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Show WEDNESDAY, MARCH r -- 4- DIXIESUNLINK.COM N 23 .2(j W Get to know the soft-bateam. Check the video online. ll www. dixiesunlink.com I ONLINE CONTENT Red Storm lose in Sweet 16 Dixie States dream season ends in Regional Fina BY ROBERT LOVELL Staff Writer The Red Storm mens basketball team capped off its best season since joining the Division II ranks with a trip to the NCAA Tournament, culminating in a Sweet-1- 6 loss. Dixie earned a bid to the tournament for the second year in a row. The Red Stonn were the No. 5 seed in the West Region last year and lost in die first round to eventual national champion Cal Poly Pomona. Dixie was awarded the No. 4 seed this season, and head coach Jon Judkins said his team used the experience gained from last year to propel it further in the tournament this year. We treated it like a noimal road game, Judkins said. Our guys came in not nervous, not wow were here. They knew what was going to hapD-- II pen. Senior forward Brett Adams, a communication major from Sandy, said going to the tournament and winning a couple of games was one of their team goals this year. "It's something we talked about from the first day of practice," he said. "Going there and being successful was a lot of fun." The Red Storm beat conference foe Chaminade University It was in the first round the third time Dixie beat Chaminade this season. Senior guard Jeremiah Barnes led the Red Stoim in that game with 22 points and four assists. Judkins said Barnes play during the last few games was crucial to Dixies success. His last four or five games were outstanding, Judkins said. It was the best Ive seen him play the best Ive seen him lead. He was dialed in, and he wanted it pretty bad, and he was giving it everything he had. Dixie played Seattle Pacific University in the second round. SPU upset No. 1 seed Central Washington University to face the Red Stonn. DSC beat SPU 75-7- 3 to advance to its first evbr regional final. Two more seniors stepped up to lead Dixie in the second game. Forward Tom Whitehead had 1 7 points and guard Donovan Plunkett finished with 16. In tlie West Region championship Dixie was matched up with another conference oppoThe nent, BYU-HawaSeasiders were playing in their fourth straight regional final, and for file first time they advanced to file Elite Eight with a 79-7- 3 victory over file Red Storm. Junior forward Griffon Jones scored 25 points and grabbed 91-8- 2. ii. finseven rebounds. BYU-douished with five players in ble figures to end the Red Storms tournament run and H L A gel int be season. 1 Despite the loss in file Sweet 16, this was Dixies best season since becoming a Division II program in 2006. The Red Storm finished with a 22-- 7 record and won their second straight Pacific West Conference championship. Dixie was also represented well when fire PacWest announced the awards for this g to CO1 are 71 ba: no pei pk M. the season. Whitehead and Plunkett First Team earned selections. Whitehead earned file honor for file second year in a row. Barnes and Jones were West Second awarded All-Pa- c Team honors. Judkins was also named the PacWest coach of file year for the third year in a row. He said its an honor to receive file award. I told my team when they announced that, that it goes for me, but its my staff and its an o thing, he said. Those 3 do a lot, and I couldnt do guys it without them. But its nice to Senior center Everton Araujo, an integrated studies major from Sao Paulo, Brazil, get that respect from other The Seasiders are the teamtk looks for offensive positioning against BYU-Hawacoaches in our league. defeated the Red Storm in the Sweet 16. Adams said his teammates able to put points up on file seniors from this years team Its time for us to get going were very deserving of the for next year, Judkins said board for us. It's fun to say that but have three starters returnawards they received. I played with those guys beWe got three starters back; ing, and Judkins said those deserved transibe the to will cause are everything "They they key very good." guys theyll hopefully lead us into he said. were The Red Storm are losing six next year. they got," "They tioning to next season. all-tea- m na int M an we gn ca i sta an the N1 mi on mi s sei tiii va ii. ga Ci ba Vl( spi ter thi Tennis clinches spot in Athletics budget increased postseason tournament BY RICHARD BRIGGS Sports Editor BY TYLER OLSON Staff Writer womens tennis team its spent spring break in Northern California, but it wasnt all sunshine for file Red Storm, who split their matches and took cover from rain most of the week. The Red Storm had six matches scheduled in file week-lon- g road trip and antici; The pated playing all of them, but Mother Natures plan caused two of die matches to be rained out. DSC was m Oakland on Tuesday to square off with Mills College. Due to soaked courts file match was canceled. The Red Storms next stop on file schedule was in Rohnert Park, Calif., where DSC faced off against No. 48 Sonoma State University. SSU blanked file Red Stonn The Red Stonn hadnt played a match since the first week of March, and with all file rain DSCs Allison Long, a sophomore general education major from West Jordan, said file team was anxious to get out and play but felt a little 9-- 0. rusty. I felt we could have done better and been more consistent if we had gotten into file groove of playing matches we shouldve had, Long said. Because of file rain we werent all there. Long gave credit to Sonoma State for being a great and very competitive team. With a conference tournament bid at stake DSC needed to take care of business in its next match in Belmont, Calif., against league member Notre Dame de Namur University. With a balanced effort the Red Storm peppered NDNU in a doubleheader 0 and their tickets to file Papunched cific West Conference Championships in Laie, Hawaii, which will be played in April. Sarah Hughes, a freshman general education major from Bountiful, said the team was excited about the wins, and she said the confidence gained will help its progress. Going into it we knew we had to stay focused, she said. Our confidence is big. We have a lot of good matches coming up, and these wins will help us as a team. So its good to have that confidence. Hughes won both her doubles and singles matches and even played at file No. 2 singles spot. She defeated Mor-gan9-- 0, 9-- na Thompson-Haye- s 6-- 2, NDNU was two players 6-- 3. short, so it played two matches and gave everybody a chance to play. The Red Stonn capitalized with NDNU short handed, DSC dropped only one set in both team matches. Long was up in file first set 1 before getting complacent and losmg her fust set She rallied to win file second set 1 and won file third set tiebreaker 4-- 4-- 6. 6-- 10-- 5. "If I'm up in flie match I can't be so tentative," Long said. "I need to keep playing my game and not think about things so much. It's easy to put focus on file wrong tilings rather than playing the game." Lauren Tarver, a senior communication major from Wriglitwood, Calif., said the match had a lot at stake. It was real big, Tarver said. It was the determining factor on whether we go to Hawaii or not for the tournament. With filings looking bright for the Red Storm weather-wis- e after coming off two big wins, a win against Academy of Ait University would have been perfect. In the match AAU proved to be too much for file Red Storm, defeating DSC It is the second loss this season to the Urban 8-- 1. Knights. The Red Stoim were scheduled to play Dominican University Saturday morning and hoped to play their match against Mills College, but both matches were not played due to bad weather. The Red Stoim finished the week 2 and are 4-overall. DSC returned home and will play this weekend. It hosts Western New Mexico University Friday at 3 p.m. and Idaho State University Saturday at 10 a.m. The match against Western New Mexico is a rematch from earlier this season. DSC won 3 when file two teams faced off in Arizona. 2-- 10 6-- The Dixie State College Student Association allocated funds to the athletics department for next year, which will go toward funding current teams and creating another team. The athletics department is expected to receive an increase of approximately $18,000 per semester starting in the fall of 20 1 1 This will increase its student fee allocation to approximately $360,000 per semester. During the Truth in Tuition meeting held on March 8, Student Body President Abby Hirschi said the increase in the athletics allocation is for the purpose of moving the cheer squad, the dance team and the mascot to the athletics department. The increase in funds will also support the creation of a new womens golf team, although Athletic Director Jason Boothe said there is nothing final as to which sport will be created. Boothe said the new sport will be created to bring DSC in line with Title IX, the rule that requires each gender to have an equal number of athletic teams. The allocation increases to athletics are replacing separate funding for these programs. The cheer squad, the dance team and the mascot were all clubs, but they have now been moved to the athletics department's oversight. . Well be able to do a lit- tle bit more for cheer, dance and mascot, he said. They need some more help with books and fees. They really get nothing. Boothe said when he looked at percentages of student fees, DSC was on par with other schools. But when it came to athletics, DSC athletics received less than athletic departments at other schools. If you look at the other schools in the state, which all are all Division I the cost to travel, the cost to buy equipment, all that stuff are the same whether youre Division I, Division II, Division III, NAIA, it doesnt matter, he said. Our budget and support from the state is so much lower than those other schools. DSC and Utah State University are the only schools in Utah that have teams from Hawaii in their athletic conferences. USU has one school the University of Hawaii while DSC has four schools Brigham Young University-Hawai- i, the University of Hawaii-HilChaminade Univerand Hawaii Pacific sity University. The DSC football team is the only team in Utah that travels to Canada once a year, as it plays against Simon Fraser University. Not to say that we need to be there right now, Boothe said regarding Division I budgets. Were o, ter an nu young in this, and were building. Well get there Boothe said the reason Division I schools have larger budgets for athletic is because of scholarship' He said the number of M ride scholarships available for athletes at DSC is not near the number for I schools. Kids come in here and know they most likely e wont have a Dm-sio- full-rid- (scholarship), he said. Well get there. Well tal our top programs and off' e scholarship some Other D-schools do it. believe it or not. Boothe said schools within the Pacific West Conference the conference DSC belongs to for every sport except football have teams that oft e scholarships. I1' to be noted that seven of the nine schools within1'1 PacWest are private schools. DSC and Hilo the only two public schoc Were already compfi with them and doing jus fine, Boothe said. If were going to continue'1 be at the top, were gom? have to get the best pin) ers. Be sure to read next full-rid- ths II yo thi eai thi als to be lee full-rid- ag ba on f 31 Po fac nu gre to em on vei at weeks "Sports Geekfr the conclusion of this view with Athletic Du'eC, Jason Boothe. In next weeks issue Boothe aid Sports Geek discuss stadium attendance, recnllli and the development of11 valries within the Pac Ik' - Wa air the i ye; wh Nf his |