Women's water polo team finishes second in Regionals

Despite going undefeated in round robin play, Arizona was upset in the final by rival Northern Arizona 6-5.

It was even more painful because UA defeated NAU 9-5 during round robin play, sophomore Jennifer Strelow said.

"We really didn't have it all together against NAU," she said. "And we were still really disappointed because we played such a close game."

As for the rest of the tournament the Wildcats cruised, sweeping all of their matches. Arizona faced Colorado State and Colorado and defeated them 10-2 and 11-5, respectively. Counting the four wins the Wildcats had at the first half of nationals two weeks ago, they had a 6-0 record and a No. 1 seed Sunday.

"Everyone knew that if they wanted to go to nationals they had to beat us," Strelow said. "Teams like Texas were really motivated against us."

Arizona faced Texas in the semifinals and defeated the Longhorns 8-3, which set up the game against NAU.

Strelow and fellow two-meter offense players Jen Hubbuch and Alexis Shubin led all scorers with 8 goals apiece. Goalie Sarah Dismukes also helped lead the team with 24 blocked shots over the course of the tournament.

The Wildcats will find out later this week if they are invited to nationals in May.

Joshua McClain can be reached at Joshua.McClain@wildcat.arizona.edu.