Expanded ASU squad looks for top 10 spot
The ASU water polo team's quest for a top-10 finish begins this weekend at the UC San Diego Triton Invitational in La Jolla, Calif.
The No. 16 Sun Devils will play four games in the tournament, opening against No. 10 UC Santa Barbara. ASU posted a 2-2 mark in the invitational last season finishing 10th out of 12 teams.
"Coming into this year, we should be at least in the top 10," utility sophomore Katie Hedley said. "And we just need to continue to progress every game."
ASU is grouped in this year's invitational with No. 5 Long Beach State and Cal Baptist. The Sun Devils dropped two matches against the 49ers last season. ASU rebounded to defeat Cal Baptist 11-10.
Gymnastics
The No. 23 ASU gymnastics team is in desperate need of a win after falling to three straight Pac-10 opponents and will again be shorthanded when they take to the road against Oregon State.
Both teams share the same record (3-3) and losing streak, and both posted the same losing score against top-ranked UCLA in consecutive weeks.
ASU narrowly claims the higher ranking.
Junior Lauren Powell is out two weeks after twisting her ankle in last week's loss to UCLA.
Freshmen Karissa Vossler (knee) and beam specialist Josie Hancock (medical purposes) also will not be competing, leaving ASU without its full roster and putting additional pressure on the gymnasts to stick their beam routine and stay on their feet on the vault, two disciplines where they have struggled this year.
Tennis
The ASU men's and women's tennis teams are active this week.
After being rained out last week, the women's squad will have its first true test of the year on the road against No. 9 Texas. Texas will give ASU (1-0) a clear picture of their progression since qualifying for the NCAA Sweet 16 last season, despite an 8-15 record.
The men's tennis team will open their 2005 dual season hosting New Mexico State (0-2) Saturday and UC Santa Barbara (2-1) Sunday at the Whiteman Tennis Center.
Wrestling
The roller-coaster season for the ASU wrestling team continues Saturday in Northern California.
The No. 20 ASU squad will meet Stanford at noon and UC Davis at 7 p.m. in the team's final road duals of the season.
ASU (7-6-1, 4-0 Pac-10) is coming off a sweep of the Oregon schools that erased the memories of a disappointing National Duals showing the weekend before.
The key match-up in the Stanford bout comes in the 157-pound group. Second-ranked ASU junior Brian Stith -- who went 8-2 in January -- looks to upset undefeated and top-ranked senior Matt Gentry. Gentry took the first two matches this season against Stith, including a 2-1 tiebreaker at the Reno Tournament in December.
Track and field
For the second time this season, the ASU track and field teams will travel to Flagstaff in search of titles and provisional qualifiers for the NCAA indoor tournament.
NAU hosts the Mountain T Invitational, which starts Saturday. Nine schools are scheduled to compete in the event including Pac-10 schools UA and Oregon.
ASU had a great start to the indoor season two weeks ago in Flagstaff, sweeping NAU and UA at the Double Duals, which was highlighted by senior sprinter Porchea Carroll's three individual victories.
Reach the staff at state.press@asu.edu.
