Rainy weather seems to follow UA, ASU women

The teams were rained out twice earlier this season and finally met 10 days ago. With a chance of rain and thunderstorms in Tempe today, the teams are hoping the skies clear up before their 1 p.m. start tomorrow at Whiteman Tennis Center.

"This is unbelievable," UA head coach Becky Bell said. "It kind of makes you start thinking that there is an extra force at work here."

It will be the final regular season match for both teams prior to the Pacific 10 Conference Championships on April 24-27.

When nature allowed the April 8th match, the Sun Devils defeated Arizona, 6-3.

The in-state rivals are anticipating a tough test again tomorrow afternoon.

"We're expecting a real tough match," ASU head coach Sheila McInerney said. "There's no secrets. You just have to go out there and compete and try to play as well as you can."

The match was tied at three points each before the seventh-ranked Sun Devils (14-5 overall, 5-4 in the Pac-10 Southern Division) dominated doubles play.

"They hit the ball very hard, so I think it's going to be a matter of trying to neutralize their power and not give them balls where they can just tee off on them," Bell said.

The Wildcats (13-8, 2-7) are coming off a winless trip to Northern California last weekend, including a 9-0 loss to second-ranked Stanford. The Cardinal win marked the first time No. 10 Arizona was shutout in a match in over two years.

"We're not dwelling on (the losses). All we're thinking is that we really want to beat ASU," UA sophomore Karen Goldstein said. "It's our last match so we're pretty excited to play. Plus, they beat us here so we want to extend the same courtesy in Tempe."