UA Sports Roundup

A wash and a win extend men's tennis streak

Raindrops and dark skies canceled Friday's hard court dance with Marquette, but nothing could dampen the UA's men's tennis team Saturday.

No. 61 Arizona (3-2) thrilled the home fans with a 4-3 win over San Diego.

The Wildcats and the Toreros stampeded to a 3-3 photo finish after singles play. Doubles partners Pascal Salasca and Jean-Noel Lacoste then bulled over the Toreros' Mattias Tangefjord and Sean Cooper 8-6 in the last match of the day, which secured UA's victory.

"They told me it was 1-1 in the doubles, but I wasn't that nervous. We (Pascal and I) told each other not to think about the importance of the match, but there was definitely pressure to win," Lacoste said.

The Wildcats received stellar net play throughout their lineup to compile a third-straight win.

"It's important that different people can step up and win matches on different days because it is important for the team to believe in everyone," said senior Michael MacKay.

Senior Jerome Oliveri, team captain, and Michel Stopa gave J.P. La Barrie and Ross Bourne a chalkboard lesson by sketching out an 8-5 triumph.

A severe lower back disk problem has forced Oliveri to volley with pain throughout his two-year-old UA tennis career.

"Yesterday was one of the best matches I've played since coming to this school," Oliveri said.

UA's match against Marquette will not be rescheduled.

The Wildcats host the Sun Devils this Friday as they return to Pacific 10 Conference play.

-Michael Isaac Jacobs

Men's golf battles hard, falls short

The Arizona men's golf team finished in second place behind UNLV for the second consecutive time this season at the John Burns Intercollegiate golf tournament held in Kaneohe, Hawaii.

The Wildcats jumped from ninth to fourth place after day two before finishing strong with an 18-under par 270 to move from fourth to second place on Friday. Tournament champion UNLV finished at 35-under par 829, nine strokes better than the Wildcats.

In the individual competition, the medalist was Doug La Belle of New Mexico. La Belle finished at 14-under par 202, three spots ahead of Arizona senior Rory Sabbatini, who finished fourth at 11-under par 205.

Arizona junior Andy Barnes finished in a tie for 11th place at seven-under par 209 while sophomore Derek Gillespie jumped 22 spots to finish in 20th place at three-under par 213.

- Mike Jenkins

Laxcats earn tough weekend split

The Laxcats' weekend in Los Angeles had the potential to be a major letdown but the "Sweet Sixteen" played well enough to earn a split .

The Laxcats (3-2) got seven goals from freshman attackman Dave Cross on Saturday against UCLA (0-1) and beat them 16-12.

"We shot out of the gate like bats out of hell and coasted from there," senior defensive captain Dave Ames said.

The Laxcats also faced off against Whittier College (4-0), a team that has been dubbed the best in the west for many years, and lost 12-4 yesterday.

"The significance about Sunday's game against Whittier was the aura of playing them," Laxcat head coach Mickey-Miles Felton said. "When we play them in two weeks in Tucson in a game that counts, we will be ready because we know they are human."

-Dan Rosen

Women's lacrosse wins shootout

The Arizona women's lacrosse club team was down 4-1 in the first half of its game against Cal-Santa Barbara yesterday when something happened.

The Wildcats woke up with sophomore attacker Erin Bradbury's three consecutive goals. Arizona (2-0) then kept scoring en route to an 11-9 win.

"I just didn't want us to get too far behind," Bradbury said. "If we got any further down I knew we'd be too far down mentally to come back."

The Wildcats came out in the second half and extended their lead to 7-4. The Gauchos got two goals to pull to 7-6.

After UA's Beth Duschatko added a goal, senior defender Molly Farmer took control.

"Everyone just cleared out," Farmer said. "Our offense just spread out and let me take it in."

Farmer scored back-to-back goals to open up the game, but she credits UA junior goalie Margaret Fifer for getting the Wildcats the win.

"Margaret saved our ass again," Farmer said.

-Chris Jackson