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Show Wendnesday, Sept. 22, 2010 Page 7 StatesmanSports Ready or not, Vick will start for Eagles Perry, Swenson come up strong for tennis team UTAH STATE'S WOMEN'S TENNIS TEAM competed in the BYU Initational this past weekend, with Hailey Swenson winning the consolation A draw when she defeated BYU's Callie Craig -64, 6-2. Craig would get her revenge in doubles, when she and teammate Megan Price beat USU's Taylor Perry and Jaclyn West in the doubles final. Statesman file photo By KAYLA CLARK sports senior writer The USU women's tennis team competed this past weekend in the BYU Fall Tennis Invitational. USU Head Coach Christian Wright said the invitational is a good way for the girls on the team to gauge where they are physically, and give them an idea of what they need to work on for the season. "I definitely could see that we need to work out harder so that those matches don't make us quite so tired," he said, "but the girls really pushed themselves and fought really hard." The first of three days of competition was Thursday. In the Flight A singles draw, sophomore Jaclyn West was the only Aggie to advance in regular competition. West defeated Weber State's Brittany Moore 6-3, 7-6, 6-1, in the initial round. She went on to beat Melissa Holzinger of Colorado State, by default, in the next round. "Jaclyn did really well," Wright said. "I was really pleased with her performance." Wright also pointed out exceptional performances from Hailey Swenson and Taylor Perry the two seniors on the team. "They both have played well for the years they have been here, and they con- tinue to impress me," he said. Juniors Monica Abella, Julie Tukuafu, Brianna Harris and senior Hailey Swenson each advanced to the quarterfinal rounds of the A consolation draw on Thursday. In the Flight B singles draw, Perry and Watts advanced to the second day of play. Watts defeated Colorado State's Kaitlin Wooldridge, 7-5, 7-5, in the second round and continued her successful day with a win over Weber State's Kristi Russel, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, in the quarterfinal round. Perry moved past the round of 16 with a bye and defeated fellow Utah State teammate and sophomore Mersadi Wilkins, 6-1, 6-0, in the quarterfinal round. Wilkins and sophomores Jenny Phillips and Whitney White each advanced to the quarterfinal rounds. Battles continued on Friday when Swenson led Utah State in the consolation A draw, defeating Colorado State's Lauren Mulhem, 6-2, 6-1, in the second round. Perry advanced to the final round of the B Draw after defeating the Rams' Lauren Pick, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. On the third and final day of competition, Perry walked away winning first place in the B singles draw, and second in the doubles competi- tion. "Perry is a very dedicated player," Wright said. Perry defeated the cougar's Andie Young, 6-4, 6-2, in the final round. Perry now holds a 3-0 record in singles play for this fall. She also advanced to the final round of the doubles draw with sophomore partner Jaclyn West. However, Perry and West ultimately fell to BYU's Callie Craig and Megan Price, 8-6. Hailey Swenson defeated Wyoming's Simona Synokova, 6-2, 6-3, advancing to the final round of the consolation B draw where she defeated Brigham Young's Callie Craig, 6-0, 6-2, taking the first-place spot. (Swenson advanced to 5-1 in singles action thus far.) Pre-season competition continues for the Ags with the USU Invitational Oct. 1 through Saturday October 2 at the USU outdoor tennis courts. "We now know a lot of the areas we need to work on, and will continue to work hard and do our best," said Wright. "All of the girls really mesh together well this season; I am so impressed with that. We are going to have a great team." - kayla.clark@aggiemaiLusu. edu Time to power through injuries With Saturday's loss to Fresno State, the stakes are raised even higher for The View from Section F Utah State's quest for bowl eligibility. Games against teams like Fresno State, San Diego State, BYU, Louisiana Tech and Idaho are all swing games that will determine the overall outcome of this season. In other words, there are a handful of games that USU is expected to win (New Mexico State, San Jose State) and there are a handful of games that the Aggies are expected to lose (Nevada, Boise State). The rest of the games are the ones which will be determined simply by who performs better on that given day. In the first of those swing games of the 2010 season, Fresno State stepped up and outperformed the Aggies, leaving USU with one less swing game to work with. Utah State played what will hopefully be its worst performance of the year against Fresno State, even when you factor in a very solid first half of play by USU. The second half was just that bad. The Bulldogs, on average, started each of their drives from their own 44-yard line throughout the entire second half. The Aggies, minus the short field they had following Quinn Garner's second-half interception, started their drives from an average of their own 23-yard line, essentially giving Fresno State 21 fewer yards to drive for the entire second half. Aside from the special teams woes that gave Fresno State a monumental advantage in the field-position battle, the USU offense hit a wall where it completely stagnated in the second half. From the point where the Aggies scored their final touchdown to go up 24-17 (6:09 remaining in the third quarter) and when Fresno State went up 41-24 (:42 left in the fourth quarter), Utah State gained just 24 total yards on offense. Once again, the Aggies are in a position where nobody is really sure how good this team is or can be, and given the severity with which the injury bug has bitten this year's team, the question of how good they could have been may remain forever a mystery. San Diego State will be yet another test and is a chance for USU to step up and make a statement about how good they can be. Again, though, with the uncertain status of defensive backs Chris Randle and Rajric Coleman, the Aggies could be without five of their seven best players if those two join Robert Turbin, Stanley Morrison and Matt Austin on the sidelines this week. It seems to be a frustrating reality that the 2010 season might be going from what could have been a very special season, to a season where fans and players will forever be wondering what could've been had the injury bug not devastated the team. If nothing else, there still appears to be a prime opportunity for the Aggies to bust the long losing streak versus BYU this year, as the Cougars look to be down this season more than most would have predicted. A win against BYU would most likely make this season a memorable one for that reason alone, but it could also be the jump-start to the rest of the season that USU needs in order to take care of business heading into WAC play. One thing is for sure, and it's that the next two weeks will likely tell us if Utah State's dreams of chasing down its first bowl appearance in more than a decade can become a reality. Matt Sonnenberg is a senior majoring in print journalism. Matt is an avid fan of Aggie athletics and can be found on the front row of every home football and basketball game. He can also be reached at matt.sonn@aggiemail.usu.edu . ATALNTA - Michael Vick earned himself a starting job by being - of all things - a pocket passer. Vick will take over as the Philadelphia Eagles' No. 1 quarterback, coach Andy Reid said Tuesday, a day after he announced he would go back to Kevin Kolb. "When someone is playing at the level Michael Vick is playing, you have to give him an opportunity," Reid said. "This isn't about Kevin Kolb's play. You're talking about Michael Vick as one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL right now." Vick is considered the greatest scrambling quarterback in NFL history, but he won the job over Kolb by demonstrating he no longer has a run-first mentality. Kolb missed the last six quarters because of a concussion, and Vick played well in his absence. Kolb was cleared to practice and was expected to run the firstteam offense on Wednesday. "Kevin is fine. It's not an injury-related issue," Reid said. "It's not about judging him. He's going to be a championship-caliber quarterback." Vick threw for 175 yards and one touchdown and ran for 103 yards in a 27-20 season-opening loss to Green Bay. He had 284 yards passing and two TDs in a 35-32 win at Detroit on Sunday. Kolb started two games in his first three seasons before he became the team's No. 1 quarterback after Donovan McNabb was traded to Washington. Kolb struggled in the first half against the Packers in the season opener, but he became the first QB in league history to throw for 300 yards in his first two career starts last year. Though the Eagles have been grooming Kolb to be the starter since drafting him in the second round in 2007, Vick forced Reid to make a difficult decision by playing better than he did when he was a superstar in Atlanta. "Michael did an exceptional job and my job is to evaluate the players," Reid said. "It's my obligation to make the proper decision." Vick's start against the Lions was his first in nearly four years. A three-time Pro Bowl pick during six seasons with the Falcons, Vick missed two seasons while serving an 18-month sentence in federal prison for his role in a dogfighting operation. He signed a twoyear contract with the Eagles before last season, then played sparingly behind McNabb and Kolb. Vick has completed 63.8% of his passes and has posted consecutive games with a passer rating above 100 for only the second time in his career. "His accelerated play was brilliant," Reid said. "This is what I think is right. He's back and maybe even a little better." Concealed Weapons Class r:onsolation A Semifinal: :Talley Swenson (USU) def. 3imona Synokova :WY0), 6-2, 6-3 When: Saturday September 25th Time:8:00 a.m - Noon Place: Ag Science Building Room 202 Cost: $45 Instructors: Bill Hendrickson usugop@aggiemail.usu.edu billhendrickson 1@yahoo.com To reserve your spot r:onsolation A Final: -Talley Swenson (USU) def. allie Craig (BYU), 6-0, 6-2 Come Get your Concealed Weapons Permitimil !I Draw Final. Taylor Perry :USU) def. Andie Young :BYU), 6-4, 6-2 www.keepsafecwp.com Tennis singles competition Tennis doubles competition Final: Callie Craig/Megan ?rice (BYU) def. Taylor ?erry/Jaclyn West (USU), 3-6 Upcoming NFL games Brought to you by USU College Republicans! You must be 21 or older and have no convicted felonies BRIDAL FAIRE® Saturday Sunday, Sept. 26 3allas at Houston, 1 p.m. Sept 25 3uffalo at New England, 1 p.m. ieveland at Baltimore, 1 p.m. ktlanta at New Orleans, 1 p.m. At USU Tennessee at N.Y. 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