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Show DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE Friday, N o v e m b e r 7, 2&08 SOCCER Utes advance to finals with overtime win Bryan Chouinard . STAFF WRITER After receiving a first round bye by finishing second in the Mountain West Conference this season, Utah advanced to the MWC Tournament championship game on Thursday by defeating the Horned Frogs for the first time this season. The Utes beat the No. 3 seed Horned Frogs 2-1 in the first overtime. It was an own-goal off a deflected shot from Lauren Hair, which did the Horned Frogs in. "Lauren has been on fire," said Utah head coach Rich Manning. "It's nice to have athletes on your team who can make clutch plays when we need them the most." TCU was the last team to defeat Utah in conference play this season, getting the best of the Utes in Fort Worth 2-0. But when the teams met in Las Vegas yesterday on a neutral field for the first time, it was Utah that came away with two goals. After a scoreless first half it was Utah that broke the stalemate in the 63rd minute when Hair was brought down in TCU's penalty box, it was left up to Katy Reineke to take the penalty kick. Reineke stepped up and buried the penalty kick in the top left corner, giving the Utes a 1-0 lead. TCU then showed its resiliency with less then two minutes left in regular time when the Horned Frog attack, which had been best in the conference in the regular season, struck. Lizzy Karoly drilled the shot from 15 yards out to beat the diving effort of Ute goalie Emalee Rogers. The overtime scenario was not a new one for the Utes, and it didn't take long for the Utes to seal up their spot in the conference finals that take place on Friday. Less then a minute into extra time, Hair, the sophomore standout, put her final stamp on the game driving deep into TCU territory before sending in a cross that posed a challenge for the TCU back line. "We just worked hard, like we have been doing all season," Hair said. "We were really effective with our passing. It definitely helped seeing TCU play yesterday, and we planned to try and beat them backdoor on the attack and it worked out for us today." As the cross flew in a TCU defender made an attempt to send the ball out for a corner kick in Utah's favor. Instead, the crossed pass deflected past TCU goalie Kelsey Walters, effectively ending the Horned Frogs season. The Utes will now take on BYU, which was held by host UNLV for nearly a half before drubbing the No. 4 seed Rebels 4-0. The Utes gave up their worst loss of the season against BYU earlier this season at Ute Field by a score of 5-0. The championship game, which is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, will pit the two rivals against one another again. A berth ERIK DAENITZ/fte Defy Utah (hwclt to the NCAA Tournament is on the line. Lauren Mair said that good passing and hard work helped Utah defeat TCU. Utah will now play BYU in the championship game Saturday at 1pm. b.chouinard@ chronicle.utah.edu VOLLEYBALL Utah defeats Aztecs in 3 Team to face UNLV Saturday in last road game Paige Fieldsted STAFF WRITER TYLER COBB/fte Doty Utah Chronicle Senior Lori Baird pitched in her effort against the Aztecs with nine kills and a .615 hitting percentage. One team down, one to go. The Utah women's volleyball team had one its best offensive games of the season as it defeated the San Diego State Aztecs in a 25-13,25-17 and 25-23 three-set victory. Working on the little things that would make them better all around paid off for the Utes, as they played well in every area of the game. "We executed maybe the best we have all season offensively in games one and two," said head coach Beth Launiere. "We covered well, worked hard defensively and were quick to the ball. We just played hard." Despite winning in a threegame sweep, it wasn't easy for the Utes. After controlling both the first and second sets, the Utes were down 12-18 before rallying back to win the third set. "We got in a little bit of a rut and let them score five in a row," Launiere said. "We battled back MEN'S BASKETBALL and stayed confident though." Four Utah hitters were above .300 as the team pounded down 45 kills and hit for a .372 hitting percentage. The Utes were led by Karolina Bartkowiak and Kathryn Haynie who both had n kills in the win. Bartkowiak hit a season high .714 hitting percentage. Lori Baird added nine kills and .615 hitting percentage. "Barto came up big for us in the last set and got 5 or 6 kills right there at the very end and they couldn't stop her," said Launiere. The Utah team had a season high 12 service aces in the match, with Baird dealing a career high of seven of them. Despite working on the block hi practice this week, Utah was only able to stop eight balls, compared to its output average of more than 10. The Utes, however, still managed to force 15 hitting errors and hold the Aztecs to a .184 hitting percentage. Emillie Toone led the front row defense with four blocks, while Keisha Fisher had 15 digs on^the back row. "Keisha passed really well for us," Launiere said. "The setters also did a really nice job placing the ball." With San Diego State out of the way, the Utes are switching their attention to the UNLV Rebels, their last road game of the season. "We came in strong and worked hard in practice this week, and now we just have to do our job," Bartkowiak said. Utah and UNLV are evenly matched when it comes to kills, assists, service aces per set and hitting percentage, but are not so close in blocking and digs. Utah gets twice as many blocks per set as UNLV with 3.1 to the Rebels 1.6, while it is UNLV that has the advantage in digging as they get up three more balls per set that the Utes do. With the Utes being very close statistically with the Reb- els, they know that the game in Vegas will be no piece of cake. "They are a young team that plays very well at home/' Launiere said. "They aren't going to roll over for us." UNLV is led offensively by Jessica Walters who averages 3.23 kills per set, while it is Curtsy Jackson who leads the Rebels with .78 blocks per set. Camille Cunningham leads the team and the conference with 5.07 digs per set. "They are a very good team defensively, so we are going to have to be really physical and offensive," Launiere said. "We know we always have to play long rallies against UNLV, so we'll have to work hard and keep the ball alive." Baird is leading the Utes all around with 3.13 kills and 1.46 blocks per set, as Fisher keeps the back row running smoothly with 3.08 digs per set. Utah will face the Rebels at 1 p.m. on Saturday. p.fieldsted@ chronicle.utah.edu WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Lakers no gimme for opener Highly-ranked Utes start year Runnin' Utes to face off against tough D-IIteam Marco Villano STAFF WRITER When Utah athletic director Chris Hill and head coach Jim Boylen scheduled their first game of the season, they didn't look for a Division-II team that they could blow out. Instead, they looked for a team that would give them a good game. They found what they were looking for in a team that beat Michigan State last season. The Runnin' Utes play their first game of the season Saturday at 2 p.m. in an exhibition against Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Champions Grand Valley State. Grand Valley State held the No. 1 ranking for the first time in school history last season after posting a 36-1 record, and made it to the Elite Eight of the Division-II tournament for the second year in a row. "They have Division-I transfers that start for them. They're basically a Division-I team," Boylen said. "I think it's a safe argument to say that a very good Division-II team is as good as a top 250, over the RPI." The Lakers* leading scorer last season, Pete Trammell, returns to the roster this season. Trammell averaged 10.2 points, 3.2 boards and 2.3 assists last season. Although he doesn't stand out statistically, Trammell will be a tough assignment for whomever is playing guard/forward on Saturday for the Utes. The Utes head into the season with the No. 4 ranking in the Mountain West Conference preseason poll. The team hopes to prove its ranking is too low by getting some big wins out of its difficult non-conference schedule. Senior center Luke Nevill is a preseason All-Mountain West Conference selection heading into this season. The 7-foot-2-inch native of Perth, Australia is No. 19 in alltime scoring at the U and had a .537 field goal percentage last season, good for third in the MWC. His field goal percentage has always been above .500 as a starter and will once again be near the top of the conference. This is the first time that Grand Valley State and the Utes face each other, and the first game of the season for both teams. Boylen expects to see a competitive effort from his team Saturday, but he knows that the Lakers won't be an easy assignment for them. "(There are) a lot of good Division-II teams, a lot of Division-II coaches and basketball players," Boylen said. "So to me, it'll be a really good test for us, and I got a lot of respect for their program." What Grand Valley State offers the Utes in this exhibition is tough defense and a lot of shooting threats. The Utes have devoted a lot of time to defense, rebounding and their transition game in practice so far this season. Grand Valley should test the Utes on those three things. m.villano@chronicle.utah.edu with exhibition against Raiders Quinn Wilcox STAFF WRITER Don't look now, but the basketball season is officially upon us. The U women's team will take the court Saturday in its first and only exhibition game of the season against Southern Oregon. Tip-off is at 5 p.m. at the Huntsman Center. This will be the first time fans will get to see the Utes, who are projected to win the Mountain West Conference. It will also be the first time Morgan Warburton gets to show fans why she was picked as the MWC Preseason Player of the Year. But what will interest most observers is probably how Utah is going to look with Leilani Mitchell no longer running the point. The Southern Oregon Raiders are not a NCAA DivisionI team, but rather a member of the NAIA. They are in the Cascade Conference. They are ranked No. 19 in their division and are coming off a 112-43 throttling of Pacific Union in their season opener. Jacki Speer led all scorers with 17 points. That shouldn't come as a surprise, because Speer is the team's best player and the Cascade Conference Preseason Player of the Year. The Raiders had five other players score in double figures, so this is a team that doesn't lack offensive firepower. They also went io-for-16 from 3-point range, so expect the Utes to defend the 3-point line tightly. Southern Oregon is also a good team when it comes to ball movement, notching 31 assists on the game. Pacific Union had an astonishing 46 turnovers. These numbers shouldn't be duplicated in the Utah game, but it is a good indicator as to what type of style Southern Oregon likes to play. Expect Southern Oregon to try and use its speed to force some turnovers, especially because Utah will be starting a freshman at point guard. The combination of Warburton and Kalee Whipple will be too much for the Raiders to deal with. Where Utah should really kill Southern Oregon is on the boards. Southern Oregon was only able to outrebound Pacific Union 38-34, and this time it will be going up against a much bigger and talented Ute team. Southern Oregon only has four players listed at or above 6 feet. Compare that to the Utes, who have seven players listed at 6 feet or taller. Whipple and Katie King will give the Utes a huge advantage on the boards. If Deanne Stevenson is able to play through her injury, that will only give the Utes more to work with. The only question mark in this game will be how Hannah Stephens and Janita Badon handle the point guard spot. This will be the first collegiate game for both players,' and they may have a few jitters playing in the Huntsman Center for the first time. Southern Oregon is a solid squad within its respective division, but it doesn't have the horses to match up with Utah. Utah is bigger and simply has too much talent on its side. Southern Oregon may keep it close at first if it is able to rattle the freshmen point guards a little and knock down their shots, but Utah's size and scoring on the wings will be too much. q.wilcox@ hronicle.utah.edu t i |
