OCR Text |
Show SPORTS VOLUME LII ISSUE 9 IN THE ZONE with Matt Peterson OCTOBER 3, 2011 WWW.UVUREVIEW.COM Conference play begins USU's hypocrisy overwhelming That wave of hypocrisy you felt last week originated up north. From Logan, to be specific. From Utah State to be more specific. It was heard in press conferences and on the radio leading up to Friday's game. It was visible in the Aggies' efforts at Lavell Edwards Stadium. It was a five-day fix of "we want to be on the same level of competition and consideration as our larger, instate peers." Funny how it only goes one way. It was Utah State, you'll remember, who did to Utah Valley what they constantly claim to be the victim of: being ignored. This was five months ago, when UVU was being considered by the Western Athletic Conference. The Aggies, by far the coolest kid at the WAC table, could have waved in the Wolverines with as much effort as Caesar's thumb. And while USU didn't point its collective thumb downward, doing nothing had the same effect. Utah Valley, with an enrollment of 33,000plus and climbing, was out. Seattle University, enrollment 10,000-minus, was in. The reason? Seattle had a big brother, University of Idaho, behind it. UVU pleaded its case without muscle to back it up, making them weak and wanting. It was a curious cold shoulder from a school that mirrors Utah Valley in so many ways. Aggie fans hate BYU, but not the same way as Utah fans. There's more bitterness, more helpless hate. They know nearly everyone on the outside looking in simply deems BYU superior in just about every way. Deep down, they probably think the same thing. USU wants to shed that label of inferiority, and they know athletic success would go a long way to doing just that. It smells like the same recipe of resentment at Utah Valley, albeit with less venom. Utah State should have recognized that, seen the potential anti-BYU ally UVU could have been. The Wolverines and Aggies could have defiantly held their own party on the 1-15, publicly pulled the "we don't need Utah and BYU to have fun" act. In fact, would anything have been greater than a group of Aggie and Wolverine fans buying out an entire section of seats at the Utah-BYU game? They could have rained "we don't need you" chants, or something equally obnoxious just to tick off their more prestigious peers. USU, however, thought differently. They considered UVU beneath them, not good enough, not worth consideration. In other words, Utah State looked at UVU like BYU and 4. University Texas Pan-Am 6.Chicago St. 7.Howard University 8.South Carolina State 9.Delaware State 5.Houston Baptist 10. New Jersey Institute of 1.Cal Poly 2.UVU 3.North Dakota Breaking down the GWC UVU, Houston, N. Dakota on collision course /4,- By JONATHAN BOLDT and a look back on how they finished last season. The road to this seasons Great West championship appears to be a wideopen four-lane interstate as the teams prep for the beginning of conference play. If their pre-season records are any indication the UVU Wolverines should expect some stiff competition from the Huskies at Houston Baptist as well as the Fighting Sioux at North Dakota at the very least. As the Wolverines prepare to travel to North Dakota to kick off conference play, here is a preview of how the rest of the conference has faired up to this point in the season Last season the Wolverines lost their bid to repeat as champions in a double overtime thriller against eventual champs Houston Baptist. A game that looked to be headed for penalty kicks ended on a last second goal in the 105th minute, ending the game and the season by a score of 1-0. The loss finalized the Wolverines record at 10-9-1. Had UVU found a way to win the championship last year, this season would have been a potential three-peat for the Wolverines. Now they look to reclaim a conference championship they lost a sea- rai Photo by Mike Fackrel/UVU Review Regan Clifford and the Wolverines dominated everyone in conference play last year except Houston Baptist Utah Valley (5-6-0, 0-0-0) Asst. Sports Editor son ago. A 5-6 record is not where they want to be, but in this conference it has by no means put them out of contention for a successful season. Lauren Sack is last years Great West conference player of the year and has had a strong start to the season this year. For them make a run deep in the post-season tournament this year, this young team will rely heavily on her and her experience to keep them in a lot of games. Houston Baptist (6-7-0, 1 - 0 - 0) The Huskies have started this season on track to defend their championship from last year. They provided a dramatic finish to conference SOCCER B3 Atoa hopes to avoid conference letdown r I II 4 By MATT PETERSEN Sports Editor The Great West Conference is deceiving by two thirds, with "conference" as its only accurate description. As for "west," that depends on your definition. English immigrants of the 1600s may have considered New Jersey Institute of Technology part of the western world, but it hardly fits the modernday mold. "Great" is also hard to swallow, at least at Utah Valley. The Wolverines are defending region champions in seven sports, and the others that fell short kicked themselves for underachieving. Every UVU program feels they should, not just be able to, win the conference crown. And that's exactly what volleyball head coach Sam Atoa wants to avoid this year. "We've been talking about VOLLEYBALL B2 ZONE B3 CONTACT: Technology Photo by Shane Maryott/UVU Review After performing well against stiff non-conference competition, the volleyball team has fallen asleep against lesser conference opponents the last two years. SPORTS EDITOR ASST. SPORTS EDITOR SPORTS DESIGNER petersensports@gmail.com jonboldt@gmail.com gonzamatic@gmail.com MATT PETERSEN JONATHAN BOLDT ERIC GONZALEZ FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! @UVU_SPORTSDESK |