Arizona Wildcats news: WBB beats UW in 3OT, Baseball starts hot, Softball to No. 23

Men's Tennis cracks Top 10 after ITA Indoor Championship

After downing Baylor a few weeks back to secure an ITA Indoor Championship berth, Arizona made it pay off. Though they were eliminated from Championship Title contention in the quarterfinals, the 'Cats were able to steal a pair of wins from some extremely impressive teams.

The opening round saw No. 14 Arizona battling No. 3 Texas. Arizona quickly won the doubles point to put the 'Cats ahead 1-0 in the match. Nick Lagaev upset No. 53 Pierre-Yves Bailly to take a 2-0 Arizona lead. No. 5 Colton Smith and No. 43 Jay Friend both fell short, but they were tasked with taking on No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri and No. 2 Micah Braswell, respectively. With the match knotted at 2-2, Arizona's No. 47 Gustaf Strom was the next to finish and pushed the Wildcats ahead 3-2. To clinch the win, No. 116 Herman Hoeyeraal battled back from a first-set loss and took the next two.

Arizona was the lowest-seeded team that made it into the quarterfinals, and the magic finally ran out. They faced No. 9-ranked and No. 6-seeded Wake Forest, and found themselves in a hole early after losing the doubles point. Hoeyeraal and Smith were the only ones to win their matches and Arizona fell in a decisive 4-2 defeat.

In the consolation round, Arizona faced No. 12-ranked and No. 10-seeded Texas A&M. Despite losing the doubles point, the 'Cats rallied and won every singles match en route to a 4-1 win. Hoeyeraal had a stellar weekend, going 2-1 in doubles and 3-0 in singles matches, and was rewarded with a Pac-12 Player of the Week for tennis nod. Arizona subsequently rose five spots to No. 9, which is the highest ITA ranking Arizona has ever recorded.

Don’t forget to follow us at @ZonaZealots on Twitter, follow us at @ZonaZealotsFS on Instagram, and like our fan page on Facebook for continued coverage of Arizona news, opinions, and recruiting updates!