Page 12
The Behrend Beacon
Tennis team nets two wins
by Scott Sohis
sports editor
The men's tennis team enjoyed an
eventful Saturday afternoon, building on
the successful start of the season.
Kicking off the doubleheader was in
conference opponent Pitt-Greensburg.
This was the Lions' first taste of AMCC
action of the season. They annihilated
Pitt-Greensburg, 9-0.
After their success against the Bobcats,
the team turned its attention to the Jackets
of Waynesburg. The Lions won this
match as well, suffering few losses. The
final score of 7-2 reflected only two
singles losses by the Lions, and saw the
team go 3-0 in doubles play.
Even the two players who lost in
singles, Kevin Fiorenzo and Jacob
Hillman, bounced back in doubles play
to win in the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles
matches respectively. Everyone was
successful for the Lions on this day.
Winning in the early to mid segment
of the season is a key to future success.
"This is the meat of the schedule and
we need to win to have aspirations of
playoff appearances," said Doug Smith,
the lone senior on the team.
What makes the Lions victories a bit
surprising was that they had to overcome
the absence of impressive freshman John
Marini, who missed the games due to
illness.
"We had a illness to a key player for
:aseball team rebounds against Allegheny
PHOTO BY SCOTT SOLTIS / BEHREND BEACON
Lions' catcher Brad Shamitko.
Women's water polo keeps head above water
by Amy Frizzell
staff writer
Two weeks ago, the
women's water polo team
hosted the St. Patrick's
Day invitational here at
Behrend. At the end of the
weekend, the Lions came
away with two wins and
three losses.
"The St. Patrick's Day
invite was a great
experience for us and also
the community by getting
more home games here at
Behrend," said coach Josh
Heynes.
The team lost to Grand
Valley, team rival
Mercyhurst, and Gannon.
"We could have done
better," said sophomore
captain Christine Williams.
"There were two games
we should have won."
Even though the team
had three losses, it came
away with two good wins.
"The wins over Ohio and
lUP were hard fought and
helped us build
confidence," said Heynes.
Leading the team to a 7-
5 win against Ohio was sophomore Christine
Williams with four goals, junior Hollie Stash
with two goals and junior Sarah McGarvey
with one goal.
Junior Lauren Packer contributed to the win
with 15 saves in goal.
Behrend also blew Indiana University of
the Pitt-Greensburg and Waynesburg
matches and everyone just did their best,"
said head coach Jeff Barger. "I moved a
couple of guys to places they usually don't
play but they did well."
Stepping it up for Behrend was
sophomore Ryan Deimel, who won all of
his matches at both first singles and first
doubles. Deimel's efforts helped him earn
AMCC Tennis Player of the Week.
The team will square off against last
year's AMCC champs Saturday when
inter-University rival Penn State Altoona
comes to Behrend. Although the season
is still young, the team realizes the
importance of this game.
Barger also understands that this match
will not be as easy as the two last
weekend. "This week's match with
Altoona will be a good one, if both teams
play their best."
The Lions are currently on a six game
win streak, and lost only their first match
of the season. "I hope we can ride this a
little longer," said Barger. "I would like
to see us peak around the conference
tournament."
The Lions must also take advantage of
home court while they have it. Their final
three conference games occur on the road,
and the AMCC tournament will be held
at Penn State Altoona this year.
Despite the long road ahead, if the
Lions continue to play as they have been
over the past few weeks, it won't matter
where they play the games.
Goalie Lauren Packer has anchored the Lions defense on the season and only needs a little more offensive
help for success.
Pennsylvania out of the water with a 13-5
win. Leading the team this time was
McGarvey with two goals, Stash with three,
senior Ann Marie Havey with two, sophomore
Erin Troester with one and Williams with one.
"I think this tournament was a turning point
for us," said Stash. "We're playing better as
,r. „ )
Friday, March 28, 2003
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Sophomore Michael Oey has helped the team to an impressive 6-1 record. Oey was undefeated last weekend
in singles and doubles matches against Pitt-Greensburg and Waynesburg.
by Kevin Fiorenzo
staff writer
The Behrend baseball team endured a tough
conference loss on Saturday against Penn
State Altoona but rebounded a few days later
with a win against a strong Allegheny team.
The baseball team hosted Penn State
Altoona Saturday in their first conference
game of the season. While the Behrend squad
put up an excellent fight, it was not able to
overcome the superb pitching of Altoona's
starter Luke Deihl, who registered 13
strikeouts.
"We couldn't get a rhythm together. He
kept us off balance and guessing on pitches,"
said outfielder Adam Best.
"We put him in a couple of jams and he
was able to work his way out of them well,"
said outfielder Mitch Reckner.
Though Altoona's pitching dominated the
game, the Behrend Lions were able to keep
the score close, eventually losing by a 4-2
margin. The win went to Altoona's Deihl and
the loss to Ryan Seyler. Seyler threw five
innings with seven hits, two runs, and two
Scott Soltis, Sports Editor
Lauren Packer, Assistant Sports Editor
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strikeouts. Freshman pitcher Brent Gabel
finished out the contest two innings of
work. He gave up three hits, two runs, and
also had three strikeouts.
"We didn't put enough hits together in
any given inning and we swung at too many
terrible pitches, helping out the pitcher
more than we usually do," said Best, who
is the AMCC's stolen bases leader with 12
and is hitting .439 with 18 hits.
Reckner, who is leading the AMCC in
batting average (.490), RBIs (17), and hits
(24), said, "This loss will make us just want
to play harder and win more. We are a very
talented team and it just happens that
Altoona was better than us on that given
day."
The loss against Altoona snapped
Behrend's nine-game winning streak and
dropped their record to 10-5 overall, 0-1 in
the AMCC.
Next up for the Lions was a game on
Tuesday the 25th at Allegheny. Like the
Altoona game, Behrend was engaged in
another close, hard-fought game. The game
was scoreless for the first four innings, but
a team."
Also participating in the invitational was
Grove City College.
Next the women played a doubleheader on
Tuesday against Division II team Slippery
Rock and Washington and Jefferson another
big team rival.
Behrend exploded in the top of the fifth for
four runs. Allegheny answered in the
bottom of the sixth with four runs of its own.
The score would stay deadlocked until the
end of regulation and went into extra
innings.
Behrend stepped up to the plate in top of
the 10th and scored two key runs. In the
bottom half of the inning, the Lions were
able to silence Allegheny's bats and hold
on to win 6-4. The win went to Gabel, who
threw for 3 1/3 innings and had three hits,
with no runs, and three strikeouts.
"Our team is fielding the ball really well,"
said Reckner. "That has been a big factor
that we have focused on this year."
Up next for the Lions are games on the
Saturday and Sunday against conference
rival Frostburg and Bethany. Both promise
to be particularly strong tests for Behrend.
"We will have to have less errors than
them and put the ball in play and make them
make the plays," said Best.
"All we have to do is play the way we
are capable of playing and everything will
fall into place," said Reckner.
The Lions started off strong in the first
game, leading 4-2, but Slippery Rock proved
too powerful, coming back fora 11-6 win. This
gave Behrend its second loss to Slippery
Rock this season.
"Though the score may not show it, we
played well as team," said Stash.
"We had them, we just died," said Williams.
"Next time around will be a closer game."
In their second game, the Lions took on
rival Washington and Jefferson. Despite
being tied at the half the women sank, losing
8-6 in the end, making their current record
'We had them, we just died. Next
time around will be a closer game.'
-Captain Christine Williams,on the
team's match against Slippery Rock
"We held our ground against these two
teams," said Heynes. "I think the Washington
and Jefferson game would have been different
if we had not played an hour earlier."
"We played well as a team," said Stash. "I
think it will help us this weekend."
Next the team will play in the Southern
Divisional playoffs on March 28-30 at
Washington and Jefferson.
"We just have to stick to the game plans
and keep on playing the ball that we are," said
Heynes. "I see us doing some great things in
the three weeks we have left in the season."
"We're looking forward to playing
Washington and Jefferson, Gannon, and lUP,"
said Williams. "By our game on Sunday
against Mercyhurst, we'll be prepared."