Men's golf slips to 13th on final day

A sluggish performance on the final day of the The Preview by Ping and Golfweek cost UA men's golf seven positions in the 36-hole Virginia tournament, earning the Wildcats a 13th-place finish.

Arizona failed to register any golfers under par, finishing the tourney a 35-over 595. The Wildcats held a sixth-place standing ÷ six strokes off the lead ÷ before rain washed away the second round of the tournament on Sunday.

UCLA won the shortened tournament, edging out Georgia Tech by one stroke.

Despite finishing ahead of just two of 15 teams, the Wildcats remain ranked among the top 20 programs in the nation. The Wildcats rank No. 14 with 323 points in the second edition of the Precept/CGAA Division I coaches poll.

The Pac-10 is well represented in the recent poll, landing six teams in the top 25.

Women crack preseason rankings

Shawntinice Polk and her Arizona women's basketball squad will begin the upcoming season ranked No. 23 in the nation, according to opening polls.

The Athlon Sports College Basketball preseason magazine ranked the Wildcat's in the top 25 after finishing the 2002-03 season with a 22-9 mark ÷ the squad's best finish in three years.

The young Wildcat team will be led by Shawntinice Polk. The redshirt sophomore was named to Athlon's preseason All-America second team.

Accompanying Polk as the only other Pac-10 player on Athlon's list is Stanford's Nicole Powell. Powell and the Cardinal enter the 2003 season ranked No. 4 in the nation, behind two-time defending champs and top-ranked Connecticut.

Water polo to tackle nation's best

With the nation's top honors in sight, UA men's water polo travels east this weekend to compete against the top club teams in the country.

The No. 2 Wildcats head to Miami, Ohio, for Saturday and Sunday matchups against formidable opponents No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Washington and No. 8 Indiana. The Wildcats open the weekend stint versus the No. 11 Spartans of Michigan State. The invitation-only tournament is considered the biggest club tourney in the nation.

"It's an honor to be invited," UA senior Sean Devlin said.

The Wildcats are coming off an impressive weekend sweep of division rivals, including a victory over varsity squad Air Force. After dropping a scrimmage game to the Eagles earlier in the weekend in three sudden-death overtimes, the Wildcats rebounded strong, using a tight defense to defeat Air Force 5-2.

Arizona's Eric Teacher earned team MVP honors and the Southwest Conference Player-of-the-Week nod. The senior tallied only one goal over the course of the weekend's four games, but played a vital role in shutting down the Air Force offense.

Arizona will need Teacher's defense this weekend in Ohio. Former head coach Devlin believes the new-look Wildcats will be up to the task.

"Last week, our defense sparkled," he said.

The senior believes the key to shutting down the nation's elite squads will be to limit counter-attacks.

"We think we can come home with the title and a first-place ranking," Devlin said.