Kevin Fiorenzo, Co-Sports Editor my Frizzell, Co-Sports Editor On Deck Behrend Athletic Events Saturday Women's Tennis v.s. John Carroll 1 p.m. Men's Golf @ Pitt-Bradford TBA Men's Water Polo @ Salem Invitational 2:30 p.m. Men's Soccer @ W&J Cross Country @ Allegheny Invitational 10 a.m. Sunday Women's Volleyball @ La Roche Tournament 9 a.m. Women's Tennis @ Alfred 12 p.m. Tuesday Women's Tennis @ Thiel 4 p.m. Men's Water Polo @ Gannon 8:30 p.m. Wednesday Women's Soccer @ Pitt- Bradford 2 p.m. Men's Soccer @ Pitt-Bradfor 4 p.m. Women's Volleyball @ La Roche 7 p.m. Thursday Men's Golf @ ECAC 9 a.m. Friday Women's Volleyball v.s. Penn State Altoona 6 p.m. Women's Tennis @ Waynesburg 3 p.m. 2p.m. Cross country continues to excel This past weekend at the Behrend Invitational the girls' cross country team placed third and the guys fourth. After last week's double first place finish at Thiel there was the possibility of overconfidence, but both teams performed better amid more competition. In a field of 11 teams for the women, including a traditionally national ranked Mount Union, the girls held their own with three in the top 10 compared to Mount Union with four. They defeated rival Grove City who in previous years has had the depth to beat them. Team captain Jessica Knapp lead the girls to the finish with a fourth place time of 19:27, Jessica Sarver came in eighth place with 19:46, and freshman Leslie Gentile with 19:53 came in 10th place. Claire Manelick finished 25th in 21:22 and Bethany Crooks, a reluctant middle distance runner from track, came in 46th in 23:10 to finish out the top five. This is an improvement since last year's finish of sixth place with no women under 20 minutes. Recruiting by coach Cooper has brought in a number of freshman and a new assistant, coach Barwin. Stren•th for both teams has been built with help from the new recruits. The men's team also ran the 8K well with good competition from strong schools Mount Union and local rival Grove City. This is an improvement from last year in which the men placed sixth. They lost to Grove City by nine points. Freshman Brad Ruffo took the lead spot again for the men's team with a ninth place time of 27:48. Team captain, Tim Schultheis finished 14th with 28:06, Reuban Smith a freshman placed twentieth with 28:25, Clayton Kirschner came in 26th with 28:53, and the fifth man was freshman Craig Davis in 28th place with 28:53. The sixth man, Mark Surovick had an excellent finish. The boys hope to prove themselves when running against Grove City and Mercyhurst (second) later in the season. "Our team is even better than the results show, we had a tough week, workout wise, and are actually training through these races looking at the big picture, winning the AMCC title," Tim Schultheis said. "This year not many Division 111 programs will be able to challenge us [girls and guys) - our main competition will come from Division II programs," said Floyd Manic. The same is true for the girls' team. The team is training through meets or working hard right up to the race and keeping a steady high mileage with an end of season goal at AMCC. The results of this strategy will show up later on in the season against rival Frostburg at AMCCs. This year the depth is there for both teams to win the AMCC title, and do well in the meets that mark the road to that goal. Brad Ruffo both earned AMCC athlete of the week honors for the second week in a row for his performance at the Behrend Invite. The team travels to the Allegheny Invite Saturday, and will hope to improve on its success after another week of training. Voile Senior, Danielle Bemis goes up for a spike . . , Friday September 19, 2003 by Jessica Knapp contributing writer ball team hosts invitational Women's bounces Freshman, Jenna Yankowski serves during practice by Allen Lu staff writer The womens' tennis team faced a challeng ing schedule this season with a stretch of 10 games in a row starting on Sept. 11 and last ing till Sept. 21. On Sept. 6, Behrend hosted a invitational, were three teams competed against Behrend; Fredonia, Bethany and Alfred. The Lions took all three as losses. "The team is still pretty young. Their miry-, weakness is that they need experience,'' 444,44; head coach, Jeff Barger. "This year, my top six players are probably as good as the best I've ever coached. Their main problem is that they need to be consis tent with their game. Right now, the kids would do really well in one game, but then go down hill the next game and then come back for another win. What I want is for them to gradually get better and become more consis tent in their wins." Co-captains this season are sophomore Am ber Weckoski and junior Christine Leininger. Also returning to the line up is sophomore Amy Frizzell and Jenny Zhang. With fresh men Mindy Calvert and Jenna Yankowski, junior Micha Archer and senior Cassie Willey rounding out the newcomers. The women had their first AMCC match Sept. 14 against Frostburg. After a tough struggle, the Lions lost by one match with a score of 5-4. They were able to pull out with a comeback the following game on Sept. 16 at Fredonia with a score of 6-3. "We have a good group this year with four The Lady Lion's volleyball team held it's first invitational this past weekend at Behrend. Their first game versus Medaille ended with a win for Behrend. With a score of 3-2. That same day, Behrend played W & J. However, that game ended with a loss for Behrend; the score was 3-1. On Sept. 13, Behrend played Bethany and lost 3-0. That same day, Behrend matched Medaille once more, only this time, Behrend ended with a losing score of 3- The Lady Lions have not gotten dis couraged, from the losses they've had. Since the beginning of the season, all the girls have been excited and eager to win. Also, the volleyball team has brought in some tough new freshman to fill the po sitions needed. Returning players include: junior, Ashley Ordy and sophomores, Trisha Adams, Amanda Evans, Elizabeth Bello and Erin Bennett. This season, Behrend will play 11 con ference matches along with three tour- The Lions will play a total of six conference matches against Chatham, Frostburg and Penn State Altoona. The AMCC championship is scheduled to take place at Penn State Altoona on Oct. 18. "It is still early in the season and the team will get more experience," said Barger. "I plan to send as many players as I can into the conference. The more players we have at the conference, the more chances we have at winning," said Barger. The Lion's next match will be their second conference match against Chatham College on September 19 at 4:00 p.m. Adding to the busy schedule will be two more matches the follow ing the day on September 20, against Penn State Altoona at 10 a.m. and John Carroll University at Ip.m. by Amy Hiles staff writer The Behrend Beacon tennis back returning players from last year and two solid freshman," said Barger. "The team gets along very well and I think that's a very important factor. They can't be successful when there busy pulling each other's hair out. Our singles players are also very strong this year too." The only weaknesses the team seems to have is of experience and consistency. The doubles teams are also weak this season but hope to improve with practice naments So far, the season was started off with a trip to Colorado for first tournament. From there, it begin to pursue their wins all season long. "I feel it's going to be a good game for us all. It's our first home game for us and we are starting to play better to gether as a team. All in all, I think we'll play well," said freshman Paige Payer. "Our defense is getting a lot better and we're working together more as a team. Thursday's game is going to be fun be cause we're going to go out there and try and win." said freshman Rae Ann Sherred. The girls have been optimistic. "They have been pretty tough," said "We have really been doing drills to get us quicker on our feet but we are getting better. I would have to say that every practice, we get a little bit better." Sherred also said, "They have been working really hard. We have been fo cusing a lot on the defense but it has defi nitely paid off." Page
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