Hollowell records two shutouts and three wins during tough road trip

Age is nothing but a number, or so freshman pitcher Alicia Hollowell told two of the top teams in the nation this weekend.

Hollowell (24-2) showed a few signs of fatigue but pitched in the 5-1 victory over No. 1 UCLA, serving up the Bruins on their home field for the second time in one weekend.

"Hollowell competed tremendously and found a way to win," UA head coach Mike Candrea said. "She threw a good ball game, but wasn't as sharp as she was (Saturday), but that's to be expected. She took what she had and competed and was successful. That's a trait for a good pitcher." [Read article]

New defensive formation makes debut Saturday at football's first scrimmage

The Wildcat football team held its first scrimmage of the spring on Saturday morning, in front of a small crowd at Arizona Stadium.

This was UA's sixth practice session in a series of 15 during the spring football campaign.

"The enthusiasm and excitement was good," said head coach John Mackovic. "I told (the players) ÎYou have to take this as a game day.' I think they did a good job with that." [Read article]

Even though the Wildcats got a break from conference play this weekend, they didn't get a rest from bullpen meltdowns.

Junior Sean Rierson gave up one run and scattered 10 hits over eight innings in his return to the rotation, as No. 21 Arizona (24-11, 3-3) escaped with a 9-4 series-clinching victory over Miami (Ohio) yesterday.

"It was great to see Sean pitch well," head coach Andy Lopez said. "Pitching will always dictate most of the games we play, and it did today." [Read article]

The monkey is off Roger Matalonga's back.

Last Saturday, with his Wildcats deadlocked at three sets apiece versus No. 28 Southern California, the freshman from Terrassa, Spain failed to put away Trojan Ruben Torres, sending Arizona to its seventh consecutive loss.

Fast-forward one week to Saturday and the Wildcats find themselves in a similar situation, this time against the 11th-ranked Washington Huskies. Desperately needing a win to secure a wide berth for the Pacific-10 Championship, the No. 52 Wildcats got behind early, dropping all three doubles matches to go down 0-1. [Read article]

UA track and field traveled to southern California this weekend to compete in the Rafer Johnson/ Jackie Joyner Kersee Invitational.

The meet, on the campus of UCLA, saw several Wildcats earn post-season qualifying marks against elite squads from Arkansas, UCLA, Georgia, Hawaii and Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.

"We did exactly what we wanted to do," said head coach Fred Harvey. "We're trying to start building on our performances." [Read article]

The UA women's tennis team earned a split in Washington this weekend, taking home the Wildcats' first Pac-10 win of the season in the process.

The win on Friday came against No. 42 Washington State in a convincing fashion. Led by graduate student Emilie Scribot, the Wildcats defeated the Cougars handily, 6-1. On Saturday, the Wildcats did not fare as well, falling to ninth-ranked Washington, 2-5. [Read article]

Golf grabs fifth place at PING/ASU tourney

The Arizona women's golf team earned its seventh top-five finish in eight events this season Sunday as the team took fifth place at the PING/ASU Invitational. The Wildcats carded a final round 292 to close the 54-hole tournament at 22-over-par 886, 10 strokes behind tournament champion California.

For the second time in the three-round tournament, Arizona posted its best team score of the spring season. Sunday's 4-over-par performance is the squad's best mark since Oct. 20 when it shot 292 in the final round of the Stanford-Pepsi Intercollegiate. The team's three-round score of 886 (+22) is its second-best tournament score of the season, eclipsed only by an 18-over-par showing at the Auburn Tiger-Derby Invitational in November. [Read article]