Cal 153-92 and to Stanford 176-86.

Julia Heimstead led the women’s team with event wins in the 100 fly and 200 fly against Cal, while Jade Nesser won the women’s 100 breast against Cal.

On the men’s side, Jake Hand won the 200 breast against Cal, while Brooks Fail won the 500 freestyle against Stanford.

In diving, Olympian Delaney Schnell won the women’s 1 meter against Stanford.

Women’s tennis

Arizona’s spring season is still on hold after a Jan. 23 match against New Mexico State was postponed due to COVID protocols within the Wildcats program. The match is set to rescheduled for Jan. 31 in Las Cruces.