Amy Frizzell & Kevin Fiorenzo, s orts editors On Deck Behrend Athletic Events Saturday Women's Water Polo @ Wheaton 10:20 a.m. Women's Water Polo @ Wheaton, Crossover Round TBD Men's and Women's Track & Field @ Western Championships @ CMU 9 a.m. Men's Tennis @ Penn State Altoona 12 p.m. Softball vs. Penn State Altoona 1 p.m . Baseball 0 Pitt-Bradford 1 p.m. Sunday Men's Tennis vs. Frostburg State 9 a.m. Baseball vs. Case Western Reserve 1 p.m . Monday Softball vs. Lake Erie 3 p.m . Wednesday Baseball @ Westminster 2. p.m. Thursday Softball @ Pitt-Bradford 1 p.m . Women's Water Polo @ Gannon 8 p.m. Baseball vs. Allegheny 3 p.m. Friday Men's Tennis @ Pitt-Greensburg 12:30 p.m. Softball @ Westminster 3 p.m . Tennis defeats Altonna in tight matt Barber earns AMCC honors in second consecutive week by Amy Frizzell sports editor Make it or break it time came and went for the men's tennis team this past weekend as it took on conference rival Penn State Altoona followed by a nonconference match against Thiel College. On Sunday the Lions defeated Thiel, 7-2, on their home turf. Junior Ryan Deimel and sophomore John Marini took the win at first doubles 9-8, fol lowed by sophomore Jon Barber and freshman Brian Espin at second doubles winning 8-4. Fi nally, freshmen Matt Meyer and Garrett Grenek fin ished out the doubles sweep at third winning 8-0. In singles play the team was unable to keep up the pattern, dropping just two matches. Deimel started off play winning at first 7-5, 6-3. Barber followed with a 6-0, 6-3 win at third, as did sopho more Kevin Fiorenzo, winning at fifth singles 6-2, 6-4. Freshman Matt Meyer rounded out play win ning at sixth 6-0, 6-2. Before defeating Thiel the Lions won a tight match against conference rival Penn State Altoona, 5-4. Doubles team Deimel and Marini, along with Meyer and Grenek, were unable to hold it together, dropping their matches. While Barber and Espin provided the only doubles win at second, 8-4. In singles play, Deimel walked away with a 6-0, 6-0 win followed by a win from Barber, 6-1, 6-4. Espin contributed a 6-3, 6-0 win. Finally, Meyer came through for the team, providing the match deciding win at 6-1, 6-2. "I am proud of the team and its performance this past weekend," said Barber. Not only did the team post a 2-0 record this past weekend, they also provided another AMCC Ath lete of the Week. Barber was given this honor for the second consecutive week. He was named after contributing four wins over the weekend in singles and doubles. Lady Lions lose six games, losing streak at 15 Behrend goalie Tara Braden attempts to block a Gannon shot as her teammates fight to help her. by Ray Immekus staff writer The women's water polo team continued its frustrating season last week with six losses in six games. With those losses, the Lady Lions moved to 1-18 on the season with 11 games left to play. The only win of the year for Behrend came at Utica on March 10. The women notched a 14- 7 victory. Since then, Behrend has lost 15 straight, with two games canceled on March 16 at Slippery Rock. After hosting the Behrend Invitational Tournament on March 20 and 21 , the women traveled to Slippery Rock on March 23 and March 27 for games against Grove City and Slippery Rock, respectively. The Lady Lions fell only three goals short against the Wolverines, losing 10-7. The women also lost to Grove City on March 12 and on March 21 in the second round of the Behrend Invitational. In another hard-fought game, Behrend fell short again, this time against Slippery Rock, losing to The Rock 14-8. The Lady Lions played and lost two more games on the March 27, falling to the Michigan Wolverines 15-4 and the Indiana Hoosiers 15-1. On Tuesday, Behrend hosted two games at the Junker Center. Game one was played against the Mercyhurst Lakers. The teams played tight for all four quarters, but Behrend fell short again losin g 7-5. SPORTS Friday, April 2, 2004 "It's like Frosted Flakes," said Barber of his recognition. "It's great!" Barber, who was also the only Behrend ath lete to earn the AMCC honor this week, wasn't the only one that was pumped about the news. "I think it's great. He deserves it," said Grenek. "I wanna see three weeks in a row!" Next up for the blue and white will be a tough weekend of matches, starting off with Alfred, who it will play at home today. "This is the big weekend of the season," said head coach Jeff Barger. "We'll be play ing two of our toughest conference matches of the season this weekend." The men will then travel to Altoona on Sat urday for the team's second meeting. "We gained experience against them and now we know what we have to do to beat them,"said Barber. "We're confident we can beat them again." On Sunday the Lions will take on Frostburg State for the first time this season at home. The Bobcats finished just before the Lions in last year's AMCC Championships, they also got the best of Behrend in their last regular season meeting in the 2003 season. "It will be tough match seeing as they just beat Altoona," said Barber. The team will have to solid doubles to keep its perfect conference record. "I think the key is doubles, they're important," said Barger. "Their singles line-up is tough so it will come down to doubles." The Lions are looking to confidence and drive to help them overcome the grueling travel schedule. "The traveling may affect the team but hopefully not. It's too bad the schedule had to work out this way," said Barger. "Getting up early and sitting in the van can prove to be more tiring than actually playing. I'm gonna have to get them there early so they can get a good warm up in." However, six goals by the Lions were called back by the officials on "off the bottom" calls. In the shallow end, players are not allowed to step off the bottom of the pool while attempting a shot. Coach Tristan argued each of the six calls. Cara Ludwig, a Lion who had at least two goals called back, also showed disbelief at the officiating. Had the six goals been scored, the Lions would have won 11-7. In game two, the women played host to the Gannon Golden Knights, and lost 15-1. Gannon is 15-3 on the year, including a 2-0 record in the Hunkler series. Behrend escaped the shutout when senior Sarah McGarvey drew a four meter penalty shot. McGarvey took the shot herself, rifling the ball passed Gannon's goalie. The Lions have yet to be shut out this season. In the program's four years of existence, Gannon is the only team to have shut out the Lions, losing 12-0 last season. On April 2-3, Behrend travels to Wheaton College to participate in the Wheaton Invitational against Carthage and Macalester. The Lions played Macalester during the 2003 Collegiate 111 National Championships in California. Behrend won the contest 9-4 for its eighth and final win of last season, and the only win at the championships. lete of the Week for the second consecutive week. This past weekend, Barber provided four wins in both singles and doubles, helping the team keep a perfect conference record of 2-0. After this weekend, the team will have just three matches to prepare for AMCCs. which Will he held at Behrend this year. The team is ultimately trying to stay on top of the AMCC along with trying stay undefeated in the conference. "We should go undefeated," said Deimel. "We need to be more serious cause almost all the matches, we have left are conference matches." Even though the team is faced with tough matches it will stick with its originally game plan "We're just going in with confidence Runners to their marks by Kevin Fiorenzo The men's and women's track and field teams traveled to the Clarion Invitational this past week end, where only one event was won h) Behrend athletes, but everyone put in a solid showing. In the women's events, the team's hest finish came in the women's 4xloo relay. The relay , team from Behrend finished with a time of 53.20. The women also accumulated strong perfor mances in other races, like the 3000 meter run. Junior Jessica Knapp finished fourth in that race with a time of 10:45. In the women's 5000 meter run. Behrend's top finisher was another fourth place finish by fresh man Leslie Gentile, with a time of 19:04.17. In the field events, the women's team got more strong showings. They were led by sophomore Staci Banaszek with a fourth place finished in the triple jump and high jump. In the triple jump. Banaszek had a distance of 10.56 meters. In the high jump, her finish was I .52 meters. She also finished in eleventh in the long jump. The women's team also earned sixth place fin ishes in the 1500 meter and 400 meter runs. In the 1500, the high finisher from Behrend was junior Jessica Sarver with a time of 5:01.69. In the 400, freshman Holly Weinheimer was Behrend's top runner with a time of 63.76. On the men's side, the Lions picked up their sole victory in the javelin throw. Freshman Dan Mitchell won that event with a distance of 52.42 meters. In the 4xloo meter relay and 800 meter run, the men's team picked up second place finishes. In the 4xloo, the Behrend team came in with a time of 44.62. In the 800, junior Floyd Muffle finished in second with a time of 2:01.31. In other events, the men picked up three fourth place finishes during the day. In the 110 meter hurdles, junior Isiah Meek finished in fourth with a time of 15.15, just two-tenths of a second behind the third place finisher. In the 4x400 relay, the men picked up another fourth place finish with a time of 3:33.41. The third fourth place finish was in the triple jump. Sopho more Shane Rock finished with a distance of 13.09 meters. The men's team also garnered two fifth place fin ishes at Clarion. In the 5000 meter run, freshman Brad Ruffo came in fifth with a time of 15:52.71. Freshman Jon McKinney picked up the other fifth place finish in the high jump with a distance of 1.77 meters. While the team struggled for high placings against the difficult competition, the Invitatonal was a good starting point for the teams as they get into the swing of the outdoor season. The track and field teams will next compete on Saturday in the Western PA Championships at Case Western University. The Behrend Beacon sports editor Page said Bar-
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