Tennis swept by California, Stanford

After only two Wildcats won their singles matches against No. 2 Stanford on Friday and No. 18 California on Saturday, Arizona (3-2 overall, 0-2 in the Pacific 10 Conference Southern Division) was unable to win all three of its doubles matches for a come from behind victory.

"It's very hard, but it's not impossible because we've done it before and I'm sure we'll do it later in the season," senior Stephanie Sammaritano said.

The two singles victories for the Wildcats came from Arizona's first seeded player, junior Vicky Maes, and Sammaritano, the Wildcats third seeded player. Maes, the fifth-ranked player in the country, defeated Cal's Amanda Augustus, a sophomore, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. Sammaritano, the 66th-ranked player in the country, beat sophomore Stephanie Tibbits, 6-4, 6-2.

"For Vicky to beat Amanda was really tough," UA head coach Becky Bell said. "She showed a lot of heart to pull that match out because she's playing in a lot of pain."

The Wildcats needed to win all three of their doubles matches to win the dual match. However, only sophomore Monique Allegre and senior Khristen Pietrucha were victorious, defeating Cal freshmen Emeka Mayes and Lisa Swierniak, 8-5. The Wildcats lost by a final score of 6-3.

Stanford, the team responsible for all three of Arizona's losses last season, handed the Wildcats their first loss of the season on Friday, 6-3.

Friday's loss to the Cardinal was similar to the Wildcats' match with the Golden Bears.

Maes and sophomore Karen Goldstein, the 32nd-ranked player in the country, were Arizona's only players to win in singles matches. Maes defeated senior Katie Schlukebir, 6-1, 6-2 after losing to her in the semifinals of the Pac-10 Indoor Championships earlier this month, and Goldstein beat No. 17 Sandra DeSilva, 6-3, 6-3.

"Those were both really good wins," Bell said. "Vicky had never beaten Schlukebir before and Karen had never beaten DeSilva."

The Wildcats found themselves in the same situation in which they needed victories in all three doubles matches. Once again, only one doubles combination came out on top. The 16th-ranked doubles pair of Goldstein and Sammaritano defeated Schlukebir and senior Emily Burt, 8-4.