The Washington State women's tennis team is preparing for a pivotal week in the program's history as it tries to improve on its No. 40 national ranking and establish itself as a serious contender for a berth in the NCAA tournament.
The week begins with No. 45 Arizona in town to battle the Cougars Thursday at 1:30 p.m.
If weather cooperates, the match should be played on campus at the Stadium Way Tennis Courts. The team's first scheduled home match of the season was moved indoors at Lewiston several weeks ago.
"We plan to play here and plan to play if it's (warmer than) 50 degrees," WSU coach Cari Groce said. "We want to give people of Pullman a chance to see us playing at a high level."
Groce said the Cougars are playing at the highest level in school history.
"We could jump to the high 20s or low 30s after this week, but this is the highest we have been ranked by far," Groce said.
Not only is the team in the top 40, but so is No. 1 singles player Erica Perkins, ranked 38th.
The week continues with home matches against Boise State scheduled for Saturday and No. 15 Arizona State scheduled for Sunday.
Groce believes victories over Arizona and Boise are necessary to keep the Cougars in contention for the NCAA tournament. She said an upset over ASU is not unlikely if the Cougars can split the six singles matches.
* Baseball
WSU at Stanford -- The Washington State baseball team's scheduled matchup with Gonzaga Tuesday was postponed due to snow and has yet to be rescheduled.
The Cougars travel to Stanford for a three-game series starting Thursday. While snow may be out of the question, rain is in the forecast and WSU coach Steve Farrington joked that -- like facing the Atlanta Braves' pitching duo of Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain -- the Cougars' best hope against the No. 3 Cardinal may be to pray for rain. "They pitch very well so we've got to match their pitching," Farrington said. "If we pitch well we've got a chance. Their front-line pitchers are three righties which helps us because our better hitters are left handed."
The Cougars lost their No. 29 ranking after going 1-4 last week. The team fell to 16-9 on the season and 1-2 in the Pac-10. Stanford is 20-8 overall and is 6-0 in the Pac-10.
While the early weather has been a disappointment for the Cougars, Farrington was pleased with the support the Cougars received the opening weekend against USC.
"The fans were outstanding," Farrington said. "Who would sit out in that cold unless they were interested? I thought that was tremendous support. I wish it was 65 degrees so we could pack the place."
The Cougars return home for an exhibition game Monday against Team Alberta.
* Golf
Two finish in top 20 -- Washington State men's golfers Jeremy Champoux and Jeff Gustafson both finished in the top 20 at the Spalding/Anteater Invitational at the Coto de Caza Golf Club.
Champoux earned his fourth top 15 finish of the spring season by shooting a 54-hole total of 226, finishing in a four-way tie for 14th in the two-day tournament that wrapped up Tuesday.
Gustafson, a junior transfer, earned his first WSU career top-25 finish as he ended in a seven-way tie for 18th place, shooting a total of 227.
As a team, the Cougars finished tied for 14th.
Next on the schedule for WSU is the Diet Pepsi Shocker Classic April 12-13 at Wichita, Kan.
WSU results -- T14. Jeremy Champoux 78-78-70 -- 226; T18. Jeff Gustafson 76-78-73 -- 227; T54. Brian Flugstad 77-77-80 -- 234; T82. Eric Toomey 78-79-83 -- 240; T98. Matt Hartley 83-83-83 -- 249.
UI's Cerjan 30th -- Taylor Cerjan shot a three-round total of 229 to tie for 30th place and lead the Idaho men's golf team at the Spalding/Anteater Invitational. As a team, the Vandals shot a combined 932 to finish tied for 17th with Sacramento State in the 19-team field.
Stanford took the team title with a total of 883, finishing 19 strokes in front of second-place Long Beach State.
Tied for 47th, Ryan Benzel was the Vandals' next highest finisher in the two-day tournament that ended Tuesday.
Idaho results -- T30. Taylor Cerjan 76-78-75 -- 229; T47. Ryan Benzel 75-76-81 -- 232; T62. Brian King 78-84-73 -- 235; T82. Neil Schnider 81-84-75 -- 240; T95. Doug McClure 80-81-85 -- 246.
