ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. --- UCI men's tennis began its action-packed weekend of tennis to open the season with a late loss to the Pac-12 Arizona Wildcats Friday afternoon in the Ned and Tina Jacobs Lobo Tennis Winter Kickoff at the Linda Estes Tennis Complex.

UCI (0-1) fell behind early dropping four of the six opening sets. Arizona (1-1) would earn wins at positions 3 and 5. With the Wildcats one point from clinching, Caryl Hernandez completed a three-set, come-from-behind win to close the gap to 3-2 leaving it up to the newcomer, Rafael Davidian.

The junior faltered after winning the opening set to drop his match in three sets securing a 4-2 victory for Arizona.

UCI continues its weekend with an evening match with the host school, New Mexico, followed by a pair of matches on Saturday and Sunday.

ARIZONA 4, UC IRVINE 2
Friday, Jan. 17, 2014
Albuquerque, N.M.

Singles
1) Fredrik Ask (UofA) def. Ryan Cheung (UCI) – 7-6 (5), 6-3
2) Kieren Thompson (UofA) def. Rafael Davidian (UCI) – 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
3) Naoki Takeda (UofA) def. Tyler Pham (UCI) – 6-4, 6-1
4) Caryl Hernandez (UCI) def. Sumeet Shinde (UofA) – 3-6, 6-2, 6-3
5) Mario Urquidi (UofA) def. Jonathan Poon (UCI) – 6-2, 7-6 (5)
6) Jonathan Hammel (UCI) def. Dominic Bermudez (UofA) – 6-2, 7-5

Order of finish: 5, 3, 6, 1, 4, 2

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