After being swept by Oregon schools, Arizona attempts to get back on track

After raising expectations by starting the Pacific 10 Conference season with a road sweep of the Washington schools, the Wildcats must look to rebound after a devastating sweep in Oregon.

Head coach Lute Olson said the Arizona men's basketball team was playing like a "mediocre ball club" after losses at the hands of Oregon and Oregon State. The Wildcats have dropped three of four and have gotten off to their worst start since the 1986-87 season at 10-6, as well as their worst conference start since 1984-85 at 3-3. In the ESPN/USA Today poll, unranked Arizona garnered a whopping total of one vote. [Read article]

Because of the lack of student attendance to fill out the new student section, Arizona Athletics and the Associated Students of the University of Arizona have decided to change the section to allow more students to attend the games.

ASUA spirit director Amber Harryman said any unclaimed seat will be sold to students lined up 10 minutes before the men's basketball game starts beginning with Thursday's 8:30 p.m. game against Stanford. [Read article]

Walking into Arizona women's basketball head coach Joan Bonvicini's office at any point last week, some might see a woman defeated. Bonvicini said her team, which lost nine of its past 10 games, was one in search of confidence.

The team took another hit over the break when starting forward Linda Pace sustained a season-ending knee injury.

Look closer, however, and you'll see Bonvicini for what she really is: a woman of perseverance. [Read article]

There was something in McKale Center Saturday afternoon that hadn't been seen following an Arizona women's basketball game in quite some time: smiles.

"It feels like we just won the Pac-10 Championship," said senior guard Natalie Jones. "For us to be working so hard, giving all of our effort and having those downfalls and actually come out and just win this, it gives us so much confidence." [Read article]

Club hockey snaps slump with 17 goals over two games

The Arizona club hockey team swept St. Louis this weekend at the Tucson Convention Center, 11-3 and 6-0, ending a five-game winless streak over the hapless Billikens.

The Icecats (12-8) broke out of their goal-scoring slump against the Billikens in a big way during Friday's win, and the momentum continued into Saturday.

"This whole game was surreal," Icecats head coach Leo Golembiewski said after Saturday's game. "It didn't feel like a game. It almost felt like the 'Twilight Zone.'" [Read article]

Matalonga, Alcala eliminated early in California

The competition at the National Collegiate Tennis Classic in Palm Springs, Calif., over the weekend proved to be too tough for the Wildcats.

Senior Roger Matalonga, who competed last year in the same tournament, was eliminated in the second round. UCLA freshman Michael Look proved to be too much, winning by a score of 6-3, 6-3.

No. 18 Matalonga defeated Virginia sophomore Andrew Downing in his first match with a dominating score of 6-1, 6-0. [Read article]

Coming off a year in which she finished with the second-highest batting average in Arizona softball history, Caitlin Lowe has one big goal for the 2006 season: to improve her offense.

"Right now, I want to develop my hitting game, so I'm not just 90 percent slapping the ball and 10 percent hitting," said Lowe, a junior centerfielder. "I want to make sure it evens out a little bit so I can become a little more unpredictable." [Read article]

Winning and losing in gymnastics is not very important; scoring is what matters.

After losing to both No. 1 Alabama (196.150) and No. 10 Penn State (194.875) in their tri-meet, the Arizona Gymcats still moved up two places in the rankings to No. 11 in the country after scoring 194.350 Saturday.

"We definitely improved," said Arizona gymnastics head coach Bill Ryden. "So far we haven't competed against anybody that is out of the top 20." [Read article]

'Superathletic' forward compared to Jefferson

Lute Olson has done it again in the recruiting business, nabbing yet another five-star recruit last night when 6-foot-7, 205-pound small forward Jamelle Horne committed to the Arizona basketball team.

Horne, a class of 2007 recruit from San Diego Senior High School in San Diego is ranked No. 22 by high school recruiting service www.rivals.com and joins 7-foot center Alex Jacobson and 6-foot-3 guard Jerryd Bayless in the 2007 class. [Read article]