UA women blow past Washington State

Robert Henry Becker Arizona Daily Wildcat Sophomore Karen Goldstein (37) returns a volley from a Washington State player yesterday at the Robson Tennis Center.

"The conditions were very tough today," said UA head coach Becky Bell about the debris-carrying gusts. "We haven't really played in this kind of wind in a while. I thought we did a good job of staying focused."

The Wildcats (11-5 overall, 2-4 in the Pacific 10 Conference Southern Division) were forced time and time again to accommodate due to the conditions.

During singles play, many of the player's matches were interrupted after the weather shields came loose from the strong gusts. One doubles match had to move to another court after the wind separated the bottom portion of a shield from the fencing around the court.

"It was terrible," said Karen Goldstein, who played doubles on court two. "It's annoying because all the balls just die everywhere and you can't serve well."

Although the wind was a nuisance, the Wildcats adjusted quickly to the conditions, allowing the unranked Cougars (4-11, 0-2) just one set all afternoon.

Goldstein cruised to a 6-1 first-set victory over Brandi Thomas, but the storm got the best of her in the second set, which she dropped, 6-0.

"I just kind of went crazy," Goldstein said, referring to her play in the second set. "She just got a couple of balls in and I just kept getting more and more impatient and the wind kept getting stronger."

Goldstein took the third set, 6-1 for the win.

"It kind of went back and forth, but I just got more balls in and she kind of lost it," Goldstein said.

Junior Vicky Maes has played every match at No. 1, but that is the only position that has seen one player. All the other positions have fluctuated between players.

"No big deal - we just switched it around a little bit," Bell said.

The Sunday before break, Arizona defeated No. 41 Miami, but Bell said the players were allowed to go home and relax over the week.

In the 7-2 victory over the Hurricanes, Maes and Allegre dropped their singles sets, meaning that the match would be decided in doubles.

"I felt we really could have won the match in singles, but we came out with a lot of fire in the doubles," Bell said. "We killed them in doubles, which is what we should have done."