Wildcat Wrap: Men’s, women’s tennis open season with wins

Editor’s note: With several sports going on, Wildcat Wrap serves as a recap that focuses 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 and women’s tennis opened the 2023 season this past weekend, with both programs winning their opening matches.

The Arizona men, ranked 15th nationally, swept Bryant and GCU by scores of 7-0 Saturday.

Facing Bryant. the Wildcats won two of three doubles matches to earn a first point, then swept singles play Jonas Ziverts won in straight sets on the No. 1 singles court.

Ziverts went on to earn Pac-12 Player of the Week honors.

In the latter meeting against GCU, Arizona again won two of three matches in doubles competition, then won every singles match in straight sets. Colton Smith held down the No. 1 singles court.

“It’s always good to get matches under your belt. It’s especially good to get our freshmen some experience early in the season,” associate head coach Bryce Warren told Arizona Athletics. “We have about two weeks until our next match which gives us time to get back to the drawing board and work on what we feel we need to work on from today.”

The men return to action next weekend for the ITA Kickoff in Austin, Texas. Arizona faces Florida Atlantic in the tournament’s opening round.

Meanwhile, the women got off to a strong start by beating UTEP 5-1 Sunday. A scheduled match against UC San Diego was cancelled.

Arizona lost the doubles point but swept through singles play, winning five matches by straight sets.

Freshman Tanvi Narendran, a former five-star prospect out of Tucson, won her debut match 6-4, 6-3 on the No. 3 singles court.

The women travel to College State, Texas next weekend for the ITA Kickoff, where they’ll face No. 19 Florida in the first round.

Women’s swimming and diving

The Arizona women swept a tri-meet this past Friday against Washington State and NAU. The Wildcats won five events, led by Alyssa Schwengel, who swept the 50 free and 100 free.

Diver Delaney Schnell won the 1m and 3m events, while Quinn Gariepy finished runner-up.

The Arizona women and men turn their attention toward their last home meets of the season, where they’ll host Cal Friday and Stanford Saturday.

Track and field

Arizona is back in action this weekend with the Lumberjack Challenge in Flagstaff Friday. The meet officially opens the 2023 spring track and field season.

The Wildcats then will travel to Lubbock, Texas for the Texas Tech Open Multi’s Jan. 26-28.