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Show /port/ B4 MONDAY • NOVEMBER 6 • 2006 SPORTS BRIEFS Preseason blowout Women's volleyball Wolverine bailers put on an exhibition Senior Setter' Lacee Koelliker earned her third Division-I Independent Setter of the Week in wins over South Dakota State and North Dakota State. In the two wins Koelliker averaged 12.29 assists per game for a total of 86 assists. Koelliker earned the honor in back-to-back weeks in September. She is third among Independent players averaging 11.35 assists per game. Jason Adkins Sports Writer Men's golf In the final tournament of the fall season the Utah Valley State men's golf team finished 12th at the Bill Cullum Invitational at the Wood Ranch Golf Club in Simi Valley, California. The golf team will take two months off. They play next February 12-13 at the Thunderbird Invitational at the Sunbrook Golf Club in St. George. Women's soccer The women *s soccer team had a tough 4-1 loss against No. 22 Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles to close out the regular season. Co-captain Courtney Robbins netted her seventh goal of the year for UVSC. With the loss UVSC dropped to 6-10-1 on the season. They traveled to Washington D.C. for the United Soccer Conference Tournament over the weekend to finish the year. Intramurals .....: ••... •.&&£• The upcoming events for intramurals include Bocci Ball Championships on Nov. 8 from 3 to 5 p.m., a bowling night from 6 to 9 p.m. Nov. 13 and another Xbox night Nov. 16 from 6 to 10 p.m. For more information on these and other call (863-6163) or visit (SC 108) the intramural office. Send sports briefs to websterben@msn.com Dissension divides ruggers Chad Clark/NetXNews Senior Peter Brown drives around a Dixie State defender in the exhibition match against the Rebels. "There is that old adage, 'you play like you practic' For the most part, we played no different than we practiced" Jack Jared Waters Sports Writer • Utah Valley State College opened up their exhibition play in a dominating fashion, blowing out in-state rivals Dixie State last Wednesday 74-47. Eager fans made it a point to stay the entire game, in anticipation of a great year ahead for the Wolverines. Senior David Heck scored UVSC's first five points, and led all scorers with 17 points to go with his three assists, all in only 28 minutes of play. "David has had an exceptional preseason, and I think it carried over tonight," said Coach Dick Hunsaker, "hopefully David, and a host of guys will be able to be threats [all season long]." What began as a slow-paced, sloppy game became interesting as the schools traded baskets for the first 16 minutes. Utah Valley then took control. Richard Troyer hit a floater through the lane in the middle of an 8-0 run by UVSC, forcing Dixie State to call a timeout. The Rebels' Mike Shaw quickly ended the run with a lay up, only to be countered by a Ryan Toolson 3-ponter. The Rebels didn't score the rest of the first half. UVSC took a comfortable 10-point lead into the locker room. The second half was no different for UVSC. They shot 58 percent from the field, including an amazing 63 percent beyond the arc. Coach Hunsaker was pleased, "There is that old adage 'you play like you practice.' For the most part, we played no different than how we practiced. We come out. and we want to play and compete." The Wolverines proved to their coach that they arc ready to compete. "I was very impressed with Dixie State. I thought they came out and played their hearts out," Hunsaker said. "They fought, they competed, they battled us." But in their fight, times were tough for Dixie as their baskets came few and far between, while UVSC maintained a steady scoring pace. UVSC's defense can be attributed to the Dixie State meltdown, as the Wolverines chalked up 10 steals and five blocked shots, providing them with more scoring opportunities. After all was said and done, the Wolverines bench outscored Dixie State's 32-7. Such a balanced attack by UVSC is a good sign leading into this season. Coach Hunsaker agreed, "I think we have a number of players capable. We have scoring threats in a variety of positions on the floor." "I pay my tithing so you can play rugby," a UVSC rugby player yelled after one of BYU's many tries on the afternoon in a 65-7 victory for the Cougars. Unfortunately for the Wolverines, the comment drew a warning from referee Mark Ormsby, former coach of both teams, who threatened to send off any player who continued taunting. The men's rugby team had a long afternoon on their hands after BYU scored, 30 seconds inot the game, without any significant opposition. It really did not matter who scored, as several players scored tries and the No. 3-ranked Cougars scored from open play, stringing phases together and off of set-plays from lmeouts and scrums. It did not help the Wolverine cause as they were arguing amongst themselves over the amount of effort the team was putting out during the match. Either poor conditioning or just giving up on a match that was out of reach, or a combination of the two combined, led to a bad outing. Also compounding the problem was a lack of knowledge of the laws of the game, which was illustrated when BYU had a penalty five meters out and the UVSC players were 10 meters back, instead of lined up at the try line as they were entitled to. "Frustration sets in," men's rugby Head Coach Jared Hoyt said. "It's a team effort. We win and lose together as a team." Hoyt also mentioned that he hoped the team would be in better shape, but players are not conditioning outside of practice. From a halftime score of 32,0 in BYU's favor, the scoring did not let up in the second half. mentally. Several off-the-ball incidents took place, nothing more serious than a wrestling match during a rugby game, but cooler heads prevailed in the end as foul-play did not continue. UVSC finally scored a try with about 10 minutes remaining in the match after center Marlin Kingi had a 40 meter run to score. Fortunately for the Wolverines, BYU is not in their division and the squad only has to worry about defeating Division II schools to qualify to the Pacific Coast Rugby Football Union playoffs in the spring. Lady Wolverines start season on a high note hard!" Coach Nixon did a good job spreading Sports Writer out her teams' playing time in the exhibition opener. She said, "I like exhibition games The UVSC women's basketball team has where we can focus on ourselves as a team, their first victory under their belt. They beat give lots of people playing time and get rid the Dixie State Rebels in exhibition play, of those early jitters. I was pleased with our Wednesday evening at the McKay Events overall effort from everyone tonight. We Center, 87-67. showed some good things on both ends of the The lady Wolverines were led by their top floor. But, obviously, we have a iot of work to scorer, Sandy Marvin, a sophomore from Pay- fine tune our team."_ son who dropped in 22 points in the exhibiIt was a close game until just before the tion. Marvin seemed to give UVSC the boost half where the Wolverines took a 45-31 lead of energy and leadership that they needed to into the break. Dixie State's three-point shootget the win. ing kept them in the contest, but they were Coach Cathy Nixon said, "Sandy is just a no match to UVSC's upbeat tempo and pace. goer, she never stops, that is how she plays The Wolverines won by 20. It was a good the game. She's really improved on her deci- game overall, but was heavily dominated by sion-making by adding some adjustments to turnovers from both sides. Coach Nixon said, her game in the off-season, and I'm really ex- "For us to be successful, I feel like we need cited about her in the long run." to be a balanced team. We have some pretty good offensive weapons if we give ourselves Along with Marvin, four other Wolverines a chance to be successful. But we turned the finished with double-digits in scoring: Susie Cornejo, Julie McMurray, Robyn Fairbanks ball over way too many times tonight, and collectively we need to do a much better job and Asumi Nakayama. of taking care of the basketball." UVSC's top scorer Sandy Marvin said, "It was a good opener. We've got a long ways Excitement looms in the air this season for to go and we're going to be good. It's just a the UVSC women's basketball team. Come matter of meshing together now (as a team). out and support your Lady Wolverines on It sets the tone for our team and tells others Nov. 11 at the McKay Events Center at 3 p.m. that this is our home court. And when people as they take on Mesa State in the regular seaUVSC sophomore guard Sandy Marvin led UVSC to a lopsided victory by scorcome to UVSC they are going to get hit, hit son opener. James Warnick ing 22 points in the 87-67 win. I |