Men's tennis upsets Cal, women drop 2

Dan Hoffman Arizona Daily Wildcat Arizona freshman Vanessa Abel hits a return against California player Claire Curran (not pictured) Friday afternoon at the Robson Tennis Center. Abel lost the match in straight sets, but went on to defeat Curran's team in doubles play.

"We're going for sets against Stanford and matches against California," UA head coach Bill Wright said.

Now, 14 matches, two plane trips and 72 hours later, Wright's team has fulfilled one of the two aforementioned goals.

The California Golden Bears found out Friday that No. 54 Arizona is more competitive than its ranking might suggest as UA defeated them, 4-3.

"I don't think an Arizona team has ever won a Pacific 10 Conference game in California," Wright said. "But, when we went out there I had a good feeling about the day, and I felt that we should have won in singles."

All three UA seniors - captain Jerome Oliveri, playing at No. 1 for the first time this year, Roland Kupka No. 2 and Mike MacKay at No. 4 - painted singles victories with what Wright described as "aggressive play."

Those three wins moved the Wildcats into an early morning tie with Cal before the doubles matches.

Kupka and freshman Adnan Novo lost 8-4 to begin the best of two-out-of-three doubles segment, but MacKay and junior partner Pascal Salasca cultivated an 8-4 victory, which left the day in the hands of Oliveri and sophomore Michel Stopa.

The Wildcat duo pounded out an 8-5 victory over Cal's Eric Dmytruk and Minh Lee, giving Arizona a much-needed win.

"After the doubles win, I think that we will most likely jump up in the rankings and the win should put us into the regionals," Wright said.

On Saturday, Stanford, who is 21-0 and 9-0 in the Pac-10, refused to give up a single set to the Wildcats.

"We just joined the lambs that were led to the slaughterhouse," Wright said. "They have won 124 out of 125 of their matches this year."

Arizona has now amassed a 6-10 record, which includes three Pac-10 wins.

On the flip side of the tennis coin, UA's women's team played No. 10 California and No. 1 Stanford at the Robson Tennis Center.

Four three-set singles matches proved to be golden for the Bears as the Wildcats could only manage two doubles victories in a 7-2 loss on Friday.

"Those matches could have gone either way, but the other teams just played better during the last couple of points," UA freshman Joanna Buczkowska said.

Freshmen Michelle Gough and Vanessa Abel pulled out an 8-6 doubles victory against Cal.

"We played the best we have played in a while, and felt confident out there," Abel said. "We were down 4-0, but then had enough confidence to come back and win."

The defending national champion Stanford Cardinal produced an identical 7-2 margin on Saturday, winning four of six singles matches.

Betsy Miringoff, a UA senior playing at No. 2, and Monique Allegre, a UA junior playing at No. 3, both enjoyed success in singles against the Cardinal.

After being victimized in two home games against top 10 opponents over the weekend, the Wildcats are eager to show the "pounce-back" quality that has paved a 10-8 season.

"We're definitely going to be pumped up and ready to put the matches behind us," Buczkowska said.