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Show 7 Monday, February 11, 2008 SPORTS www.dailyutahchronide.com THIS WEEK IN SPORTS 1 2 Men's Golf Softball Utah @ Pat Hick Invitational Utah (5-0) vs. Notre Dame (3-2) Feb.tt-12,AIIDay Si. George, Utah Feb. 1 S.I 0 a.m. S1 Tempo. Aril. Bijak fills in well with Postell out Women's Tennis Track Men's Hoops Women's Hoops Utah@ Iowa St. Classic SDSU(16-7}@ Utah (14-8) Utah (20-3) @ SDSU(13-8) Feb. IS.AJIDay p Ames, Iowa Feb. 16, 2 p.m. (SJ Huntsman Ccnlef Feb. 16,3 p.m. y Son Diego, Calif 4 5 6 Feb. 16,5 p.m. @i Seattle. Wash. Tony Pizza SPORTS EDITOR SPORTS EDITOR See BIJAK Page 9 Utah (5-0) @ Washington (1-6) Illness can't stop Red Rocks Tony Pizza PROVO—Sometimes an illness can be a blessing in disguise, even when it affects a team's best competitor. Such was the case with the Utah gymnastics team and their top all-around athlete Ashley Postell. After fighting a case of the stomach flu this week, Postell sat out of the all-around competition for the first time this season as the Red Rocks took on arch-rival BYU. The absence of the back-to-back national runner-up in the all-around championship from the floor and bars events not only opened the door for a few of her teammates to shine, it also provided one of her teammates with a clearer path to a victory in the all-around. Daria Bijak took full advantage of PostelTs absence from the allaround and scored a 39.375- That score was good enough for the former two-time German national allaround champion's first such win of her collegiate career. "We need other people moving into those Call-around) places/' Utah head coach Greg Marsden said. "This is Ashley's senior year. I need Daria to step forward and be the type of all-arounder she can be, and she's capable of doing that. She's capable of doing more than she did tonight." Bijak's performance was good enough to set a new career high. Her night was highlighted by season highs on the uneven bars (9.900) and floor (9.825). Like Postell, Bijak's performance was even more impressive given the fact that she started feeling sick before the meet started. It didn't take her long to start feeling better, however. "Once I started on bars, it was really good, so I got going," Bijak said. Nina Kim also had a solid showing in the all-around. In just her second appearance in all four'events since 2006, Kim scored a 39.325, which included her second straight 9.900 on the balance beam. The Houston, Texas native followed up her career-high of 39.500 in the allaround last week with another high score that should keep her near the top of the all-around national rankings. Kristina Baskett was the other Red Rock to compete in the allaround. Her step out of bounds during Utah's third rotation on the floor all but put her out of contention for her first all-around win of the season. With Postell out, fellow senior Katie Kavisto took her place on bars. Kavisto scored a 9.825, which was good enough for third best in the meet. Despite nursing a hot spot on her shin, Annie DiLuzio made it onto the floor lineup to fill in for Postell, and she too scored a 9.825, which tied for a meet high on the event. "Me not doing bars and floor 7 Gymnastics TYLER COB8/ftf Dc-lf Viah(h Katie Kavisto performs an exhibition routine on the beam during Utah's 196.700 to 193.925 win over archrival BYU. Utah fans made it like a mini home meet in Provo's Marriott Center. PROVO—Sometimes a win can leave the victor a bit unsatisfied. On Friday night, that was the case for the U gymnastics team. Utah defeated BYU 196.700193.925 at the Marriott Center to improve to 5-0 on the season. Despite beating its arch-rival and posting a solid score, Utah knows that a performance riddled with minor mistakes needs evaluating before the team takes to the mats again. "I said last week our gymnastics looked easy," Utah head coach Greg Marsden said. "This week it didn't look easy." The Red Rocks achieved the 10th highest score in school history last week when they trumped Minnesota with a 197.750. This week, the Red Rocks looked a little different. Few landings were stuck by Utah and routines were, for the most part, not concise. Marsden attributed many of the mistakes to illness. Flu-like symptoms made See RED ROCKS Page 9 Runnin' Utes survive tough road test Tony Pizza SPORTS EDITOR Three days after getting a benchmark win at home over then-MWC frontrunner UNLV, the Runnin' Utes made just as strong of a statement on the road. Shaun Green finished with 10 rebounds— including five in the second half and four on the offensive glass alone—as Utah C14-8, 5-4 MWC) out-rebounded Air Force 24-7 in the second half and beat the Falcons 67-59 on the road. Carlon Brown chipped in 11 rebounds of his own, and U guard Johnnie Bryant led all scorers with 17 points, including nine during a crucial 16-3 second-half run. The win boosts the Utes' record above .500 for the first time this late in the season since 2005. As dominant as Utah was in the second half, things were exactly the opposite for the Utes in the first. "Night and day" doesn't quite illustrate it. The darkest period for Utes came midway through the second half when Andrew Henke nearly single-handedly turned a three-point Air Force deficit into an n-point lead. At the 10:30 mark, Air Force (12-10, 4-5 MWC) had only mustered nine points and trailed Utah by three. It took just two-and-a-half minutes for the normally dawdling and deliberate Falcons to double their score. By the end of Air Force's 17-3 run, Utah's PUYEROFTHEGAME: Shaun Green Forward, Jr. puimm:* it* h 1 h : p 11, ill (*>j : pcttt, >] ttowvi; fan be i rd &t trt IQI met ttc g H tun. spacing began to resemble the typical distance between Romeo and Juliet's lips and foul trouble began to factor its way into Utah's lineup. Air Force's struggles from the free-throw line, however, prevented the Falcons from taking full advantage. Air Force's Tim Anderson, who is the team's best free throw shooter at 84.7 percent, went just 2-for-4 during a key 20-second stretch with less than two minutes to go in the first half. Air Force went to the free-throw line six times in a bizarre possession that included a foul and subsequent technical foul by Utah's Luke NeviU. The Falcons converted only one of the four free throws, but managed to rebound the last miss before Anderson was sent to the line again. Anderson made only one of two, and Utah escaped the possible six-point swing with only two points of damage to the Scoreboard. Down 30-20 at the break, Utah came out with a renewed focus. As Utah's spacing began to more closely resemble the gap between David Letterman's teeth, Air Force's lead began to do the exact opposite. Led by a revitalized shooting effort from the perimeter—which included five 3-pointers in the span of six minutes—Utah quickly took a 45-39 lead with a little more than 10 minutes to play in the game. Utah shot 50 percent from the field in the second half to complement the 29.4 percent field goal percentage its defense held Air Force to, and the Utes went on to sweep a MWC opponent for the first time since the 2005-2006 season. Anderson led the Falcons with 16 points, but did most of his damage by shooting 10for-12 from the free-throw line. Ironically, the free-throw line is also where Air Force did damage to itself. Despite 27 trips to the free-throw line AARON SCHWENDIMAN/7/* fcj. on 24 Utah fouls, the Falcons shot just 66 percent from the charity stripe. Air Force Shaun Green came down with 10 rebounds—five of which were on the offensive See UTES Page 9 end—and added 6 points in the Utes' 67-59 road win over Air Force. Daria Bijak's All Around performance * Rotation 1: Bars-9.825 * Rotation 2: Vault-9.900 * Rotation 3: Floor- 9.825 * Rotation 4: Beam- 9.825 * Total: 19375 TYLER COBB/ThtDsifyUUhQinnftk Daria Bijak salutes the crowd after her victory in the all-around competition. Utes dominate weekend softball competition Keyed by Smuda 's pitching, team takes all five games at Red Desert Classic Jason Peterson STAFF WRITER The U Softball team won all five games this weekend, in St. George's Red Desert Classic. New head coach and former U standout Amy Hogue earned her first wins and quickly established a dominating style of play to open the season—a far cry from last year's losing record of 25-26-1. Over the five-game stretch, the U outscored their opponents 32-6. On Friday, the Utes beat Wisconsin, 3-1, behind the strength of ace pitcher Ashley Smuda's two-hitter performance. Smuda, a sophomore transfer from Temple, chucked nine strikeouts in the game, helping to erase doubts whether the U's thin, inexperienced pitching staff could perform early in the season. "I am really proud of how we competed hard the entire game on de- fense," Hogue said. "For Ashley to throw a two-hitter is great." When Smuda needed a breather, freshman sensation Brittany Parker proved a fully capable backup, picking up her first collegiate save by coming in against Rhode Island to seal a 10-4 victory when the game was undecided. "It became obvious that Ashley was tired," Hogue said. "We have relied on her all weekend, and she's done a great job. Brittany came through for us late in the game. She got the win with a vengeance." Staci Hemingway provided plenty of power at the plate, going 5-for-7 in her first two games, including a grand slam in the sixth inning. Hemingway finished with two runs and four RBIs. On Saturday, Smuda and sophomore pitcher Haili Squire pitched a one-hitter and shut down SUU, 9-0. This time, shortstop Sharee Fonoti stepped up for the U by belting the team's second grand slam in as many games. Kristie Keller contributed two more runs on 3-of-4 hitting while third baseman Angie Boardman went 2-for-2 with two RBIs. The second half of Saturday's double-header resulted in a 4-1 win over Idaho State. Outfielder Kara Foster scored twice and batted in one more. The Utes wrapped things up on Sunday with a 6-0 shutout over Northern Colorado. Devina Quintero, Hailey Davenport, Hemingway and Keller each contributed to a 4-0 start in the first inning. "Once we got on the board, everything broke open," Hogue said. "I'm really proud of how (hard) we competed." Utah next faces another five-game outing this weekend in Tempe, Ariz., for the Kajikawa Classic. Opponents include Notre Dame, Texas State, Texas Tech, Western Michigan and Oregon State. j.peterson@ chronicle.utah.edu Red Desert Classic St. George, Utah Friday, February 8Utah 10, Rhode Island 4 Saturday, Febniary 9Utah 9, Southern Utah 0 Utah4,ldiho State 1 Sunday, February 10Utah 6, Northern Colorado 0 |
