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Show MONDAY, MARCH 10, 2008 . • THE COLLEGE TIMES Sports B5. SPORTS BRIEFS WOMEN'S BASKETBALL MEN'S BASKETBALL" Utah Valley's Jordan Brady and Chicago State's David Holston have been named Division I Independent co^ • Players of the Week for their performances in last week's action. The award is Holston's 7 ' sixth and Brady's first. In his final career collegiate game, Jordan Brady led Utah Valley with 19pointsand 17 rebounds as the Wolverines clinched a winning season, their 25th straight. Brady hit 7-of-8 shots from the field, all five of his free throws, and added three . assists in the game. His 17 rebounds were a career high and just one board shy of the school record. HOCKEY VOLUNTEERS o u n t y of UVSC Rugby The Wolverines rugby leam beat the San Diego Warriors 31 -20 in a tournament in San Diego in February. Rugby program looking to future KyleJeliings Spcm writer With a shot at the Pacific Coast Championships on the line, the Rugby team faced Idaho State on Saturday. Last season the team lost in the Pacific Coast Championships to Hurnboldt State University. But expectations are higher this year than they've ever been for men's rugby at the school. "We are rrftich better this year than wp were last year," rugby coach Gary Brown said. Before Brown arrived, the team was Idfcking any structure - something he brought in spades, providing the learn with just wluu it needed to do much Ix'Ucr. "It used to be just phi)or cone hi nil. but now we are 'going now he re but up." Hill Ungriehi, a member ol" the team. said. l.asi \e;n\ Brown led the lentn to ihe phiso! W and a - win-over Division 1 team Colorado State. '•• ""I'he new eoaches ha\e $ elevated this program to a hew Jc\el." L'ngricht said. Brown added. *'We ha\e the pla\er resources (o make a reall\ great program." Coach's last time around Tony Gunderson Sporis ivnt^i Goals have been met and a career accomplished for baseball coach Steve Gardner, who will retire from the baseball program here after 18 years of coaching on a variety of levels. "The people here have been outstanding," he said. "We have a beautiful facility now, and we are a Division 1 team, which has been my goal as a coach. When you start coaching in high school, you want to get as far as you can." After playing pro baseball, Gardner decided to take his talents to others and teach the sport through coaching. He took a job in Ogden as a junior high football and baseball coach and from there began climbing the ladder of his profession. "I have had that opportunity to coach on all three levels: high school, junior college, and Division I." he said. He was in Bonneville High School's' baseball program as head coach for eight years before moving down to central Utah. where he was head coach and athletic director for Snow College. He encled up at UVSC and will finish up strong. Coach Gardner made a large contribution lo the school when he helped aid tin; baseball program's move forward inlo D-1 status Ii\c years ago. "The school had lo buy in on the program." said Gardner. "We (the team) had lo step up to that level. .and that is what this school has done." In fact, last season provided the best record the ream has had. With 25 wins, ii was a large improvement from I he team's first season since moving up from junior college competition. This Near has been a different story; facing harsh weather conditions, the leam hasn't had much practice time and has started with a rocky 1-7. Gardner says the change will come with "improvement e\er_\day in practice," and will provide a little more experience •for the younger players. Defense is this team's underlining attribute. "Our defense/' he said, "there's not a lot of mistakes." Eric Madsen. who has been an assistant head coach at the school since 2004, will take over as the new head coach when Gardner retires. "It's all about the lo\e of the game," said Gard ncr. "I've always said you want to surround yourselt with good people." (letting all ol" the players lo come is not exactly an ea\\ tiling to do. \\ iih the lack of scholarships olfered. it is lough to get some of the students lo keep pla> ing. It is cerlainU a challenge going to school lull -nine. w orkmg, and pln\ ing nigh}. I ike all club sports, more linancial hacking to The Team*' would uiKloubtedk help. "hinances basicaJI_\ come out ol our ow n pockeN." t : lgncht mentioned One ol the long-ten,gt >ah ol the piogi ;tui is lo 1 \ able to stall i i k i <h .In >l arships to students, or to at least produce enough funds to help ease the financial burdens for some of the players. And there seems to be something else the rugby team, like many of UVSC's teams, lacks: fan support. "We need some fan support. It is the school's contact sport." Ulgricht said. The rugby leam coneludes their regular season p U i ' V BYU March 14 at B Y t , \ Helaman Field, and then playing i.against Utah I'nivcisit) March 22 at home. «' MEN'S BASKETBALL from B6 10 games where he scored 2C) points or more. Brails led the team in rebounds in IL> ol" the 29 games and averaged N.4 a game. Josh OKen led the leam in assists with 3.1 per game. Still liansiiioning from those junior college days, there is work lo do. "We ob\ ious|\ luive " our hands full and our work cut nut for us in the recruiting area." Hunsaker said. "For us to compete against Big West. Sunbelt, WAC level teams, we have a lot of work to do to recruit to that level." An advantage the team will have next year is playing fewer games on the road, where the team finished 5-1 I this year. After playing 16 road games this season, the Wolverines get return games from most of those teams next season. Next season will also be the final year of playing under the D-I provisional stains. HOCKEY from B8 slow start and took control. Rail ling offihree straight goals, giving them a 4-1 lead halfway through the second period, shots from nearly ever> Wolverine player on the ice had the Cougar goallender bending in all sorts of unnatural positions to at'tempt to stop the scoring onslaught with little luck. With Utah Valley ready to bottle up the rout they were brewing. BYU scored their second goal with seven minutes remaining in the second, to bring the game closer with a 4-2 score, -n Ihe Cougar momentum would nol hist long, however. The Wolverines imnVcdialely seized control back, scoring two quick goals with just one-minute licking off the clock since the BYU goal. Utah Valley's pointsleader David Wyman tallied two goals and one assist in the final regular season game, and the team's caplain, Eric Bowman, netted one goal and two assists. The goal tending was impressive for the Wolverines. . with freshman Colin Stebner lined up in the crease. Stebner stopped 33 of the 36 shots attempted on goal for the night, including a lightning quick glove save that took the energy out of a Cougar attempt at a comeback. The Wolverines skated to an impressive 25-9-3 record this season, including a 2-0-1 record against the Cougars. The hockey season ended with a 7-3 win over BYU, but the need for interns and volunteers isn't over. With the growing program headed to the offseason, the staff is busy preparing for next year, and there is plenty to do. There are plenty of opportunities to gel school credit as an intern, work-study or volunteer while helping build Utah Valley hockey into one of the best programs in the state. If interested go to room SC 213b March 25 at 4 p.m. For more information, you can contact Lisa Beaudry at lisa® uvschockey.com, or go to the hockey team's Web site, www. uvschockey.com BASEBALL Utah Valley's Robyn Fairbanks has been named the Division I Independent Women's Basketball Player of the Year for the second straight season, Savannah State's Ivy Smith was selected as the Defensive Piayer of the Year, and NJIT's Jessica Gerald earned Newcomer of the Year in a vote by head coaches and sports information/media relations . directors at nine Division I independent schools. Wolverine head coach Cathy Nixon was named the Coach of the Year for the first time while Sandy Marvin earned first team honors alongside Fairbanks, and Julie McMurray was named to the second team. Fairbanks, who was the unanimous choice for the player of the year, leads all independents in points (24.0 ppg), rebounds (10.0 rpg), field goal percentage (.579) and blocks (1.3) while leading the .Wolverines to a school-record 16 wins. She ranks fourth nationally in scoring, 16th in rebounding, and 13th in field goal percentage. She has 12 double-doubles on the year, including 17 points and a Cameron Indoor Stadium record 20 rebounds in a game at No. 14 Duke. She has also scored 30 points or more five times, including 39 in a win over Seton Hall. ~ Dan Christensen tossed a complete game, five-hitter in Utah Valley's 4-1 win over BYU as the neighboring schools met at the River City Classic in Sacramento on Friday. Christensen struck out two and didn't allow a walk in pitching his first career complete game win. He threw one complete game in 2007, but it was a loss at Gonzaga. The game was scoreless until the fifth when Ryan Jones led off with a double and Kai ', latch drove him in two batters later. After Christensen retired the top of the sixth in order on three straight flyouts, Utah Valley (2-8-4) pushed three runs across in the bottom of the sixth to take a 4-0 lead. With one out in the sixth, Jake Rickenbach walked before Scott Croshaw doubled him home for tHe second run of the game. AJ Palmer then walked and Jones grounded out to short, moving Croshaw to third and Palmer to second. Jace Brinkerhoff then came up with huge two-out single to center, plating the final two Wolverine runs. Fairbanks, a five-time Player of the Week winner this season, received 140 out of a possible 140 votes for inclusion on the All-Independent First Team. She has now been on named first team All-Independent in each of her first three seasons at Utah Valley. UTAH BLAZE The Utah Blaze announced the signing of kicker Steve Azar (5-9, 195, Northern Illinois) today. Terms of the contract were not disclosed due to team policy. "We are excited to have been able to find a veteran kicker like Steve," said Blaze head coach/general manager Danny White. "He will be a good fit into our system, and his experience will add a lot to our special teams unit." Azar began his kicking career in the af2 with the Memphis Xplorers. In 2006, he signed with the Chicago Rush and then returned to the af2. He signed with the Las Vegas Gladiators in 2007 where he was 82-for-92 on PAT's and 9-for-I8 on field goal attempts. Fans may remember Azar for kicking the winning field goal in the Gladiators' 54-53 victory over the Blaze at EnergySolutions arena on May 18,2007. BYU (5-7) scored its only run of the game in the seventh after Kent Walton doubled to lead off and later scored on a Bryce Ayoso single. U V SPORTS SCHEDULE Mar. 11 Baseball at BYU '• ^ j [ i : v ^ Q ^ Mar. 14 SoftballdoubleheaderatUNLV 3:00p.m. Mar. 15 Softball doubleheader at UNLV . :..,_>: against Nebraska and UNLV - ' Mar. 15 Women's golf at Southern Utah i ;00 p.m * all day WHAT TO WATCH NBA Men's college basketball i Mar. 11-16 Conference tournament! leckWfi |