Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 23

WomenSports C8 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2001 The Arizona Republic woopes Ewts Eonee, miss tHie season Cats next for reeling Sun Devils Voak must face UA power hitters Jeff DavidsThe Arizona Republic Sophomore Adria Engel was Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year at Wake Forest before transferring to ASU. Engel serves up Associated Press HOUSTON Sheryl Swoopes sat out most of her rookie year in the WNBA to have a baby. She'll miss this season because of a damaged knee. Swoopes, the league's MVP and leading scorer last year, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee during a workout Monday night. A teammate said Swoopes was driving to the basket when she collapsed, screaming in pain.

Swoopes will require reconstructive surgery that will sideline her for the season, which begins May 28. The Comets, who have won all four WNBA titles, earlier lost former MVP Cynthia Cooper, who retired to coach the Phoenix Mercury. "There is no magic dust," team physician Dr. Walter Lowe said, affirming Swoopes would be out eight to nine months following surgery. "There is no question it will take longer than this season, but we expect her to be back next season." Coach Van Chancellor was choked with emotion when describing his feelings.

"I know how much I felt for her as a person and what she's going through as a player," Chancellor said, brushing back tears. "We kind of tricked her into weightlifting and for the first time ever. "It's devastating." Swoopes' loss will be felt lea-guewide. "It's extremely unfortunate and a big loss," WNBA president Val Ackerman said. "Sheryl is irreplaceable but this will create an opportunity for other players to step up and show what they can do." Swoopes led the WNBA with an average of 20.7 points last season.

She also led the league with 2.81 steals per game and added 3.8 assists, 1.06 blocks and a 50.6 percent field-goal percentage. Swoopes, Cooper and teammate Tina Thompson all finished in the top 10 in scoring last season. Swoopes scored her playoff high of 31 points in a 79-73 victory over the New York Liberty that clinched the Comets' fourth title. Swoopes came into the league after leading Texas Tech to a 58-8 record in her ca-reer and the NCAA national championship in 1993. Associated Press Most Valuable Player Sheryl Swoopes (right) will miss the entire WNBA season after suffering a torn knee ligament.

By Jeff Metcalfe The Arizona Republic It's Take 6 for the Arizona State softball team in trying to regain the confidence it had when it won five of its first six Pac-10 games, all on the road. The eighth-ranked Sun Devils (30-14, 5-6 Pac-10) are in a two-week, five-game tailspin that dropped them 3Vi games behind conference-leading Arizona (46-4, 8-2). No. 2 UA, which started ASU's losing streak and has won 40 of the past 41 games in the rivalry, is at Farrington Stadium at 7 tonight for the final meeting of the regular season. There couldn't be a worse matchup for ASU junior righthander Kirsten Voak than the Wildcats, who last week broke their own NCAA single-season record with their 101st home run, one more than in 1995.

UA's Jennie Finch hit a three-run homer in the 1 1th inning off Voak on April 13 to break up a scoreless duel. The next night, Lindsey Collins' two-run homer off Voak erased a 2-0 ASU lead in what ended as a 4-3, nine-inning loss for the Sun Devils. Against No. 4 California on Friday, ASU went into extra innings for a third straight game, with Veronica Nelson's two-run homer off Voak deciding the game in the eighth. In the nightcap of a double-header with No.

3 Stanford on Sunday, Kira Ching (twice), Michelle Thiry and Jessica Al-lister all went deep off Voak in a 7-2 ASU loss. That was two short of their combined home run total (6) before that game. "Now everybody is thinking, ASU you can hit it out of the park and free swinging," ASU coach Linda Wells said. "That perception becomes reality and then the reality becomes reality. It's a snowball, and it's huge now.

"We can't stay in denial and say, 'Oh We've got to move to the next thing, which is what can we do to fix this?" Voak, approaching the school record for victories and strikeouts, has to throw off-speed more and at critical times, and not try to overpower the best hitters in the country while they're sitting on her rise ball. She has allowed 60 career homers in 128 appearances. Voak's homers-per-inning ratio is higher than ever, although that statistic is skewed by her having missed some of the less-punishing non-conference opposition due to injury. "She can do more (off-speed) still this season," Wells said. "It's not easy, but she is capable." UA, which dropped one of two games here last year, comes in on a seven-game win streak after dropping two of its previous three.

Finch (20-0) is arguably the best pitcher in the country, hurling a two-hitter in the 11-inning complete game that she won with a homer. She picked up another win in the second game with two innings of one-hit relief. not pretty. I've seen people get ACLs before and I've torn my own." Knee injuries are becoming more common in the WNBA. New York's Rebecca Lobo missed the past two seasons after suffering consecutive ACL injuries within six months.

"I'm devastated for her," Lobo said. "After experiencing it twice, I wouldn't wish it on anybody. "People don't know why it happens. With most women athletes, there's no contact at all. You're coming down like I was with a rebound or making a jump stop and not ready for something under you to give way.

That's why it's so frightening." Cleveland's leading scorer and rebounder, Eva Nemcova, missed last season with an ACL tear. She underwent another operation this week. Lobo, who played two months in Spain in the off-season, is cleared to play at the start of the season. Her first season in the WNBA was delayed by the birth of her son, Jordan, on June 25, 1997. Swoopes played in only nine games that year with no starts.

She averaged 7.1 game as the Comets won the first WNBA championship. It wasn't until the following season that Swoopes returned in top shape and started to assert herself. Swoopes averaged 15.6 points in 1998. She was third in league scoring in 1999, averaging 18.3. Comets guard Coquese Washington was working out with Swoopes at the team's practice facility when the injury occurred.

"Sheryl got the ball at the top of the key," Washington told Houston television station KRIV. "She started to drive to the basket but she never got in the air. She planted her foot and just fell. "You could tell the way she was screaming that she was in pain and it was serious. It was Buy online.

AutoNatlOn.COm 1 Start here. Special 2000 Reqals wins for By Jeff Metcalfe The Arizona Republic When Allison Bradshaw opted for professional tennis after her sophomore season at Arizona State, the Sun Devils seemed certain to suffer. But that opened up a scholarship during the summer, when ASU coach Sheila Mcl-nerney was in charge of the USA Tennis collegiate team and, coincidentally, Adria Engel was shopping for a new school. Engel was the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year as a freshman at Wake Forest with a single-season school record 45 wins, but she was playing for a coach different from the one who recruited her out of Glen Ellyn, 111. Wake Forest was willing to release her, allowing for immediate eligibility elsewhere, but only to a school not in the ACC or on its 2001 schedule.

"I never brought the subject up because in my role as (national) coach, I couldn't say anything," Mclnerney said. Engel looked elsewhere, including Texas, which did not have aid available. When she asked about a scholarship at ASU and was free to discuss the matter with Mclnerney, the Sun Devils landed a replacement who ultimately could be better than Bradshaw. Only one Pac-10 player, No. 1 Laura Granville of Stanford, is ranked higher nationally than No.

8 Engel going into the conference individual championships, Thursday through Sunday in Ojai, Calif. Bradshaw was ranked No. 10 after reaching the third round of singles at the 2000 NCAA Championships. Engel was ranked No. 5, best in ASU history, last week before slipping back slightly in rankings to be released today.

Eleventh-ranked ASU (17-5) is 14-1 at the Whiteman Tennis Center, where it hopes to host a four-team NCAA regional for a third consecutive year. Home court could help the Sun Devils return to nationals for the 16th time in Mclnerney's 17 seasons and challenge for the Final Four berth that has eluded them. Bradshaw, who became ASU's first Pac-10 singles finalist last year and now is 106th in the world, is four inches taller than the 5-foot-6 Engel, who has a bigger game than her size suggests. "Her (slice) backhand has gotten much better," Mclnerney said. "We're getting her to understand the game better.

She's a conservative kid by nature, but she's becoming a little more aggressive and coming into the net more. "She's a very hard worker. When your best player is your hardest worker, that says it all." Engel was ranked 34th nationally in doubles last week with Karin. Palme, although she has teamed since April 10 with Faye DeVera. That combination is 4-0 at No.

3 doubles, including a win against top-ranked Stanford. Mhairi Brown Cindy Surrephong are a combined 36-6 in duals at the bottom of Devils She's a conservative kid by nature, but she's becoming a little more aggressive. She's a very hard worker. When your best player is your hardest worker, that says it all. Sheila Mclnerney ASU tennis coach the singles lineup.

Palme, struggling at No. 2 singles due to bronchitis, is taking the Pac-10 meet off in hopes of being healthy for regional on May 11-13. But Megan Yeats, ranked 76th nationally, will be there, as will the 16th-ranked doubles team of Celena McCoury and Brown. Whatever heights the Sun Devils achieve this year, next season could be better despite the loss of seniors Palme, DeVera and McCoury. Dora Krstulovic of Croatia, who played in the Grand Slam junior championships in 1998 and '99, is in school but ineligible this season for having signed with an agent when she was 14.

She'll likely be in the top third of the lineup as a sophomore. The Sun Devils also signed Lauren Colalillo, the 12th-highest ranked Canadian in the world, and Joslynn Burkett of La Jolla Country Day, who in November won the CIF-San Diego Section singles championship. Reach the reporter at jeff.metcalfearizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8053. ASU this week TODAY Golf: Pac-10 Championships, Karsten Golf Course. Softball: No.

2-ranked Arizona vs. No. 8 ASU, 7 p.m., Farrington Stadium, Cox 9. THURSDAY Tennis: Pac-10 Championships, Ojai, Calif. Track: ASU at Drake Relays.

FRIDAY Softball: Oregon vs. No. 8 ASU, 7 p.m., Farrington Stadium. Tennis: Pac-10 Championships, Ojai, Calif. Track: ASU at Drake Relays and Oregon Invitational.

SATURDAY Softball: No. 16 Oregon State vs. No. 8 ASU, 7 p.m., Farrington Stadium. Tennis: Pac-10 Championships, Ojai, Calif.

Track: ASU at Drake Relays and Oregon Invitational. SUNDAY Softball: No. 16 Oregon State vs. No. 8 ASU, 1 p.m., Farrington Stadium.

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Freshmen Mackenzie Vandergeest and Leneah Manuma have 15 apiece. Pac-10 honors Oregon State swept Pac-10 softball honors Tuesday. Out fieldersecond baseman Brooke Rutschman was Player of the Week and Crystal Draper was Pitcher of the Week. No. 16 Oregon State re corded wins over No.

1 UCLA and No. 12 Washington. Arizona's Lauren Bauer and Jennie Finch also were nominated. Pac-10 standings Cont 3 42 6 2 46 4 4 44 4 6 30 .14 Stanford 9 Arizona 8 UCLA 1 Arizona St. 5 Washington.

5 6 IT California 4 7 45 8 Oregon St 4 5 35 16 Oregon 1 10 25 29 TODAY'S GAME ARIZONA at ARIZONA 7 p.m. FRIDAY'S GAMES Oregon State at ARIZONA Oregon at ARIZONA 7 p.m. California at UCLA Stanford at Washington, 2 p.m. SATURDAY'S GAMES Oregon at ARIZONA Oregon State at ARIZONA 7 p.m. Stanford at UCLA California at Washington, 2 p.m.

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