I The Behrend Beacon
Men's tennis wins first conference match
By Mike Tomko
staff writer
This weekend the men's tennis
team split their conference match
es defeating Pitt-Greensburg on
Saturday by a score of 8-1 but
falling to Penn State Altoona 5-4
on Sunday
On Saturday, the Lions at home
took two of three doubles matches
against Pitt-Greensburg. In num
ber one doubles Junior John
Marini and freshman Steve Rohm
won their match 8-2. In number
two doubles Senior Jeremiah
Gutherie and freshman Miles
Boyea won their match 8-3. The Last year the men's tennis team ended its 2004 season winning the
third doubles team which consist- AMCC Championship title. It defeated Frostburg by one point. This year
ed of freshman Brian Kaleta and the teams hopes to repeat its success after losing four of its players
freshman Daryl Nowacki lost
their match 8-4
The Lions took all six singles matches versus
Pitt-Greensburg. freshman Miles Boyea won his
match 6-0, 6-0. Sophomore Brian Espin was vic-
Tar Heels on fire; NCAA moves ahead to Sweet Sixteen
I have seen, up close, the next NCAA champion and it is North
Carolina, though I wish I could find a way to imagine otherwise.
Louisville was my wild-hare pick at the start of this and Louisville
trounced Georgia Tech on Sunday to move into the Sweet 16, thank
God, thumbs up and hallelujah.
I enjoy Washington, respect Illinois, would never slight Oklahoma
State and continue to praise Wisconsin, Villanova and Arizona.
Through gritted teeth, I hail the surviving bracket-saboteurs:
Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Utah, West Virginia and North Carolina State.
But what I saw from North Carolina, in just a single practice and a
single game while I was in Charlotte, powerfully supercedes all initial
wishes and predictions about who will be cutting down the nets in St.
Louis.
I saw point guard Raymond Felton dribbling past anybody who tried
to stop him. I saw Sean May snapping down rebounds every time he
reached in the air.
I saw Rashad McCants swish deep jump shots when he wasn't guard
ed and, even more impressively for him, pass up had shots when he
was. I saw waves of tough and talented substitutes report in for Coach
Roy Williams at every whistle.
Most tellingly, I saw freshman reserve forward Marvin Williams
outrun, outjump and outrageously outmaneuver everybody on the
floor, including his own future NBA teammates.
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By Tim Kawakami
Knight Ridder Newspapers
(KRT)
torious in his match by a score of 6-1, 6-1,
Senior Todd Guarnieri won his match 6-2, 6-3.
Sophomore Matt Meyer, freshman James Myers
and freshman Trevor Dougherty also won their
matches.
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Can you imagine Syracuse's 2003 national-title team, if its lineup
was good enough to keep Carmelo Anthony on the bench as a secret
weapon?
That's North Carolina and nobody else
Lined up next to scrappy Duke, which also played its first two
rounds in Charlotte, North Carolina looked like an NBA All-Star team,
with Duke's only possible edge being Coach Mike Krzyzewski over
Williams.
Lined up against recent tournament dominators, the Tar Heels have
the feel of last year's Connecticut squad, a No. 2 seed that didn't estab
lish its aura of superiority until after a couple of early-round stomp-
Lined up against the rest of the Syracuse Regional survivors, the
Heels have to keep playing well, but Bucknell cleared out Kansas and
North Carolina State cleared out Connecticut. (By the way, contrary to
Jim Nantz and Billy Packer's initial warblings, this was not the "great
est regional" ever _ not when it was announced, not now, not ever.
Kansas was highly overrated and defending champion UConn never
ran at full power.)
Lined up against the other No. 1 seeds, Carolina is deeper and big
ger than Washington (the only other top team with first- and second
round romps) and Duke, which beat Carolina once in the ACC and I
have no idea how, and much bigger than Illinois.
Plus, Washington has to deal with Louisville (thumbs up) to get to
the Elite Eight, and Illinois probably has to deal with Oklahoma State
to get to St. Louis.
Lined up against the two most dangerous non-No. Is, Louisville and
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CI
~.)
Dougherty was given honorable mention for
conference player of the week with a 2-0 singles
record versus conference opponents and 3-0
overall
On Sunday at home, the team was less suc
cessful, losing to Penn State Altoona. Fatigue set
in from the match the previous day. The Lions
came out in a lull losing all three doubles match
es. Myers and Marini had the best match but still
lost 9-7.
"During the Pitt-Greensburg (match) we were
all pumped before the match during the PSU
Altoona (match) we were pretty worn out," said
Rohm.
Even though the Lions were down, they came
roaring back to capture four of the six single
matches. Boyea won his match 7-5, 6-0. Myers
won his match by a score of 6-2, 6-2. Meyer and
Dougherty also won their matches by forcing
three sets.
"Coach is handling the team well; he does a
very good job of giving us inspirational com
ments during the match that are simply amaz
ing," said Rohm.
On Wednesday the Lions hosted Thiel College
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Oklahoma State, North Carolina would have to play poorly to lose to
either in a prospective national-title game, and even then might pull out
victory
So one wonders what could stop North Carolina, which rolled past
Oakland, Mich., and lowa State in the first two rounds. Anything?
Other than a 1985-type Villanova performance out of 'Nova on Friday
in the Syracuse semis or an inspired three-point miracle from my
Louisville Cardinals, there is something.
So what could stop North Carolina? Anything? Other than a 1985-
type Villanova performance out of 'Nova on Friday in the Syracuse
semis or an inspired three-point miracle from my Louisville Cardinals,
there is something.
There's Roy Williams, probably the best coach never to have won a
national title and assuredly the best one to have screwed up a couple of
great chances
During his otherwise glorious Kansas tenure, Williams had the most
talented team in the tournament a few times and something always
happened to keep him out of the ultimate winner's circle.
Jayhawks fans loved Williams before he left, but many say he got
too tight in the big-pressure games, setting up simultaneous chokes by
players as great as Paul Pierce, Raef LaFrentz, Jacque Vaughn and Scot
Pollard.
Maybe that will happen again with Felton, McCants, Marvin
Williams & Co. But probably not, especially if Duke and Krzyzewski
aren't around to play (and hex) North Carolina in the Final Four.
t.: . '_ . :' - .office..:..?
Friday, March 25, 2005
in a non-conference match up. The Lions won
the match by a score of 6-3 improving the Lions
record to 7-6 on the season with a 1-1 confer-
ence record
The Lions won all three of the doubles match
es. Boyea and Guarnieri won their match 8-5,
Espin and Meyer won their match 8-6 and
Dougherty and Myers defeated their opponents
8-5.
In singles matches, the Lions won three of
their six singles matches. Winning for the Lions
were Guarnieri 6-3, 6-1. Myers 6-0, 6-1 and
Dougherty 6-0, 6-1. Boyea, Espin and Meyer all
lost for the Lions.
Penn State Altoona currently leads the AMCC
Conference with a 4-1 record and 2-0 in the con
ference, but the Lions still feel good about their
chances to win the AMCC title. The team is opti
mistic that they will end the year as AMCC
champs. This years team seems to be deeper
than last years team that took home the AMCC
title.
The Lions next two games are at home versus
Alfred on April I and a conference match at
home versus Frostburg on April 2.
=EI