By Craig Sanders
Arizona Daily Wildcat
The fifth-ranked Arizona women's tennis team will leave the cozy confines of the Robson Tennis Center for the first time in over a month as they take on a pair of Pacific 10 Conference South juggernauts this weekend.
The Wildcats will travel to the Bay Area to play 10th-ranked Cal (10-4 overall, 2-3 in the Pac-10 South) today and No. 7 Stanford tomorrow. This is the second meeting between the teams and the UA this season. Arizona defeated the Golden Bears 5-4 in a close match Feb. 18, a day after its worst defeat of the season, a 7-2 loss to Stanford.
"Playing up there will be very tough," Wildcats head coach Becky Bell said. "I think we've improved since that first meeting. We are a really strong road team, and I think we know what to expect."
Arizona has won six straight matches since a 5-1 home loss to No. 4 UCLA Mar. 10. The loss was the only one of the seven-match home stand that included wins over No. 2 Texas, No. 8 Arizona State and No. 25 Southern Cal.
The Wildcats will face Cal at 1:30 p.m. today. The Golden Bears have won five matches in a row, including a weekend sweep of USC and UCLA.
Cal is led by No. 10 Jennifer Poulos, a senior who has a singles record of 13-7. The Bears also have the nation's No. 6 doubles team of Pam Nelson and Keirsten Alley, which owns a 20-8 record.
Arizona will face off against Stanford (16-2, 5-0) at noon tomorrow. The Cardinal are the only undefeated team in the conference. Katie Schlukebir leads the Stanford attack and is currently ranked 12th in the nation.
The Wildcats' Melody Falco has won 11 straight matches and has not lost since Feb. 17 against Stanford's Julie Scott. Eva Maria Schurhoff has won six in a row, including a win Saturday against the 27th-ranked player in the nation, Farley Taylor of Texas.