Minnesota’s women’s tennis team lost to its second Big Ten opponent this week, dropping a 5-2 decision to No. 35 Ohio State. The Gophers captured wins at the No. 2 and No. 6 singles, but fell in doubles competition and the rest of the singles action. Minnesota is now 3-8 on the season, 0-3 in league play. The Gophers fell to Penn State, 5-2, Friday night.

The Gophers started strong in doubles competition with a 9-8 win from Michaela Havelkova and Valerie Vladea at the No. 1 slot. However, Minnesota would drop the next two, giving up the doubles point.

Minnesota collected a win at the No. 2 singles from Vladea, defeating OSU’s Erica Fisk, 6-4, 6-4. Minnesota would collect another win at No. 6 when Kandis Batiste defeated Lindsay Adams, 6-4, 4-6 and won the tiebreaker 10-6. It was Batiste’s first win of the 2001-02 season.

The Gophers will take a weekend off, but return to action Mar. 8 when Minnesota hits the road and takes on Syracuse for a 4 p.m. match. The Gophers will then face Maryland at Syracuse Mar. 10.

Men’s golf finishes sixth

Minnesota’s men’s golf team completed the Puerto Rico Classic finishing sixth after shooting a 300 in Tuesday’s round. The tournament was held at the par-72, 6,945-yard Rio Mar Country Club River Course in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Gophers scores over the three-day event were 294-287-300 for a total of 881, 52 strokes behind first-place finisher Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech led the event from start to finish, winning by 25 shots over second-place Clemson.

Individually, sophomore Justin Smith was Minnesota’s highest finisher, tying for 21st place. Junior Matt Anderson shot the best round of the day with an even par-72.

The Gophers next event will be on Mar. 4-5 at the Coastal Carolina Invitational.

Men’s swim defends title

The sixth-ranked Minnesota swimming and diving team will travel to Bloomington, Ind., for the Big Ten Championships on Thursday, Feb. 28 through Saturday, Mar. 2.

With the highest point total since 1974, the Gophers rolled to the 2001 Big Ten Conference title with 797 points, 248 points ahead of their nearest competitor. Gold Country went on to place ninth at the NCAA Championships, its second consecutive top-ten finish and the tenth straight year in the top 15.