Sports Old Gold & Black
Thursday, March 5, 2009 B3
M. tennis Deacs lose fourth straight in ACC tops No. 33 Louisville By Joe Maugeri | Staff writer
Wake Forest Florida State
By Alex Leopold | Staff writer
After being down 3-0, No. 30 Wake Forest men’s tennis came storming back to stun the No. 33 University of Louisville in front of a boisterous pro-Cardinal crowd. The Deacons fell to the daunting deficit after dropping the doubles as well as the losses of junior Steven Forman and sophomore Iain Atkinson in singles. “It just happed so fast,” Head Coach Jeff Zinn said. With the Deacons still holding a chance in the four other matches, the coaching staff told the players “keep fighting because you are doing well. Just focus on your match.” The chance turned into actuality as No. 37-ranked senior Cory Parr and freshman David Hopkins turned in straight-set victories at the No. 1 and No. 5 singles’ positions, respectively. This set the stage for the dramatic comebacks from junior Jason Morgenstern and sophomore Jonathan Wolff. Both were down a set and just barely nicked the second sets. Morgenstern was the first to come off the that which tied the match at three a piece. Wolff was able to overcome any nerves to take the match in dramatic fashion by winning the third set by the same 7-5 score-line. The coaching staff was ecstatic with the come-from-behind victory, especially after hearing that the Cardinals would go on to crush No. 13 Texas A&M 6-1 four days later. They were also pleased particularly with the play of Wolff. “He has been just phenomenal for us this year,” Zinn said. “He has a ton of confidence (while) last year he lost quite a few three-setmatches. This year, he is winning them. You see his growth from one year to another, so that is exciting.” Of course, despite this brilliant victory, there is still plenty of room for improvement. “To be truly successful, all six players have to play well during the match and that has not Hopkins happened yet,” Zinn said. “We have not had all six players playing well.” He noted that the debut of Atkinson, after being ineligible for 365 days, was still important to the team despite suffering both a singles and doubles loss. “What he gives to our lineup is that now we have no weaknesses,” Zinn said. “Before, we had some positions we were not quite sure of. He solidifies that.” Zinn attributed the losses to nerves and lack of true match-competition. The biggest concern for the coaches is not Atkinson’s play but rather figuring out the lineup. They are unsure who is going to hold down the two-spot, three-spot and four-spot. Doubles is an area where the Deacons may need to tinker. Despite No. 1 Parr and Forman’s victory, the Deacons lost the doubles point for the fifth consecutive match as the duo of junior Andrew Brasseaux and freshman Joost Vogel as well as Atkinson and Wolff dropped their matches in tightly contested 8-6 decisions. The Deacons were actually up a break in both of the losses. “It was probably our best doubles we have played all year,” Zinn said of his team’s effort in doubles. The 4-3 victory moves the team to 6-4 on the year. They will face the Wolverines of the University of Michigan March 7 in Ann Arbor, Mich. After losses against Ohio State, Minnesota and Wisconsin, Zinn is eager to pick up a victory. “We have to get on the scoreboard against a Big Ten team,” he said. “Again, it is going to be a tough environment. They play well at home.”
After dropping three straight games to N.C. State, Virginia Tech and Duke, the women’s basketball team teetered uneasily atop the NCAA tournament bubble. Every win became a necessity to build upon their résumé and to make a case for a coveted spot in the field of 64. This bubble, though, might have burst for the Deacons following a 58-47 loss to the No. 12 Florida State Seminoles March 1 at the LJVM Coliseum in what was the last game of the Deacons’ regular season. Despite the end result of the matchup, the Deacons jumped out to an early lead. With just under 14 minutes left in the first half, sophomore guard Camille Collier netted a three point jump shot to push the Deacons ahead 7-5. The Deacon lead would be short lived. The Seminole squad would respond to Collier’s basket by going on a 12-4 run that would put them ahead 17-11 with over eight minutes left to play in the half. Florida State would maintain the lead and build upon it to capture the 58-47 victory and a share of their first-ever ACC regular season title with the Maryland Terrapins. The game turned into a defensive struggle for both teams, with the women’s basketball team outshooting the Florida State team. The Seminoles sank 18 field goals to go 35 percent from the field while the Deacon squad made 20 field goals to shoot 36 percent from the field. The Deacons also made four three-pointers compared to three by the Seminoles. While the Deacons were able to out-shoot the Seminoles, they were beat at the foul line. The women’s basketball team gave the Seminoles 33 shots from the charity stripe and Florida State scored 19 of their points from the line. The Deacons scored only three points from the free throw line. The Deacons were led in scoring by freshman guard Brooke Thomas, who scored 13 points and added four assists.
By Matt Powers | Contributing writer Regardless of whether it’s a result of Wake Forest’s success on the varsity level or indicative of a national trend, the men’s club soccer team is growing. With interest rising consistently over the past three years, the team has even been forced to divide participants into two teams. For the nation whose leading sports network mentions the sport about once a month, this is a victory for soccer that should not be overlooked. This increased interest only leaves the team eager for more. Now is the perfect time for newly interested players to give the team a shot. Despite being the off-season, the team is far from stagnant. “In the spring we travel to other schools for tournaments whenever we can,” team president senior Chandra Vemulapalli notes. “We also try to scrimmage the womens’ varsity team.” This is no easy task, considering the
Connor Swarbrick/Old Gold & Black
Freshman guard Brooke Thomas beats a Duke player on a fast break for a layup. The Lady Deacs face N.C. State to kick off the ACC tournament. Collier added nine points, all of which came from three-point range. Florida State junior forward Jacinta Monroe’s double-double led the Seminoles. Monroe scored 21 points and pulled in 10 rebounds for the Seminoles. With the regular now behind them, the women’s basketball team is turning its focus toward the ACC Tournament. The Deacons will face the N.C. State Wolfpack on March 5 at 3 p.m. at the Greensboro Coliseum in the first round of the ACC Tournament. The No. 8 seeded N.C. State squad and the No. 9 seeded Deacon team have met twice this season, with the Wolfpack sweeping the regular season series.
The Wolfpack defeated the Deacons 59-51 on Feb. 12 in Raleigh and also snuck out of WinstonSalem on Feb. 12 with a 65-63 overtime victory. Sitting on the NCAA Tournament bubble, the Deacons must have a solid showing in the ACC Tournament to ensure that they will be dancing in March. ESPN’s women’s basketball bracketologist Charlie Creme currently has the Demon Deacons listed as one of the “First Four Out” in the tournament bracket. A deep run or a victory over a NCAA tournament bound team in the ACC tournament would go a long way in securing a spot at the dance for the Deacons and in making their post-season dreams possible.
Track finishes seventh and 10th at ACCs By Scott Wilson | Contributing writer
After returning from a sweep of the NY Armory Duals, winning both the men’s and women’s titles, the Wake Forest track and field team traveled to Blacksburg, Va., Thursday, Feb. 26 to compete at the ACC Track Championships hosted by Virginia Tech. From the beginning the Deacons faced a tough challenge, especially on the men’s side, with Florida State having won the previous six ACC titles. The women’s bracket was arguably even more difficult, including nationally ranked opponents No. 5 Virginia Tech, No. 6 Florida State, No. 12 UNC-Chapel Hill and No. 14 Miami. The Deacons set personal bests, broke ACC records, and earned Bingham s e v e r a l individual NCAA provisional bids during the event. In the end, however, it was not enough, as the Florida State men and women took both titles back to Tallahassee, Fla., with scores of 125 and 132 respectively. The Wake Forest men finished seventh tallying a score of 46, while the women finished tenth with a score of 24. Although the Demon Deacons did not return with any team hardware, many individuals performed well
For the Amateur Men’s Club Soccer
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under the bright lights of the conference championship. On the men’s side, both senior Michael Bingham and junior Jon Reid turned in outstanding weekends. Bingham, from nearby Burlington, N.C., won the men’s 400m dash with an NCAA provisional time of 46.23 and anchored the men’s 4 x 400m relay. In possibly one of the most exciting finishes of the day, Bingham closed the gap on Florida State senior Javier Garcia Tunon to within five meters after the first lap, before finally catching and passing Tunon around the final turn of the race to win the 4 x 400m relay for Wake Forest. Also running on the relay team were sophomore Allan Lunkenheimer, junior Tyler Dodds and Reid. Reid, in addition to helping win the 4 x 400m relay, cruised to a second place finish behind Bingham in the 400m, finishing with an NCAA provisional time of 46. 83. “That was just a really great performance by both athletes,” assistant coach Scott Hall said. “Michael (Bingham) jumped out there and Jon (Reid) made some really nice moves to get into a good position coming down the stretch. It was just a really smart race by both guys.” Reid, an Ontario, Canada native, won his second straight All-ACC honors after finishing third last year in the same event. The men’s heptathlon featured exceptional performances by three Demon Deacons, including a personal-best score of 5,672 by
girls ranked as high as number 10 in the polls last season and had two players named to the All-ACC team and three All-State. One challenge that the team has faced is that the primary season, being in the fall, coincides with when most students decide to go abroad. For this reason in particular the team is always disposed to giving new players the opportunity to join. There are several simple ways to get involved. If you already know someone on the team and are interested in playing, there’s no problem with tagging along for one of the more casual events this spring. By just becoming familiar with the other guys and dropping by for a practice, your membership would be well on its way. If you prefer to wait for the fall, at the beginning of every season there’s a tryout session at which everyone’s welcome to show their skills. If neither option suits you, feel free to send an e-mail directly to Vemulapalli at vemukc6@ wfu.edu or anyone else on the team. “The more active and interested players we get, the more our success is sure to continue.”
senior Brent LaRue. He finished second in the 60m dash (behind fellow Deacon junior Tyler Dodds), seventh in the long jump, sixth in the shot put and fourth in the high jump. By breaking his own ACC record in the men’s heptathlon (which was later broken by two other contestants), LaRue assured himself a third place finish in the men’s heptahlon. Other notable heptathlon performances included Dodds winning the 60m dash and freshman Alex Hill finishing third in the long jump. For the women, junior Nicole Castronuova broke a school record by running an NCAA provisional time of 54.39 in the 400m dash preliminaries. Castronuova also ran a 24.56 in the 200m dash, but narrowly missed qualifying for the finals in that event. Not to be outdone, junior Caroline Vaughn set another school record of 8.43 in the 60m hurdles, but because she ran that as a part of the pentathlon competition, the time did not count toward qualifying her for the 60m hurdles finals. Vaughn finished 11th in the pentathlon with a score of 3,499, joining freshman Samantha Howell, who tallied an 18th place finish. Freshman Dina Nosenko turned in a personal best time of 4:55.98 in the women’s one mile run preliminaries on Friday Feb. 27, only to better it by running a 4:53.00 in the finals on Saturday, Feb. 28, finishing in fifth place.
Her older sister, sophomore Anna Nosenko, ran NCAA provisional times in both the 3,000m and 5,000m runs, finishing fourth and third respectively. Freshman Erin Brooks, competing at her first ACC Championships, turned in a solid performance in the women’s triple jump, jumping 40-03.50 feet on her last attempt of the competition to finish eighth and earn a team point. Another freshman competing in her first ACC Championships was Michelle Lange, who finished 13th in pole vault with a high vault of 3.65m. Although the Demon Deacons came into the ACC championships with one of the youngest teams in the conference, many athletes set personal and school bests. “We have been preaching to our athletes this week about rising to the occasion and performing better than they have all year, and I think it has really paid off,” head coach Annie Bennett said. “We have a young team that has been learning what it takes to compete at a high level, and they are just performing so well this week. The conference has grown so much over the past few years, and we have done the same thing as a team.” The Deacons compete in the NCAA Indoor Qualifier March 5-7. Following the Indoor Qualifier the Deacons will travel to Texas A&M for the NCAA Indoor Championships in College Station, Tx. The Indoor Championships will be held March 13-14.
R ISING T O A N EW L EVEL
Rachel Cameron/Old Gold & Black
Sophomore James Johnson has taken his game to a new level this season averaging 14.4 points per game. He is increasingly becoming the go-to man.