SPORTS
B2/Liberty Champion
April 9, 2013
Lady Flames fall to Marshall
Women’s tennis winning streak snapped in 6-1 loss to visiting Thundering Herd, Saturday, April 6 Steven Sullivan ssullivan5@liberty.edu
The Liberty University women’s tennis team four-game winning streak snapped against Marshall Thundering Herd, 6-1. “Marshall is a team that has competed with the top 30 teams in the country and been within points of beating them,” Head Coach Jeff Maren said. “They’re legit. They’re a very good team, so, for us to play a match like this, it was very beneficial.” With the loss, Liberty falls to 10-8 (6-2 Big South). The Lady Flames have two games remaining, one against Big South opponent Charleston Southern and another against non-conference opponent Richmond. “Every match that Coach Maren has prepared for us, it’s to prepare us for the Big South (Championship). We are playing difficult teams, but that’s for a purpose. We don’t want to play lower teams … to give us a false confidence,” Valerie Thong said. The Lady Flames lost the doubles portion of the match, falling behind 2-0. Marshall’s first and second pairs defeated Liberty’s pairings to secure the two points. Marshall’s No. 1 team of Dominika Zaprazna and Kara Kucin defeated Liber-
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ty’s No. 1 team of Rebekah Jenkins and Nicola Wellman, 8-1. Marshall’s No. 2 team of Ellie Ball and Maria Voscekova also prevailed against Liberty’s No. 2 duo of Jessie Boda and Brittany Yang, 8-4. Liberty did secure one victory in the doubles portion of the match as Liberty’s No. 3 duo of Cameron Richard and Thong defeated Marshall’s team of Dana
Men’s v-ball fifth in national tourney Courtney Tyree ctyree@liberty.edu
The Liberty University Men’s club volleyball team traveled to Dallas April 3 to compete in the 2013 National Collegiate Volleyball Federation (NCVF) Tournament. Liberty entered the tournament ranked 20th out of 24 teams, but emerged from it near the top, placing fifth. The Flames started day one of the tournament competing against Penn State Harrisburg, clinching their first win of the tournament (25-11, 25-19). The Flames then stole a win from Central Michigan University (25-17, 25-18). In its third match of the day, Liberty played an evenly matched contest against the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point that resulted in a third set, the equivalent of overtime in volleyball. The Flames held on to win 2-1, leaving them 3-0 at the end of day one. Liberty entered day two and took on Vanderbilt University in the first match. The Commodores took the match from the Flames in three sets, (2523, 24-26, 15-7). The Flames finished day two of the tournament against Washington State University, capturing the match from Cougars winning (20-5, 15-25, 16-14). The win placed the Flames into the Gold Bracket, which consisted of eight teams, on the final day of the tournament. Liberty played Iowa State University in the first round, winning the first game 25-19. With the second game tied at
| Liberty Champion
ALL IS LOVE— Alexandera Sheeran has a 2-1 conference record in singles play.
23, the Flames fought for the win but fell short (29-27), leading to a third set. The match fell in favor of Iowa State, when it won the set 15-9. “It was disappointing because we had Iowa State on the ropes when we had won the first game and had a chance to finish them off when it was 23-all in the second game,” senior Aaron Kronawetter said. “We knew if we could just get past them, we could have won it all.” Iowa State University went on to take the championship title at the NCVF Tournament. “We knew that if we beat Iowa State, we could win the whole thing. We won big in the first game, but they got really scrappy, and our hitters just couldn’t hit the floor,” Steven Abbott said. Derek Abildness led the Flames with 51 kills in the weekend tournament. Ethan Chase closely behind with 46. Josiah William collected 35 digs for the team, and Abbott collected 29. Setter Jamie Stedjan led the team with 131 assists on the tournament and was named Honorable Mention for the AllTournament Team Setter. “We played well together and had a lot of tough battles,” Kronawetter said. “We had a better ranking this year than last, and next year looks to be even more promising. Our defense played a huge role in all of our wins.” TYREE is a sports reporter.
Oppinger and Kai Broomfield, 8-4. “Today, I felt we really hung in there, and every single game, there are so many points you don’t see that don’t go on the scoreboard,” Jenkins said. The Lady Flames lost every singles match with the exception of one. The lone victory came from Thong, who defeated Marshall’s Broomfield, (6-2, 6-0).
Thong is currently riding a five-match winning streak. Jenkins and Richard each took their matches to extra sets, but ultimately lost (6-3, 6-1, 6-4) and (6-4, 4-6, 6-1), respectively. “The whole thing is we have to see it from not an emotional perspective,” Jenkins said. “This is another match bringing us to our goal.” Marshall’s No. 3-6 players won their matches in straight sets. The point to seal the victory for Marshall stemmed from No. 6 Kucin besting Liberty’s No. 6 Annisha Domenech (6-3, 6-0). “Just like anybody, you want to win, but they see the bigger picture,” Maren said. “And that’s what I want them to see is the bigger picture, that in a small sense we lost. But in a sense, we’re better because of this.” The Lady Flames have two games remaining on their schedule, which will condition them for a postseason run for the Big South Championship. The Big South Tournament is scheduled for April 17. SULLIVAN is a sports reporter.
TRACK continued from B1 Washington added a secondplace finish to his accolades, setting a new personal best of 53.34 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles. In the field, Liberty added four more event victories. In addition to his relay victory, Williams added a win in the long jump. The junior sailed to 23-5.25 in the horizontal jump. Sophomore Kyle Wheeler added a victory to the Flames tally in the vertical jump. Wheeler cleared 6-8.25 to win the high jump. The Flames were led by redshirt senior Ryan Smith in the throws. In the hammer throw, Smith threw 195-3 and outdistanced the second-place throw by 30 feet to win. The redshirt senior added a second victory in the shot put with a throw of 56-10.25. Smith won the Liberty Collegiate Invitational shot put title for the fifth straight year. Smith also finished the competition with a third-place finish in the discus, throwing for 155-9. The Lady Flames contributed 10 event titles to Liberty’s total. On the track, the Liberty women were led by sophomore Abigail Flower. The sprinter captured two individual event victories during the meet. Flower dashed to a personal best time of 11.75 seconds in the 100-meter dash to pick up the title. The sophomore’s second individual victory came in the 200-meter dash. Flower crossed the finish line at 24.53 seconds, more than a full second ahead of the second-place finisher. Flower combined with Sherri Spruel, Brittany Crittenden and Olivia Davis to win the 4x100meter relay with a season-best time of 47.25 seconds. Ansley Gebben, Brittney Webley, Janae Jones and Corinn
Ruth Bibby | Liberty Champion
HINDRANCE — Runners face obstacles on the track. Bedell added a second relay victory for the Lady Flames in the 4x400-meter relay. The quartet finished the race in 3:54.43. “I was pretty impressed with the 4x4. We really pushed out hard,” Jones said. The Lady Flames also added two victories in the distance events. Senior Khristina Kanagy crossed the finish line more than 10 seconds ahead of the field to win the 1500-meter run. Her 4:40.18 race was a personal record. Jacy Christiansen captured the 5000-meter title with a time of 18:01.78. The sophomore ran the race more than 16 seconds faster than the second-place finisher. In the field, the Lady Flames tallied four individual event wins. In addition to her 4x400-meter relay victory, Jones recored a 38-10.25 to win the triple jump. Jennifer Nicholson threw 153-2 for a personal-best in the discus. The sophomore edged out teammate Jocelyn Williams (152-11) for first place. Mychelle Cumings added a second victory for the Lady Flames in the throws. Her 49-11.75 in the shot put outdistanced the
field by more than five feet. The sophomore captured her second straight shot put win at the invitational. Sophomore Riley Brandon led the way for the Lady Flames in the heptathlon. Brandon posted 4,446 total points, a personal best, to win the multi-event. Teammate Audrey Bamford (4,343) placed third, and Erika Jackson (4,011) finished in the fourth position. “We had some season-best performances, which is what you’re hoping for as you’re coming into conference,” Tolsma said. “I think for the most part, though, the team is coming into (its) own.” The men’s and women’s teams will have a weekend off from competition as they prepare for the Big South Outdoor Track and Field Championships. “The athletes know what they’re supposed to do,” Tolsma said. “We’re just trying to get the minds ready at this point.” The championship meet will be held at Liberty’s MatthesHopkins Track Complex April 18-20. BROWN is a sports reporter.
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