Men's volleyball suffers rare loss

After not losing at all last year, the men's volleyball team finished third in its Desert Thunder tournament after losing their third match of the season.

The No. 1 Wildcats (9-3) will likely lose their top ranking after going 8-1 in the tournament. Arizona's lone loss came at the hands of Los Angeles' Pierce College, which finished second to No. 3 Utah.

"It has come as quite a shock to us, we've been depleted by injuries," said senior setter Jeff Grobe. "We all didn't play as well as we should."

The Wildcats also fell to Indiana 2-1 in an exhibition match on Friday.

UA had been ranked No. 1 in the National Intramural Recreation and Sports Association for the last five seasons and has won three of the last four national championships.

Grobe felt the middle blockers, graduate student Scott Olgivie and junior Ty Hayes, played well, though.

"When we played bad, we all played bad and when we played well, we all did," said Grobe, who was the MVP at the 2002 National Championships. "Our middle played well though."

Grobe said the highlights of the tournament were beating Pierce on Saturday 2-0 and beat highly ranked San Diego State in their first match Sunday morning.

"Those were the two biggest wins of the tournament," Grobe said.

Arizona returns to action next weekend when they host the Arizona Classic.

Women's water polo to open 2003 season this weekend in Flagstaff

After finishing fourth last year in their division, following two consecutive championships, the women's water polo team starts their quest to recapture the Southwest Division championship this Saturday.

The Wildcats start the season by traveling to NAU to take on the Lumberjacks, Colorado School of Mines and Colorado State's A and B teams. Arizona first faces Colorado School of Mines on Saturday.

The Wildcats are led by returning drivers junior Edie Gobel, sophomore Kristin Taylor, senior Sarah Rosenbaum and junior Michelle Gollob. The team will also rely on secondary set junior Ashley O'Hagin, freshmen drivers Jessica West, Dena Wang and Sarah Harting and two meter set Jenny Lawrence.

"I think we're going to do well," said senior two meter set Rochelle Perper, who is also a captain.

While she said she felt that all of the Wildcats' competitions are important, Perper was looking forward to the trip to Utah, who wrestled the division away from Arizona last March in Tucson.

Women's rugby drops Claremont college before falling to UCSD

This weekend the women's rugby team fell to national power UCSD after topping Claremont College on Saturday.

Arizona (3-2) opened the weekend on Saturday with a 7-0 win over Claremont but then lost on Sunday to UC San Diego, 22-7.

UC San Diego is a women's rugby power and Claremont, though not as highly regarded as UCSD, is also a strong team.

"UCSD is one of the top teams in the nation," said junior eight meter Amanda Davis. "They're a really good team with lots of veterans."

Against Claremont, junior hooker Jessica McInturs scored the try, while senior wing Katie McNerny had the try against UC San Diego.

"Kanisha Saunder had a really good weekend overall and we had a good defensive weekend," Davis said. "On offense we need more solid passing."

Arizona plays again at UCSD on Saturday. Davis was not sure when the next home game was, since they are rescheduling one.

Icers close season with Las Vegas tournament win

The Women's ice hockey team won all its games this weekend en route to the championship in the Las Vegas Women's Hockey Classic, its first tournament win this year.

The Icers went 3-0 and then won the championship over the Houston Heartbreakers women's team, 3-1. Senior forward/center Carri Glover scored one goal and Megan Dunn scored two in the championship.

Icer senior goalie Arienne Seymor also, thanks to two shutouts, won all-tournament honors.

"The high points were beating ASU, seeing some of the freshmen score and of course winning the championship," Glover said.

In addition to beating the Heartbreakers in the championship, the Icers also beat Houston 3-2, the Oakland Seals, another women's team, 4-3 and ASU 1-0.

The Icers also brought their B team to the Las Vegas tournament, which went 1-2.

The Icers wrap up their season in the Annual Players and Coaches game, on February 28.