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Show Wednesday, October 18, 2000 Sports Lady 'Cats roped by Cowgirls Women's soccer stuck in the mud Page 1 2 By Scott lioyson iisst. sports editor The Signpost ii!. The women's volleyball team fell to 8-1 1 on the season, losing a four-game match to the Cowgirls oT Wyoming at the Dee Events Center Monday night. '"'Though the match doesn't hurt Ine 'Cats in the conference race, head coach Al Givens wasn't happy with the Lady 'Cats' performance. "Right now I think we have a ot of excuses, but we don't have a fljj'of people stepping up with answers," he said. "It's just not acceptable."It's not acceptable to lose a match at home that you know you should win. It's not acceptable to not play to our capability when we Wave the'oppBK'unily." . , '' n,i'bne of 'the1 inln'gs Givens was'' particularly displeased with was tne lack of motivation the Lady 'Cats showed playing a nonconference team like Wyoming. "I thought the difference was that theywaid Jo winmortthan we did," he saiij.. "Right nowwe're good at talking, but we're not good at backing it up." The stats tell the story: The Cowgirls had a hitting percentage of .324 in the match coupled with 1 7 blocks on defense. On the other hand. theady Cats hit only ".202 with just nine blocks. "They're a pretty big team at the net and so you've got to eliminate the block and I don't think we did BiliEFSr Cross country excels at Pre-National Meet . .-I'.obii'.'.1 TheMiijjjqTV.s! cross country team ranked ninth while the women's team finished 1 1th at the NCAA Pre-National Meet : 'X- 'Vv v PS? vA ! T ev I Z.ii .err? V W ii. rf--"--.(-.! -Vn -, J V -4 ft - ' 'r'; I Natasha Widdison spikes the ball over the net in WSU's loss Monday. that real well tonight," Givens said. WSU freshman middle blocker Kris Tlollingsworth lead the Lady 'Cats with a .387 hitting percentage. Some of the areas Givens is determined to work on this week to get his team back on track are blocking and their out-of-system offense. 'The key is to sure up those two areas oufr blocking and ourout-'of-system, offense. If we can do that, then I think we can find ways to side out even when we'reout-of-system," he said. Another problem Givens said contributed to the loss was the lack of team chemistry he has seen lately. "Right now it's more chemistry than ability," he said. "We're not playing very well as a team. "We've got some individuals who are playing well at different times, but we're not playing very well collectively on the court as a team and that can't happen." In game one, the Cowgirls jumped out on the Lady 'Cats 10-3. but WSU rallied back to take the lead at 14-12 due to some key blocking for points by Natasha Widdison and Becky Montague. Montague added another point for the Lady 'Cats with an unassisted block, giving WSU an opportunity for game point. But the 'Cats couldn't put away the Cowgirls, losing 17-15. After a 3-3 tie in game two, the Cowgirls advanced to a 6-3 lead and seemed to be on their way to another win. But the Lady 'Cats battled back to an 8-8 tie and went on to take the match 15-12. It was all downhill from there. Coming out of halftime, the Cowgirls took a quick 4-0 lead in game three and eventually extended their lead 7-1. The Cowgirls would come back and take the game, 15-13. The Cowgirls owned game four, starting off the game scoring four straight points and holding on for a 15-6 win for the match. The Lady 'Cats will host Montana Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Dee. Saturday at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. In the 6,000-meter race for women, sophomore Rebecca Bennion ranked 44th in a field of 371 total runners, leading WSU 'J i 'runners with a finishing time of -: 22:04.3. , '' Senior Kara Wheeler of Colorado University finished atop the field with a finishing time of 20:27.3, but BYU took the overall team "win with a combined score of 117. Sophomore Cynthia Losee finished in 94th place with a time of 22:31.6, and freshman Janae Johnson finished 99th with a time of 22:34.1 to round out the top 100. In the 10,000-meter race for the men, senior Jason Schoenfeld fin ished in first for WSU at 26th place out of 360 runners with a time of 31:32.5 while CU's Jorge Torres came in first at 30:31.1. CU also took first in the overall with a score of 64. WSU's Jeremy Tolman came in 70th (32:07.4) and Joe Wilson came in at 94th (32:20.6) to round out the top 100. 1 Jose I I Carvajal ' sports . Xi editor Sometimes I wonder how serious this unversity is about its athletic program. The latest incident to spark my curiosity is the women's soccer team and its quest to find a decent field to play on. The team is currently supposed to be practicing and playing on the P.E. Playfield outside Swenson Gym. That field is anything but decent. It's downright dangerous. "It's very much an unsafe field," said coach Lynn Kofoed. The wet weather and continued usage don't bode well for the field that already has its share of bumps and holes. "When the weather is bad and people play on it and the field is soft because it doesn't drain well, people just tear big holes in it," said Kofoed. Other teams comment on the condition of the field. "It's always brought up when other teams come to play us and play on that field," she said. "They have ankle rolls, they have knee problems. "You hate to see that happen to anybody, let alone an athlete who's on scholarship." So rather than continuing to use the degraded field, the team will no longer practice or play there, but will practice elsewhere and will hold their final home game Saturday at the football practice field across the street from Promontory Tower. Kofoed understands the situation, but still feels frustrated. "It's a rock and a hard place," she said. "There's no where else to go." But the girls deserve better. "If we're going to be a Division One sport which we have been for four, five years now we need a facility." 1 Francisco) WW M CIRCLE ONE, FROM EACH MATCH-UP & Weber Stateyvs. Montana State Portland St. WSU San Diego St. BYU Colorado St. Utah Michigan St. Michigan Purdue Wisconsin St. Louis Kansas City Washington Jacksonville Tennessee Baltimore San Francisco Carolina Buffalo Minnesota Name Phone: Tiebreaker: Cuess the score of the Portland St. WSU game. GUESS THE SCORE SIGNPOST PICKS Jose Carvajal Scott Boyson Mark Gray Brody Purser (40-30) (41-29) (39-31) (40-30) WSU Portland St. Portland St. Portland St. BYU BYU BYU BYU Colorado St. Colorado St. Colorado St. Utah Michigan Michigan Michigan Michigan Purdue Purdue Wisconsin Wisconsin Kansas City St. Louis St. Louis St. Louis Jacksonville Washington Washington Washington Tennessee Tennessee Baltimore Tennessee San Francicsco Carolina San Francisco Carolina I Buffalo Minnesota Minnesota Minnesota I RULES: Circle the winner of ejeh game, tear out the entry form and bnng it in to the Signpost office in room 267 of the Shepherd Union Building by 5 p.m. this Friday. Only one entry per WSU student, faculty, or staff member. The person who picks the most w inners of each of the games correctly wins a large specially pia from Pier 49 San Francisco Sourdough Pizza. In the event of a tie. the pizza will go to the one who picks the closest score of the upcoming WSU game. CONGRATS TO THIS WEEK'S WINNER Cam Preston |