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Show 6 SPORTS Wednesday February 27, 2013 TODAY'S SKI REPORT Alta www.dailyutahchronicle.corn Conditions and weather from utahskiweather.com Powder, packed powder, bumps -2° / 9 a.m. 26° / 3 p.m. Brighton UPCOMING SPORTS EVENTS -2° / 9 a.m. 26° / 3 p.m. Canyons 3° / 9 a.m. 32° / 3 p.m. Deer Valley 3° / 9 a.m. 320 I 3 p.m. Snowbird -2° / 9 a.m. -26° / 3 p.m. Solitude 10 / 9 a.m. 27° / 3 p.m. SOFTBALL TODAY: Swimming & Diving Utah @ Women's Championships All Day Federal Way, Wash. THURSDAY: Men's Basketball Utah @ California 7 p.m. Berkeley, Calif Swimming & Diving Utah @ Women's Championships All Day Federal Way, Wash. FRIDAY: Baseball Utah @ Northern Illinois 12:15 p.m. Minneapolis, Minn. Women's Basketball Utah @ Oregon St. 7 p.m. Corvallis, Ore. Gymnastics Utah @ BYU 7 p.m. Provo Swimming & Diving Utah @ Pac-12 Women's Championship All Day Federal Way, Wash. • PAC-12 STANDINGS KIRA WILSON/The Daily Utah Chronicle Jackie Sweet grabs the ball at first base for a strike against Oregon on Sunday at the Ute Softball Field. Utah's defense is playing well enough to keep them competitive, but its poor offensive production had caused a six-game losing streak. WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM CONF OVERALL Stanford 15-1 26-2 California 15-1 25-2 UCLA 12-4 21-6 Colorado 11-5 22-5 Washington 11-5 19-8 Earning a seven-game streak n PLAYERS ONLY MEETING After a rocky start to the season, the Utes hold their own meeting that kicked their game into gear - Connor Wallace STAFF WRITER Washington St. 6-10 10-17 Arizona St. 5-11 13-15 USC 5-11 8-19 Arizona 4-12 12-15 Oregon St. 3-13 9-19 Oregon 2-14 4-24 Just a couple weeks ago, Utah was off to a disastrous start to the season. The team began the season with two wins, then lost six straight to weak nonconference foes. Long gone are the days of woe, however, as the team is now on a seven-game winning streak. The on-the-field product has im- proved, but an off-the-field meeting might have sparked the streak. After coming off their sixth loss in a row, the Utes put together a players-only meeting and discussed what needed to be changed. The meeting wasn't focusing on making sweeping changes. Rather, it was about making sure the players didn't become discouraged with how they were playing. "[The seniors] felt like that we needed to make sure everyone was on the same page, and that we knew that just because we were losing a few games to stay positive," senior infielder Jackie Sweet said. Although head coach Amy Hogue wasn't at the meeting, she said there has been a noticeable improvement in team chemistry. "We play a long season — 56 games is a lot. It's a marathon," Hogue said. "It takes a while sometimes to gel as a team, and I was really proud of our upperclassmen to call that meeting and say 'You know what, we can't wait any longer, and we've got to make these adjustments now.'" A key factor in Utah's streak has been its hot bats. In the last seven games, the Utes have outscored their opponents 42-17, including 14 runs against UNLV in their own backyard. Just as important are the runs the Utes haven't allowed. During the team's losing streak, opponents scored six, five, six, nine, io and eight runs. Since the meeting, the defense has only allowed over five runs in one game and even See SOFTBALL page 8 MEN'S TENNIS TRACK& FIELD BYU conquers Utah for fourth year in a row Utes secure 10th place at MPSF competition Carson Huiskamp STAFF WRITER If Pac-12 membership was supposed to improve Utah, BYU didn't get the message. The Cougars downed the Utah men's tennis team for the fourth year in a row on Saturday. This time around, the Utes lost 5-2 to the Cougars in Provo. Utah (7-2) was outmatched for most of the day. Only Slim Hamza at the No. 2 singles position and Ben Tasevac at the No. 6 position won a point for the team. Although the score showed an easy win for BYU, many of the matches went to the wire. "We didn't really struggle. We choked," Hamza said. "We had our chance, I can say that." After a good start to the season in doubles for Hamza and Devin Lane, the pair finally met their match when Francis Sargeant and Patrick Kawka defeated them 8-5. The other two Utah teams couldn't quite muster enough to get the doubles point, as Ben Tasevac and Cedric Willems were just trumped 8-6 in a close loss as well. Dmytro Mamedov and Alejandro Medinilla notched Utah's only doubles victory. In singles, the Utes didn't fare much better. Lane was soundly defeated at the No. 4 spot by a score of 6-1, 6-2, putting Utah in a big hole. Only Hamza (6-2, 6-2) and Tasevac (6-2, 6-4) were able to score Utah points at their respective No. 2 and No. 6 slots. "The guys know they are good enough to beat these type of teams, but they have to believe and know that they should win," said assistant coach Roeland Brateanu. "They are competitive — they aren't getting blown off the court, but they need that confidence that they belong to win that match." Getting knocked down and losing is never a thing coaches and players get used to, and losing to rival BYU for a fourth straight year certainly doesn't sit well with the team. "Any time you lose, it's frustrating," Brateanu said. "But when you lose to BYU, it has that little extra bite to it." Things don't get any easier for the Utes as the No. 39 Boise State Broncos await them in Idaho. Utah has just one more month to get ready for the start of conference play, where the really grueling part of the schedule begins. c.huiskamp@chronicle.utah.edu Twitter: @CarsonHuiskamp Griffin Adams STAFF WRITER ERIN BURNS/The Daily Utah Chronicle Ben Tasevac competing in a meet on Feb. 16. Tasevac, who started at the No. 6 position, won a point for Utah in their loss. The Utah women's track and field team finished up its indoor regular season last weekend at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships. The Utes took loth out of 14 teams and finished with 21.5 points. While the overall team finish might have been disappointing, there were still some noteworthy performances from Utah. Leading the Ute charge once again was Amanda Mergaert. Her third-place finish with a time of 2:06.34 in the 800m run earned her All-MPSF honors and was just short of the school record. Despite all the personal accolades she has received, Mergaert was quick to give credit to her teammates. Just before she ran in her heat of the 800m, her teammate Rosalie Waller clocked a personal best time of 2:09.45. Waller's time was good enough for first in her heat and eighth overall, giving the Utes a team point and Mergaert the jumpstart she needed. See TRACK page 8 |
