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Show 'Bay, March 9, Aggie gymnasts looking for revenge at BYU tonight Cougars beat USU in Spectrum; No. 10 Oregon State also will take part BY BLAIR FAIRMAN Staff Writer Coming off two straight wins, the Aggie gymnastics team travels to Provo today in a tri-meet with No. 10 Oregon State and No. 29 Brigham Young University. The No. 34 Aggies have walked away from their last two meets posting their top two scores of the year against Southern Utah University and AlaskaAnchorage. At their second to last home game against AlaskaAnchorage last Friday, USU swept the top four finishes in all four events plus the all-around, which set their season record to 7-5 overall. Senior Jessica ParentiOtte won three of the four events last week with outstanding performances on the vault, bars and beam. Fellow senior Meagan Lewis also finished with a high all-around score after placing second on the vault with a season-high score of 9-800. Overall in the nation, the Aggies are ranked 24th on the vault, tied for 37th on the bars, 41st on the beam and 31st in the floor exercise. But even with the numerous season-high and careerhigh scores over the past two weeks, getting past the Oregon Beavers and the BYU Cougars will be no easy task. Oregon State has a current record of 9-4 in the Western Athletic Conference. They lost to Florida, now the No. 1 team in the nation, in their first meet by only 3.050. Following the loss, Oregon went home to host California, beating them by a score of 195.400-191-875. The Beavers have a perfect 3-0 home record with wins against Arizona, California and No. 5 ranked UCLA. As for BYU, the Cougars had a strong start to the season with a record of 104, placing them as the second-highest ranked team in Utah. BYU set'a season-high score of 195.475 with a win against the Aggies in January, and then went on to finish third out of four • teams with an overall score of 192.600. Since the Feb. 2 quad meet at Utah, they have gone 4-0, with three of those wins coming on the road. Fortunately for USU, the Cougars will be without their senior standout Kacie CapraCallens Friday, who is out with an ankle injury. -bfairman@ ccv.su. edu USU Men's volleyball club blasts Weber State in Spectrum after tourney BY ERIN WADSWOKTH Staff Writer USU men's volleyball annihilated Weber State University at home in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Wednesday night. It started off as a simplelooking Wildcat defeat and remained so as the night went on. Weber took the ball out of bounds quite a few times toward the beginning, and the Aggies found their quick feet to the net for multiple blocks. The first game was at 15-2 in favor of USU as time-out was called, and play then continued with a block by middle blocker Jon Hansen. "As a team tonight, we were really playing well," team Vice President Wyatt Lamborn said. "We were connecting pretty well at times. We had a couple quick hits. Those were really fun. Our passing at times was off, but as a team we played well." The score 25-14 caused the Aggies celebration at the end of the opening game. USU took the opposite side of the net and prepared to make a stand once again. The first point came with a spike hitting the open center of Weber's side of the court. A tip over by middle blocker Nathan Copier took the Aggies to 4-2 on the game. Right side hitter Keenan Atwood bombed the ball over to give the Aggies a larger cushion on their lead while Copier knocked it over the net again to give the Aggies 23 points. Scores of 24 and 25 came with ease as USU players found their way to the sidelines to pick up some rest before game three. Weber pulled out a 7-6 score, but their lead was short-lived as the Aggies pulled ahead, once again to leave Weber in the dust. "We had lots of fun tonight," Lamborn said. Coming off a 3-3 win on March 2 at a tournament in Salt Lake City, the Aggies faced off against multiple teams in the state. Taking part in the University of Utah hosted tournament were Weber State, Salt Lake Community College and alumni from all over Utah. "We played pretty well," Lamborn said. "I just wish we could have beat Salt Lake Community College because we really should have." -eawads@,cc.usu.edu HOWDOWN From page 8 from the field. Another typical high-scorer for the Warriors who was shut down was big-man Ahmet Gueye, who only posted seven points. "Gibson really got away from us on the island this year and was really the difference I thought in the game over there," Morrill said. "We've done a better job on him in the last two games." One of the major contributing factors to USU's win was Carroll's career-high 13 rebounds. Although the Warriors out-rebounded the Aggies 41-36, Carroll pulled down more rebounds than any other player on the court. "Today I was able to get a lot of rebounds because our big man and their big man kept tipping it around. I was able to chase down the tip outs they'd get," Carroll said about his rebounding game. "I came with a lot of energy and was excited and determined to get some rebounds today, and that's kind of the way it worked out." Carroll led the team in scoring at 24 points and provided one free throw in the final seconds of the game to put the Aggies up by three points - the margin by which they would win. "Last time I played in Logan, I wasn't very happy with the way I played," Carroll said. "I felt I was very complacent. I didn't attack a lot, and I knew Hawaii was up to a big challenge. I was just able to get some looks today." The Aggies had four players in double-digit scoring on the game. In addition to Carroll and Spicer, Peterson and junior forward Stephen DuCharme both posted big numbers at 10 points apiece. . With the win, the Aggies advance to the semifinal round of the WAC Tournament, where they will face No. 9 Nevada, a team they squeaked by at the Spectrum 79-77 on March 1. The Wolf Pack easily blew past Idaho Thursday 88-56. t h e victory didn't come without a cost, though, as Nevada senior guard Kyle Shiloh sustained a leg injury which took him out of the game and will likely prevent him from playing in the semifinal match against USU. Carroll said this could be good news for the Aggies as Shiloh has given Carroll trouble. His tight guarding limited Carroll to just 15 points when the Aggies played Nevada on the road on Jan. 27With Carroll free from Shiloh's tight shadow, the Aggie star might have more looks to score. Commenting on the upcoming Nevada game, Morrill said, "When we go through things tomorrow it should come back to our guys pretty quickly, all the good stuff they run. By the time you get to this point in the year, there's not a lot of surprises. It's up to the players to block them and compete. We're awfully happy to compete in that game, and we're going to go out and do well." The Aggies will take on Nevada at the Pan American Center at 6 p.m. tonight. -sethhawkins@cc.usu.edu Tyler Lar$on/tmlanon@<cu$u.edu AGGIE POINT GUARD KRIS CLARK tries to avoid the defensive reach of Hawaii's Matt Gibson Thursday. • COLLAPSE From page 8 count even by won we would win," she said. "The rebounding count was 34 to 34 and they won by one. Defense is not defense if you cannot get a board, and that's what we didn't do well tonight. My opinion, we gave them opportunities to score and close the gap by giving up our boards." Nevada Head Coach Kim Gervasoni said she credited the success of her team partially to switching from man defense to zone defense in the second half. "Our man defense wasn't where it needed to be tonight," she said. "We only had eight steals. I thought (USU) turned the ball over a lot more when we went zone on them. I don't think our defense necessarily was what won us the game." Gervasoni said the switch to zone defense was a major step for her team because they never play zone defense and don't ever practice it, but she was forced to do it because man defense was not working. She said this was only the second time this year her team has played a zone defense. "I thought we played a little bit tight in the first half, and our shots weren't falling," Gervasoni said. "I just thought the turning point was going zone. We don't play zone - ever." She said one major reason for switching to a zone defense Where are you was because of the speed and scoring ability of USU junior guard Taylor Richards, who scored 17 points on the night and added five assists. "Taylor Richards is a great guard," Gervasoni said. "She's one of the best guards in the conference, and she's gotten better every year. She's got a lot of composure and speed and athleticism." Richards posed a threat to Nevada from every part of the court. Though she was the smallest player on the court, she drove the ball down the lane three times in the opening of the second half to score easy layups. When Nevada denied her easy access to the lanes, she took to the outside with quick jumpers and one 3point shot. Richards was joined in double-digit scoring by senior forward Brittany Phillips, who scored 15 points. Thought Phillips was near dormant in the first half, scoring only five points, she lit up in the second half to give the Aggies a sizeable lead over the Wolf Pack. But once Nevada switched to a tighter zone defense, Phillips only scored one more time. Nevada took an early lead and maintained it in the early stages of the first half as they capitalized on Aggie turnovers. But a 13-4 run propelled by forwards Jenny Gross and Phillips put the Aggies on top for the first time in the game. The Wolf Pack struggled the remainder of the first half to land shots and finished the half with a 29.4 field goal percentage and a paltry 10 percent 3-point average. The Aggies maintained their lead and went into the locker room at halftime up 34-28. USU started out the second half strong with a series of penetrating drives by Phillips and Richards. This increased the Aggie lead to 11 points, the highest the Aggies would get before the gradual descent to defeat. Nevada whittled away at the lead until they were within two points. A combination of free throws and a crucial shot in the final minutes gave the Wolf Pack the win. This was the final career game of three Aggies seniors: forwards Brittany Hagen and Phillips and guard Camille Brox. These players have played on the women's basketball team since it was reinstated for the 2003-2004 season and have been part of the progress the team has made over the past four years, Phillips said. "In the last four years, we've improved so much," she said. "It's so much fun to be a part of that and see how the team has grown. It has really been fun this year." -sethhaxvkins@rCC.usu.edu School Year? EARN LOTS OF MONEY WHILE LIVING IN LOGAN THIS SUMMER HAVE YOU SOLD SATELLITE, PEST CONTROL OR HOME SECURITY SYSTEMS? ; • r6 Pool, Hot Tub, Volleyball, Basketball Court, Fitness Center, New Movie Theater, and more! cJakrid Utilities Paid High Speed Internet & Cable |S LOOKING FOR EXPERIENCED SALESMAN STAYING IN LOGAN FOR THE SUMMER, EARN MICE AS MUCH THIS SUMMER WHILE GOING TO SCHOOL - K E L L Y ELECTRONICS OFFERS A COMPETITIVE I T PROGRAM AND BONUSES. [Or somewhere else??? formation ail at !kellyeleGtronics@wildblue S available. ' - • / |