By Staff Reports
Arizona Daily Wildcat
January 26, 1996
The Arizona baseball team kicks off the 1996 season against the New Mexico Lobos with a three-game series beginning today at Sancet Field.Matt Hendren will start today for Arizona, with Clay Crossan throwing Saturday and Jason Ford Sunday. The pitchers are expected to throw only 70-80 pitches until they are replaced by a solid core of relief pitchers, head coach Jerry Kindall said.
Many eyes will be focused on exciting young outfielders Diego Rico, Russ Brown and Colin Porter. Kindall is pleased with the way the sophomore outfielders have matured.
"They struggled at times all three of them (last season), but I'm sure glad I stuck with them," Kindall said. "They are ready to be Pac-Six outfielders and to really achieve."
The infield, led by senior second baseman John Powers and catcher Tom King are ready to start the season with a win.
"It's pretty much the same infield as last year," Powers said. "As far as the infield, fielding-wise we feel really strong."
This series was sparked last year by Powers' ninth-inning, two-run home run to win the first game of the series. The teams went on to split the next two games with a New Mexico win Saturday and a UA win Sunday.
Today's game starts at 2:30 pm. The Saturday and Sunday games will start at 1:00 p.m.
-Sam Spiller
No. 7 UA Gymnastics to face No. 4 Bruins, No. 13 Cardinal
Gymnastics has been described many times as the struggle for perfection, and when No. 7 Arizona (4-0) squares off with No. 4 UCLA (1-1) and No. 13 Stanford (1-0) tomorrow night at 7:30 at McKale Center, perfection might be what it takes to come out the vi ctor.
"Basically, we can't fall if we want to win," UA head coach Jim Gault said. "When you perform against a UCLA, you don't have much of a margin for error."
UCLA is the team to beat in the Pacific 10 Conference this season. Last season the Bruins earned their sixth Pac-10 title en route to a fourth-place finish in the NCAA Championships. A major reason for their success was the emergence of freshman All-Ameri can Stella Umeh, who won four of the five conference titles and was voted the Pac-10 gymnast of the year. She also made the NCAA championships her playground, finishing first in the floor exercise (9.95), second in the beam (9.90) and third in the all-aro und (39.40). But Umeh's effectiveness will be limited as she will be contributing in only two events: the uneven bars and balance beam.
The Bruins did falter in their first meet against then No. 13 Cal State-Fullerton, but All-American Leah Homma erased any doubts about UCLA with a 39.35 score in the all-around.
Stanford has come out and shown that they too have a team with some talent. The front-runner for the Cardinal is sophomore Keri Monahan. Monahan broke Stanford's all-time mark with a 9.90 performance on the vault last season, and she is currently ranked 1 7th in the nation in the all-around.
The big change for Stanford comes in the form of a new general, Lisa Izzi, who was an assistant at Stanford for four years and is starting her inaugural year as head coach.
"Stanford looks to have a solid group of gymnasts," Gault said. "But we'll have to see how they react to having a new coach."
The Wildcats, who barely edged No. 20 Cal last week, have been led by standout freshman Heidi Hornbeek, who has won each of the two previous all-around competitions, including a 39.050 effort in Berkeley. Junior Tenli Poggemeyer has also regained her form of last year, scoring a mark of 38.700 in the all around against Cal.
"Having a meet like this right off the bat is a great experience for us," Gault said. "We will go back to UCLA later in the season and a strong effort this weekend would be a great lift."
- Arlie Rahn
Swimming and Diving set for meet against third-place Texas
The Arizona women's swimming and diving team is back in action this weekend. The No.5 Wildcats face No.3 Texas at Hillenbrand Aquatic Center today and tomorrow.
Coming off a 106-96 victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers, the 6-0 Wildcats are enthusiastic about competing against a team of Texas' caliber.
"This is the first meet where we will have a complete team," UA head coach Frank Busch said. "Ashley Tappin will swim in her first meet of the year, and were excited about seeing her swim."
Tappin, a junior, was declared ineligible to compete last semester by the NCAA because of her participation in the 1994 World Championships. A member of the 1992 United States Olympic team, Tappin holds the 16th-best 200-meter freestyle time (1 minute, 45 :23 seconds), the 17th-best 50-meter freestyle time (22.34 seconds), and the 21st-best 100-meter freestyle time (48.81 seconds) in U.S. history.
Leading Arizona against the Longhorns will be Laurie Kline, Heather Branstetter and Heather Wilson, who finished first, second and third, respectively, in both the 800-meter and 400-meter freestyle, during the last meet against Nebraska.
"It will be fun because we're both fighting to stay within the top five in the polls," Busch said.
The meet begins at 2 p.m. both days.
- Jacinda Sweet
Women's tennis hosts invitational
The 10th-ranked Arizona women's tennis team led by returning All-American Vicky Maes returns to action this weekend to host the 50th-annual Arizona Invitational at the Robson Tennis Center.
The Wildcats will open play today against Iowa, then take on Southern Methodist Saturday and 44th-ranked Cal-Santa Barbara Sunday. All matches will begin at 11 a.m.
Arizona opened their dual-match season at home with a 6-3 victory against Pacific Jan. 16. The team travelled to Seattle to participate in the Pacific 10 Conference Indoor Championships held last weekend.
The Wildcats were represented well in Seattle by a trio of players including Maes, Arizona's No. 1 singles player, who reached her third-straight singles final. On her way to the Flight No. 1 finals, Maes, a sophomore, did not drop a set before falling to UCLA's Keri Phebus, the defending NCAA champion, in straight sets 6-3, 7-5.
Junior Stephanie Sammaritano squeaked by Southern Cal's Nicole London 7-5, 7-6 in the Flight No. 1 consolation championship, and Wildcat newcomer Karen Goldstein reached the finals of the Flight No. 3 singles before she was beaten by Stanford's Julie Scot t 6-2, 7-5.
After this weekend, Arizona enters conference play with a slate of ranked opponents.
- Jason A. Vrtis
Icecats looking to make it 65 against Arizona State
In 1983, the Washington Redskins were Super Bowl champions, the Baltimore Orioles were champions of the baseball world and the Arizona State Icedevils actually defeated the Arizona Icecats.
Twelve years and 64 meetings later, the Icecats are the dominant college hockey team in Arizona.
The No. 6 Icecats (14-4) have won an impressive 64 straight games over their counterparts from Tempe and will attempt to improve on that mark this weekend when they travel to Oceanside Ice Arena in Tempe for two games. Friday night's game will start at 7: 00 with the Saturday face-off set for 1 p.m.
The Icedevils are having one of their best seasons in recent memory and were ranked as high as tenth before losing to the Icecats twice back in December.
The Icedevils are led by Steve Hammett, their senior center from Phoenix. Hammett, whose father coaches ASU, had a goal and an assist when last the two teams met.
The Icecats are coming off a split with No. 10 Michigan-Dearborn and are winners of seven of their last eight.
The two games in Tempe are the start of a six-game road trip that includes games against Illinois, Colorado, and Colorado State. The team will return to the Tucson Convention Center Feb. 17 for a two-game set with Marquette.
- Craig Degel