Wildcat Wrap: Staying women’s golf, men’s tennis eliminated from NCAA tournaments

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 women’s golf missed the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2017 (not counting the 2019-20 season that was canceled due to COVID-19), coming up just short at the NCAA Regional in Albuquerque.

The Wildcats finished in sixth place, two strokes behind TCU, the fourth and final team to make the cut to advance to the NCAA Championship.

Arizona shot 12-over par across the three day event. The Wildcats were led by Carolina Melgrati and Gile Bite Starkute, who both shot 4-over to finish tied for 17th in the individual competition.

Men’s tennis

Arizona was eliminated Saturday in the second round of the NCAA men’s tournament, falling to North Carolina 4-1.

A full recap of the match can be found here.

Arizona’s lone point came in singles competition from Herman Hoeyeraal.

The early NCAA tournament doesn’t take away from Arizona’s historic season, in which the Wildcats won their first-ever Pac-12 regular season title.

Men’s golf

Arizona is set to tee off at the NCAA Bryan, Texas Regional May 16-18. The UA is the No. 6 seed in the regional. The top five teams from each regional advance to the NCAA Championship.

The Wildcats are coming off a poor showing at the Pac-12 Championships where they finished 11th.

Arizona is led by All-Pac-12 First-Team selection Christian Banke and All-Pac-12 Second-Team member Chase Sienkiewicz.

“Our team is prepared and ready to play at NCAA Regionals,” coach Jim Anderson told Arizona Athletics. “We have had a good season and postseason play is something we have all worked towards. Staying out west is an added bonus for us and an exciting part of the challenge. Traditions Club is a terrific course, and our team will have a great week of practice and qualifying before flying out to Texas.”

Gymnastics

Taylor Spears has been promoted to Associate Head Coach of the Arizona gymnastics program after serving four years as an assistant coach. UA head coach John Court announced the move last week.

Spears has led the balance beam team to a nine-rank improvement since 2019 and has coached beam to a final NQS of 49.0 or higher for three-straight seasons, according to an Arizona Athletics press release.

The beam team finished No. 25 in the nation last season, led by Sirena Linton, who became the first GymCat to earn All-American on beam since 2012.