Sports
B4 Wednesday, October 19, 2016
The Volante I volanteonline.com
Coyote club baseball wraps up fall season By Amber Hallberg
Amber.Hallberg@coyotes.usd.edu
The University of South Dakota doesn’t have a baseball team, however, this hasn’t stopped a group of students from gathering on the baseball diamond every day to play “America’s pastime.” “I think USD should have an official team, I think it would draw a good crowd, especially in the spring,” said Zach Garrett, president of the USD club baseball team. The number of games the club plays is dependent upon their president and how many games they would like to schedule. The baseball team plays approximately 10 games in the fall and around 15 in the spring. This year they will have roughly 25-30 games. “My philosophy for the fall
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assists per set. “The feeling of leading the Summit League is awesome but it isn’t about me, it is a team sport. I wouldn’t be able to get assists if I didn’t have the hitters,” Jessen said. “Our goal is to win the Summit League this year and we just have to stay focused as a team but also focus on making ourselves better as individuals.” That focus has paid off over the course of a year, as the Coyotes have seen vast improvement as a team from last season. “The team has put in the work over the course of the year and that is striving to be
is to have even playing time. In the spring we will start our starters,” Garrett said. This fall season the team has had an uphill battle in search of wins. The Coyotes have won two games. Their first victory came against North Dakota State University. The Coyotes won the game with a score of 9-6. For their second win the USD men took down Winona State 6-3. In their recent double-header against Minnesota West, the Coyotes fell 3-6 and 11-6. Their record for the fall season was 7-2. The baseball team has held their very first Red and White Series, an inter-squad series that is split into two teams, the Red and White teams. So far, the White team leads the series with one win, however, there’s still two more games to be played. The winner of the
series will receive a trophy in which the word “Red” or “White” will be carved into it along with the year. Even though the White team won the first game, the player of the game went to the Red team’s Cole Cheeseman. When conference rolls around, USD will want their best out on the field. The pick-up games the team plays count toward their non-conference schedule, but if the team doesn’t win their conference, they won’t advance to regionals. Sophomore Cole Cheeseman said that in order to reach their goal of winning conference, the men practice three times a week for a couple of hours a day. “It’s not really hard drills, we just like to keep our skills fresh,” he said.
a better team than we were last year,” Williamson said. “Playing different teams is a testament to what we have done and how we have improved from previous seasons.” The volleyball season is nearly year-round with spring practices happening and the girls also dedicate themselves to the game during the summer. “Being here all summer when it wasn’t required really showed us what kind of team we are,” said sophomore outside hitter Hayley Dotseth. “We dedicate ourselves to the game. We are able to build ourselves physically and mentally over the summer and we can carry that strength into the school year. When we are together over the summer we as a team can
talk up the season and get really excited about the year we want to have.” The Coyotes had a 15-16 record to end the season last year. They ended the season with an 8-8 conference record. “It feels good to be the team that we know we are capable of being this season,” Williamson said. “We aren’t satisfied with where we are right now. We have to continue to play well for the rest of the season and improve and be the best team. We have the drive and determination to not be satisfied with where we (are) at right now so we can make our way to the top.” The Coyotes are set to play Oral Roberts on Oct. 21 in Tulsa, Oklahoma in another Summit League matchup game.
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Senior Ryan Saeger hands the ball off to fellow senior Trevor Bouma in practice.
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again, as it kind of has, that’s definitely strengthened all of us. I think we might be getting tired of the overtime games a little bit, but being able to go out there and knowing everyone has my back out there, it’s definitely reassuring and definitely a big confidence boost.” The ability to consistently hit field goals is often an overlooked ability in college football, and Nielson is appreciative of Bergner’s ability to knock them down. “You really do forget, you think of field goals as extra points, but he came through in the clutch and I’m confident that he’ll continue to do that for us,” Nielson said.
the pieces, but our league is so tough winning games in our league is one of the most difficult things that you can do and I think they’re playing well right now obviously — big win for them against Southern.” Illinois State will be traveling to Vermillion this Saturday to face USD. Kickoff time is set for 2 p.m. “They’re a good team, as every team in the Valley,” Warner said. “They lost a couple guys on offense that they had last year that were real good players for them, but their quarterbacks very good, their receivers are good, their o-line is good, their running backs good, so they’re a good team just like any team in the Valley and we’ve got to prepare like we do every week and just focus on getting a win.”
USD soccer beats SDSU for first time since 2003
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of the opposing team we are scouting that week and will face in Saturday’s game. Thorough preparation is a major aspect of a student-athlete’s life and a quality characteristic that all are familiar with. But mental preparation isn’t the only form. Following our position meeting, the next event on our morning agenda was our mandatory weightlifting session. I say “mandatory” not from the standpoint that it was required procedurally, though it was, but rather because it was personally mandatory. A football player must maintain enough physical strength and endurance to optimize their abilities through an 11-week-long football season. Otherwise, a season filled with blowouts both on the scoreboard and within the knee joint are inevitable. Breakfast follows weightlifting and all of this is achieved before the earliest class even begins. After a day full of classes, football players go to pre-practice position meetings in the early afternoon followed by pre-practice prep and practice until around 6 p.m., but the day isn’t over yet. Like all students, leisure time must be devoted to homework. Unlike most students, film from the day’s practice must be watched and game week preparation must also ensue. It is at best a major generalization and at worst an entirely un-
With the win, the Coyotes improve to 3-3 on the season and 2-1 in Missouri Valley play. The Coyotes now prepare to face Illinois State. The Redbirds started the season strong defeating Valparaiso and Northwestern, but they have since hit a skid going 1-4 in their past five games. Their most recent game was a win over Southern Illinois, which gave them their first win in the Missouri Valley. Nielson sees the Redbirds’ recent struggles not as something against them, rather a testament to how strong the Valley is. “You read it that that’s how good our league is,” Nielson said. “They’re an outstanding football team. I think they were ranked as high as top five in the country at one time this year. Personnel wise, they’ve got all
By Amber Hallberg
Amber.Hallberg@coyotes.usd.edu
Submitted Photo I The Volante
Derek Chancellor lines up on offense during a game against Southern Illinois. founded fallacy that student-athletes are all lazy, don’t try hard or don’t pay attention in school. The reputation of student-athletes may always be riddled with entirely false and unfair stereotypes like this. While I will never condone laziness, the next time you see a football player falling asleep in class, have some perspective and think for a moment what they went through before you ate breakfast this morning. I’m not suggesting that student-athletes get extra sympathy for what they go through on a daily basis. Being a student-athlete is entirely voluntary. Those who complain about their status as a student athlete don’t deserve
to be one. I am, however, suggesting that unfair preconceptions and extreme generalizations about student-athletes and their special treatment exist at reprehensible amounts within all student populations across the country and an inclination to accept the all too popular stereotypes is absurd. My message to those who have played the game at the collegiate level: don’t disrespect the game, or your years of personal sacrifice and dedication to it, by letting any obstacle in the “real world” outside of football get in your way. A lifetime of challenges may front a facade of difficulty or even impossibility, but this is
simply because those particular challenges are unfamiliar. If you know what it’s like to grind through fall camp in the August heat, to sacrifice blood, sweat and tears for 60 minutes of “all you’ve got” — don’t just throw this experiences away. My message to those who didn’t have the opportunity to participate in collegiate athletics: before you judge a studentathlete based on an entirely unfounded stereotype or something you heard from someone else, get to know one of them first. Like my mother always says, “If you don’t like somebody, it’s probably because you don’t know them well enough.”
The USD women’s soccer team secured a 2-1 victory over rivals South Dakota State University Friday, the first time they’ve beat the Jackrabbits since 2003. Going into the match SDSU held the top spot in the Summit League as the Jackrabbits were undefeated in Summit League play. Junior Katlin Ptacek scored the first goal of the match and her career as a USD Coyote. Later in the game freshman Taryn LaBree sailed the ball past the SDSU goalkeeper Maggie Smither. This increased the score to 2-0. The Jackrabbits responded with a goal of their own by Nicole Hatcher putting the score at 2-1. The 20-30 mph winds played a role in how well the teams performed.
SDSU led in shots 10-8. However, USD led on shots on goal 6-5 in the first half but trailed in the second half 7-2. USD was able to stop SDSU from scoring on five separate occasions thanks to their goalkeeper Parker Rytz. Not only is beating their rivals an exciting win for the Coyotes, it also means that USD takes a 2-0 lead in the all-sport South Dakota Showdown Series. The game was USD’s first win against SDSU at the Division I level and ended a five-game losing streak dating back to 2003. The Coyotes will be back in action on Oct. 23 at 1 p.m. in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
WORK.INTERN.VOLUNTEER
Thursday, October 20. 11:00A.M.-3:00P.M. Muenster University Center (MUC) Ballroom ALL STUDENTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND!
OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC ACADEMIC & CAREER PLANNING CENTER Academic Commons 1st floor I.D. Weeks Library 605-677-5381 • advising@usd.edu
If you are a person with a disability and need a special accommodation to fully participate, please contact Disability Services 48 hours before the event at 605-677-6389.