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Show 6 SPORTS Wednesday March 6, 2013 28° / 9 a.m ' 43° / 3 p.m. Conditions and weather from utahskiweather. Packed snow with some slushy areas TODAY'S SKI REPORT Alta www.dailyutahchronicle.corn Brighton UPCOMING SPORTS EVENTS TODAY: Ski 28° / 9 a.m. 43° / 3 p.m. Canyons 33° / 9 a.m. 49° / 3 p.m. Deer Valley 33° / 9 a.m. 49° / 3 p.m. Snowbird Connor Wallace STAFF WRITER Swimming & Diving Utah @ Pac-12 Men's Championships All Day Federal Way, Wash. THURSDAY: Men's Basketball Utah vs. Oregon State 7 p.m. Huntsman Center Women's Basketball Utah vs. Arizona 2:30 p.m. Seattle, Wash. Track Utah @ NCAA Championships All Day Fayetteville, Ark. AP TOP 25 MEN'S BASKETBALL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Gonzaga Indiana Duke Kansas Georgetown Miami Michigan Louisville Kansas St. Michigan St. Florida New Mexico Oklahoma St. Ohio St. Marquette St. Louis Syracuse Arizona Oregon Pittsburgh VCU Wisconsin UCLA Notre Dame Memphis RECORD 29-2 25-4 25-4 25-4 23-4 23-5 24-5 24-5 24-5 22-7 23-5 25-4 22-6 21-7 21-7 23-5 22-7 23-6 23-6 23-7 23-6 20-9 22-7 22-7 25-4 WOMEN'S TENNIS Utes snag final victory against BYU Chriss Anderson STAFF WRITER The women's tennis team came away with a rivalry win in the Deseret First Duel as it defeated BYU by a score of 5-2 last Saturday in Provo. Although the Utes executed strong doubles play, there were a couple of losses in singles play that threatened to diminish the lead the doubles teams had built. Head coach Mat Iandolo said BYU is a good team indoors, and while he felt his team didn't play great, players competed hard at the end of each of their matches to get the team victory. The r7th-ranked doubles team of Paige Miles and Tereza Bekerova showed why they hold the No. r position on the team, as they defeated Meghan Sheehan-Dizon and Nicolette Tran 8-3. They were followed by Sarah Pham and Callie Craig, who also won their match 8-3. Even though Utah had already captured the doubles point, Elena Najera-Salas and Natasha Smith completed the Utes' sweep with their 7-6 win. "I absolutely love playing with Tereza," Miles said. "Usually it takes some time getting used to a new partner and winning big matches ... she's been so patient and positive in my return from a [medical] redshirt." See TENNIS Page 8 29° / 9 a.m. 44° / 3 p.m. Utah's pitchers seal win in Orem Utah @ Giant Slalom TEAM Solitude SOFTBALL TBA Middlebury, Vt. RANK 33° / 9 a.m. 49° / 3 p.m. ERIN BURNS/The Daily Utah Chronicle Sophomore Marissa Mendenhall hit a home run in the eighth inning of the Utes' 4-2 victory over UVU Tuesday afternoon, which finished in 10 innings. It took ro innings, but the Utes stretched their seven-game winning streak to eight, beating Utah Valley 4-2. Utah's win column might have grown, but the contest harkened back to Utah's early struggles against non-conference opponents. Utah's pitching staff stole the show. Naomi Amu pitched seven innings and gave up one earned run. Kayce Nieto and Mariah Ramirez pitched shutout ball the final three innings. Neither offense was clicking early as both teams were scoreless heading into the seventh inning. But pitching and defense were clicking for both teams as the Utes had just four hits while the Wolverines notched just one. That all changed in the seventh inning. From that point on, it was a back and forth game going all the way into the tenth inning. It began with the Wolverines making an error that allowed Jackie Sweet to score from second. Utah Valley quickly answered with an RBI of its own, making the score r-r after seven. The eighth began with Utah's Marissa Mendenhall hitting a home run, but once again the Wolverines answered, this time off an error the Utes made. The ninth inning mirrored much of the rest of the game as neither team was able to score any runs. Finally, the game came down to the roth inning. Utah opened up getting runners on second and third, and Ramirez's single down the right field line brought Kate Dickman home to give the Utes a 3-2 lead. A Shelby Pacheco sacrifice fly brought Chalese Fankhauser home to give the Utes their final two-run cushion. Ramirez said the game was a grinding contest before both offenses heated up late. "I was excited because we were able to get the job done, and everyone did their job," Ramirez said. Head coach Amy Hogue is happy the team won, but she said the team will need to make sure they do a better job of hitting than they did Tuesday. Utah normally scores more than five runs and will need to make sure the players put up more runs going into their upcoming games. Utah's pitchers and defense executed their game plan perfectly. The pitchers were making sure they were giving the defense the opportunity to get easy outs, and the defense came though. Amu did the majority of the pitching and played in seven innings. However, Hogue said she expected the team would need every pitcher at the bottom of the seventh inning. "I had a feeling one run wasn't going to be enough," Hogue said. "At that point, all I thought was do we have all of our pitchers ready because we might need to use them all." c.wallace@chronicle.utah.edu Twitter: @ConnorRWallace SKI Ski team ready to tackle some tough East Coast competition Griffin Adams STAFF WRITER The Utah ski team competes in the NCAA Championships this week in Middlebury, Vt. The championships begin today and will run through Saturday. With Utah being one of only seven schools to qualify a full team, the Utes will be busy every day. While Utah is fully aware of West Coast powerhouses such as Colorado and Denver, the Utes will be getting their first taste of East Coast competition. "The championships are always interesting because it's the first and only time each season that we compete with the eastern schools," said alpine skier Jeremy Elliot. Elliot said that although defending champion Vermont and Colorado will be the Utes' toughest cornpetition, the team won't settle for anything less than the title. "I absolutely think we have a chance at winning it all this year," Elliot said. "We got second the last two years, and silver is starting to get old, so we are all motivated to win. Everyone has been working really hard, and we have the talent, so I know we are capable." The alpine team will start things off in the giant slalom races Wednesday and the slalom races Friday. Leading the way will be Elliot, who is ranked No. 2 in the giant slalom. With giant slalom being an event of often uncontrollable outcomes, Elliot is preparing for anything. "I have a pretty good shot in [giant slalom]," Elliot said. "If I can put together two clean runs, I can win. It is a high-speed event with a lot of variables. Anything can happen." On Thursday, the Nordic team PHOTO COURTESY STEVE C. WILSON/Utah Athletics Junior Jeremy Elliot competing in an event Jan. 3. Elliot and the Utah ski team will compete in the NCAA Championships this week in Middlebury, Vt. will make its way to the snow to compete in the 5-km and the ro-km Classical races. The team will also compete Saturday in the 15/20-km Freestyle race. Miles Havlick is the defending NCAA champion in the 20-km Freestyle. Since he is currently ranked No. r in both the Classical and Freestyle races, it is clear who everyone in the country will be gunning for. Fortunately for Utah, Havlick has a great supporting cast. Einar Ulsund is ranked No. 3, and Niklas Persson is not far behind at No. 7 overall. "Of course Miles has a national title to defend, so a lot of eyes will be on him," said head Nordic coach Abi Holt. "Einar has only been off the podium in one race all season, so he will be one to watch. Niklas has also finished in the top ro in almost every race this season. I would love to see all of them finish in the top ro." Because so much emphasis is on the men's Nordic team, some might overlook the season Rose Kemp has had on the women's side. Kemp has emerged as the team leader because the other two female Nordic skiers are freshmen. Kemp's lead- ership will have to show this week more than ever on such a big stage. Coming into the championships ranked fifth overall, Holt is expecting big things from her senior. "Rose has had her best collegiate season this year," Holt said. "She should have a shot at two top ro finished by the week's end. As for the freshmen on the team, I'll be happy to see them gain some experience and finish in the top 15." All of the action can be found on NCAA.com. g.adams@chronicle.utah.edu Twitter: @GriffDoug |
