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Show Page 9 Wednesday, April 6,2005 Sports Sports Editor: Jon Nelson Phone: 626-7983 Gjertsen earns Ail-American 'Cats fall under the Rainbow honorable mention Senior becomes third Wildcat ever to win honorable mention honors Weber State University senior Julie Gjerstsen earned more postseason honors this week when she was named to the 2005 NCAA Division 1 Kodak/Women's Basketball Coaches Association AilAmerican honorable mention list. Gjertsen was one of 48 players selected nationally to receive AJI-American honors. Gjertsen becomes just the third Wildcat ever to earn AllAmerican honorable mention honors. Jodi Wimmer (1997) and Melanie Knott (1990-91) are the other WSU players to earn the honor. Gjerstsen was named the Big Sky Conference Co-MVP, her second career MVP award. She is just' the second player in Big Sky history to win the award twice. By CHRIS CHRISTENSEN sr. sports reporter | T/ie Signpost Hawaii 5, Weber State 2 Doubles Julie Gjertsen looks for an open teammate during a Feb. 22 game against Portland State at the Dee Events Center. Gjertsen also became the Big Sky Conference's all-time leader in career 3-pointers (233) and ranks third in scoring in WSU history and 4th in Big Sky Conference history. Despite everything students may have heard, the Weber State University women's tennis team is doing pretty well. But with a cold breeze blowing through in the middle of the afternoon, it was the warm-blooded Hawaii Rainbows that came through, winning the match 5-2 on the WSU tennis courts Tuesday afternoon. The matches began early with the doubles matches first on the docket. Two of the three women's teams suffered defeat while the steady No. 3 doubles team of Chelsea Drews and Karla Pretorius came away with their eighth win of the season, upending the Hawaiian team of Kimberly Curtis and Julie Bihag. Things didn't get much better for the Wildcats in the singles matches, but the matches themselves were competitive enough, as they have been all year. The No. 1 singles player, 1. Fitzgerald/Mainor(UH) dot". Smit/Pienaar(WSI_n 2.Jaros/Boutet(UH) dot. Ilie/VendiUo(WSU) 3. Drews/Pretorius (WSU) dot". Curtis/Bihag(UH) Singles I. Fitzgerald (UH) def. Elana Smit (WSU) 6-2, 0-6, 6-2 2. Alexandra Ilic (WSU) def. Jaros (UH) 6-1, 4-3, rt?t. 3. Boulet(UH)dcf. Chelsec Drews (WSU) 7-5, 6-2 4. Karla Pretorius (WSU) def. Mainor(UH) 6-1, 6-2 5. Curtis (UH) del". GabriclaVenditto(WSU) 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 6.Aihawa(UH)dcf. InalisePicnaar(WSU) 6-2, 6-7, 6-3 See Rainbow page 11 NCAA championship game lives up to hype By JON NELSON sports editor | The Signpost The stage was set and the hype was all it was cracked up to be for the NCAA men's basketball National Championship game last night between No. 1 Illinois and No. 2 North Carolina. Monday night's game was definitely not the first time that the No. 1 ranked team in the nation faced the No. 2 ranked team in the National Championship game. The Illini, who came into last night's game tied with the NCAA single-season record for victories (37-1), had a good vote of confidence after defeating Louisville on Saturday. The Tar Heels came in confident and looking to give their coach, Roy Williams, his first National Championship. Illinois had a great tournament, as did North Carolina, and they almost pulled off a repeat of their win over the University of Arizona earlier in the tournament, where they overcame a 15-point deficit to beat the Wildcats. After trailing by 13 at halftime, Illinois fought back to tie the game up but could never take the lead, but they also never quit. North Carolina went on to win the championship 75-70. North Carolina received another great performance from junior center Sean May. May, on his 21st birthday and wearing the number ,his father North Carolina's Sean May (below) and David Noel (above) battle with Illinois' James Augustine under the basket as the North Carolina Tar Heels beat the Illinois Fighting Illini 75-70 in the Men's 2005 NCAA championship game in St. Louis, Mo., April 4. wore when he played at Indiana, finished with 26 points and nine rebounds. May's father, Scott May Sr., helped lead Indiana to a National Championship in 1976 under then head coach Bobby Knight. In that game, May's father finished with 26 points and eight rebounds. 1 had Louisville beating Illinois on Saturday and facing North Carolina last night, but regardless, I was glad that I was able to watch three very good games over the last three days. That is what college basketball is all about: great basketball for the fans, the players, the coaches and the schools that these teams represent. In my opinion, college basketball is one of the best sports out there. Sure the NBA is entertaining, but you won't find team chemistry like you see with North Carolina, Illinois, Wisconsin, Gonzaga and even here at Weber State University. This holds more true in collegiatelevel sports than anywhere else. For example, Illinois was touted as being a team, while North Carolina had the most talent. In the end, North Carolina proved that they not only had the talent, but were a team as well. The exception to that might be last year's NBA champs, the Detroit Pistons. But that only lasted until the beginning of this season. The Pistons aren't quite near what they were last year when they showed that teamwork and discipline can help win championships. There is a lot of talent in the NBA, but talented players can only get you so far. A prime example of this is Kobe Bryant; he let everybody in the Lakers organization know that he wanted to be the main guy in Los Angeles. So with Phil Jackson, one of the greatest coaches in NBA history, and Shaq gone, it was his team to lead to another NBA championship. In the end, the.Lakers probably won't even make the playoffs this season. So what will next season bring for NCAA basketball? I don't know, but I wish next season wasn't so far away, because 1 can't wait for it to start all oyer again. |