The Arizona men's and women's swimming and diving teams look to shake off last weekend's losses and go out strong against Texas in their last home meet of the season.
The action starts at 2 p.m. today and continues tomorrow morning at 11 at Hillenbrand Aquatic Center.
Both the Arizona teams enter the meet ranked No. 5, while the Texas men hold the No. 6 ranking and the women No. 10.
The Texas men seem to be used to playing second fiddle to the Arizona men's teams this season; the Wildcats took first in the Texas Invitational earlier in the year and Texas men took second. The Arizona women's team also took first place at the Invitational.
"I think the team will do fine," senior swimmer Jenna Gresdal said. "Last week was a great opportunity to get up and race. The goal is to do the same."
- Allison Hamila
No. 14 Gymcats to compete vs. Cal in first home meet
McKale Center: Roll out the welcome mat in the form of the floor exercise mat because the No. 14 Arizona gymnastics team opens up its home schedule against California at 7:30 tonight.
Coming off a close loss at ASU, the Gymcats hope to pick up their first victory of the year in front of their hometown fans.
"Just to have a win under our belts will give us a lot of motivation," junior Aubrey Taylor said.
Taylor is coming off her best meet of the season, in which she established a new career high on the uneven bars with a 9.900 score. She is currently ranked No. 11 in the country with a 9.858 average.
Cal, coming off a 193.950-190.750 loss to Oregon State last weekend, looks to jump into the national rankings and spoil the Gymcats' home opener.
Arizona has won three of the last four dual meets against Cal, including a 194.900-189.850 victory at Haas Pavilion last season.
- Dmitry Rashnitsov
Nerves aside, men's tennis swinging for victories
Getting first match nerves out will be the first thing on the list for the No. 55 Arizona men's tennis team this weekend. The Wildcats open their 2006 season by hosting No. 69 Montana State today at 2 p.m. and No. 64 New Mexico tomorrow at noon at the Tucson Racquet Club.
"With the first two matches there's always nerves and butterflies," Arizona assistant coach Cory Hubbard said.
However, the nerves that everyone is feeling will be good nerves, senior captain Roger Matalonga said.
"Warm-up will help get us ready and release some of the nerves," Matalonga said.
"We're more than 100 percent ready," he added. "We've been waiting a long time to play."
This will be the first year that the Wildcats will play the Bobcats, but Arizona has a 31-7 advantage all-time over the Lobos of New Mexico.
- Katie Miller
Women's tennis excited for first home match
After sweeping NAU last weekend, the No. 59 Arizona women's tennis team looks for its first home win when it plays No. 63 Pacific at 11:30 this morning at the Robson Tennis Center.
Although they were favored, the girls fought hard to beat NAU, said junior captain Kasia Jakowlew.
"The girls were able to get their nerves out and responded well," said Arizona head coach Vicky Maes.
The team looks to repeat the style of play it had against the Lumberjacks this weekend.
"We're well-prepared and have been practicing hard," junior Jessie Rochefort said.
Since the Wildcats are the favorites for both matches this weekend, the biggest challenge will be the girls maintaining their focus, Maes said.
"We are mentally there," Rochefort said. "There will always be nerves, but we are ready to go."
The Wildcats continue play later this weekend, as they host University of California-Davis tomorrow with the match scheduled to start at 2 p.m.
- Katie Miller
Track and Field team to split meets
The Arizona men's and women's indoor track and field teams will come out running when they split between the University of Washington Indoor Invitational in Seattle and the Arizona/California Invitational in Flagstaff today.
The Arizona/California Invitational features men's and women's sprinting and field event athletes, said head track and field coach Fred Harvey.
The meet used to be strictly an Arizona event, but it has changed to include teams from California, Harvey said.
California, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge, ASU and NAU will be competing in the event.
"It's going to be a great meet for our sprinters, jumpers, and throwers because of the style of the meet and the facilities," Harvey said.
Harvey said he believes Cal and ASU will be the toughest competitors.
"Always in my mind any time you compete against ASU in anything it just raised the blood level," Harvey said.
- Cassie Blombaum
Ruggers hope victory, San Diego sun cure ills
One week after finishing ninth in the inaugural Pac-10 Conference tournament with an exhibition record of 1-3-1, the No. 18 Arizona club rugby team heads back to Southern California, this time to San Diego, where it will play its SoCal Conference opener.
The Ruggers (3-1, 0-0 Pacific 10 Conference) come off a rough weekend in Los Angeles, but thanks to an agreement between all the Pac-10 schools, the conference matches were only exhibition games.
Arizona opens its 2006 conference schedule in a doubleheader at the University of California-San Diego (0-1, 0-1) on Sunday with high hopes for the remainder of the season.
"We learned a lot at the Pac-10 tournament," Arizona head coach Dave Sitton said. "If we implement the changes we introduced at practice this week, particularly on defense, we should be in pretty good shape."
Arizona has opened conference play against UCSD each of the last five years, and has won all five games, including a 44-20 victory last season at Estevan Park in Tucson. The Wildcats own an all-time record of 13-2 against UCSD.
- Mike Ritter