Women's tennis plays great fall season

By Mark Brockett - Sports Reporter

The general mood around the UIS women's tennis team can be said to be extremely positive if you were to ask head coach Dominic Giacomini.

Judging by the last few weeks of fall play, one would find it hard to argue with him. The UIS women's tennis team has racked up wins against Robert Morris College, University of Missouri St. Louis, College of St. Francis and performed exceptionally well at the ITA Central Region Championships.

On Sept. 16, the team hosted Robert Morris in what was complete team domination. The players had no problems disposing of their cross-town rivals winning 9-0. Besides No. 1 player Christine Hoffman, each player won their singles match 6-0, 6-0. Doubles teams had similar results giving up only two games in three matches.

The next day brought a doubleheader for the team as they opened up with Missouri St. Louis. Feeding off the home crowd and the previous day's victory, UIS was victorious once again winning 7-2 overall. Five out of the six singles players were victorious with freshmen No. 6 player Jenny Maziarka impressing everyone with a 6-2, 6-3 win. The doubles teams performed equally as well dropping only one match in the meet.

After the morning matches were over, the team looked to play St. Francis of Joliet. Unfazed and undaunted from the morning play, UIS once again took control early on and never looked back, winning overall 8-1. Every singles player performed well and notched individual victories to their belts.

From there, the team looked to what is the highlight of the fall season, the ITA Region Championships in Kansas City, Mo. From Sept. 23-25, UIS would find out just where they are as they would be tested by the best of the Midwest in the NAIA. In the tournament, players are seeded based on how strong their play is at that particular time and UIS had several players seeded in both singles and doubles.

Seeded players in singles were No. 7 and 8 Christine Hofmann and Ashley McGowen. Seeded players in doubles were the No. 1 UIS doubles team of Hofmann and McGowen, which were seeded number 3 in the tournament.

Hoffman beat Heather Brinkmeyer of McKendree, 6-4, 6-4. In her next three matches, she beat Taylor McKinley of Baker, 6-4, 6-3, beat Melissa Shank of Baker, 6-2, 6-1 and near the final rounds, she lost to the No. 2 tournament seed Venessa Flores from Graceland 6-3, 6-0.

Coach Dom says that a nice highlight of Christine's season so far is she had a 10-match winning steak going before she lost to Flores.

McGowen beat Courtney Stuble from Baker 1-6, 6-3, 6-4; Katie Alteman (Lindenwood) 6-3, 6-1; Kelsey Stephens (Baker) 6-1, 6-2 and near the final rounds, she lost to the No. 1 seed Luisa Macias 6-1, 6-1. Coach Dom says that she a nine-match winning steak going before she lost to Macias. With the top two players in singles playing that well, the spring promises to be exciting for the team.

In other action, Jenny Cloyd beat Brittany Goldschmidt (William Jewell) before she lost to the No. 5 seed Maribel Balandrano (Graceland), 6-0-, 7-5. Jennifer Gebben lost in her first round to Mallory Alexander (Newman) 6-4, 6-2. From there she went to the back draw where she won one and lost one match. Sarah Wellard lost in her first round match to Jessica Jordan (St. Francis) 6-3, 6-2. Maziarka lost in her first round to Dixie Matzen (Newman) 6-2, 6-2.

In doubles, UIS No. 1 team of Hoffman and McGowen beat Caudill and Howe of Nebraska Wesleyan 8-5 and then lost in their second round to Kowal and Mela of William Jewell. The No. 2 doubles team of Gebben and Hannah Pellouchoud beat Jordan and Frey of St. Francis 8-1 and then lost in their second round to the No. 1 seed of Cobb and Williams of William Jewell 8-1. The No. 3 doubles team of Cloyd and Maziarka lost in their first round to Edwards and Kelly of Baker, 8-5.

This week is the last week for the UIS women's tennis team as they travel Friday to play Illinois Wesleyan, who Coach Dom says is always a very strong D-III team, and on Saturday, they travel to Peoria to meet St. Ambrose, also a very strong NAIA team who finished No. 21 in the nation in spring of 2005.

The "official" women's tennis season will open in the spring with a spring break trip to the University of West Florida in March and they play their NAIA regional tournament the end of April '06 to vie for the opportunity to advance to nationals in May. With all of this behind and ahead of them, a young, talented team is beginning to gel and set itself up for success.

Volleyball team starts road trip on high note

By Mike Fitzpatrick - Sports Reporter

This past weekend the UIS women's volleyball team began their eight-game road trip against William Woods University . Coming off a disappointing loss to 11 th -ranked Missouri Baptist, the team looked to bounce back and start their trip off on the right foot against the Owls of William Woods.

In the first game out of a series of five, the Stars came out strong, winning the match easily by a score of 30-25. With spirits and confidence high, the Stars continued to battle after losing what was a very close game two 22-30 and following it up with a win in game three 30-26.

With the pressure on in the fifth game, junior middle hitter Audra Roach stepped in with three crucial kills, one of which ended the game giving the Stars the victory.

Despite letting their guard down at times, the team came together and won what ended up being a very competitive match-up. For the Stars, sophomore outside hitter Lauren Sanders led the team with 17 kills. Senior setter Megan Leonard followed by leading the team to a game-high 41 assists.

After having defeated the Owls earlier in the day on Saturday, the Stars went on to play the 0-15 University of St. Mary Spires . Roach once again stepped up with a game-high 20 kills along with freshman setter Tori McColez stepped in for Megan Leonard contributing a team-high 32 assists. For those in attendance, the game proved to not be very competitive as the Stars won 30-25 and 30-22 in games two and three.

Having started this recent road trip with two wins, the Stars' overall record now stands at 6-10 with an AMC record of 2-2. The Stars will continue their road trip traveling to Hannibal , Mo. for match ups against Hannibal-LaGrange at 4 p.m. on Tuesday and Culverton-Stockton at 6 p.m.

Men's tennis successful

By Mark Brockett - Sports Reporter

It was a great weekend for the UIS men's tennis team. With five out of six players advancing to the third round of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional Tournament, the team made some noise by proving that their entire line-up is pretty strong and making them a tough team to beat in the spring.

  In the singles portion of the day, five players made it to the third round. The No. 1 player for UIS, Michael Angarita, lost in a terrific and heated match against one of Graceland University 's new players. Angarita fought very hard in what ended up being a two-and-a-half hour match, but fell by the scores of 2-6, 6-4 and 6-3.

No.3 Eric Cromer, passed the first two rounds without any complications, giving away only two games combined in his first two matches. Unfortunately, he drew the top-seeded player in the regional tournament from Benedictine in the third round and although he tried to create an upset bid, he fell short.

The No. 4 player for UIS, Bruno Castaneda, dropped only two games in the previous rounds as well before losing to the No. 7 seed in straight s ets. No.5 Bladimir Hernandez astonished everybody in the first round when he upset Lindenwood's former top player in two very intense sets 7-5, 7-5. He then played the eighth seed an in the first set went tooth and nail again, but lost 6-4, 6-0.

Jeff Collar put up a battle before losing in the first round against one of St. Francis top players.

Finally came senior No. 2 player Esteban Czwan. Czwan, a four-year starter, got to the fourth round for the first time in his career. In the second round, he faced the No. 2 player of host school Baker University . Against what Czwan called a hostile crowd, he defeated his opponent in impressive fashion 6-1, 7-5. He went on to easily win the third round and then lost in the fourth round against the No. 6 seed of the tournament 6-4, 6-2.

"It was an amazing weekend,” said Czwan. “We played great tennis and, above all, we had a lot of fun on and off the courts.”

  In doubles play, the No. 3 team, Collar/Castaneda, fought hard but lost a close first round match by the score of 8-6.

No. 2 Cromer/Hernandez overpowered their opponents in the first round (8-2) before losing against Graceland in the second round, 8-5.

The No. 1 team, Angarita/Czwan, reached the quarterfinals of the doubles tournament, which Czwan mentioned as a big accomplishment for them. They surpassed in the third round one of Graceland 's teams (who beat the No. 1 seed of the tournament in the previous round) 8-5.

Czwan thought that they played a terrific match, were very focused and played with a lot of heart. They showed that they'll be a tough doubles team in the spring. They lost to the eighth seed in the quarterfinals 8-4, which proved to be UIS' last match of the weekend. This was a very heated contest in which the opponents, from Newan University, were almost disqualified for profanity and misconduct after a questionable call.

From here, the team will prepare themselves to make a name in the spring season and with performance like last weekend, the future looks bright.

Intramural sports bring fun, life into UIS

By Mark Brockett - Sports Reporter

Over the last four years here at UIS, I've been able to be a part of some things that after high school, I thought I wouldn't be able to again in the realm of sport. I speak, of course, about the intramural sports that our UIS Campus Recreational Sports makes available to us for the majority of the school year.

The Recreation Center provides just about every major sport for one's choosing to gather other students, faculty or non-UIS students to make a team and participate in league play as well as tournament play. To start this year, students had the opportunity to partake in 6x6 sand volleyball and 9x9 softball. I've been in both of these leagues through my tenure at this University and it reminded me of much simpler times as a kid playing pick-up games in the neighborhood.

It even followed the same formula some times. There would be that group that would only have a small amount of people, a team that has to share gloves with the opposing team because they don't have their own, playing in sand that made you wonder if cats did indeed leave a few surprises at one point or another, and having to call people to get them out of bed and make a 1 p.m. game time. Ah, if only the sound of a mother beckoning her kids to come in and eat would ring through the cornfields, we just might recreate a previous era.

It doesn't stop with just those sports. Coming up in a week or two is the start of 7x7 flag football and outdoor soccer. Flag football is in a close tie with 5x5 indoor basketball (which is played at the beginning of the second semester) for the least amount of forfeits and most participation.

Whether you are trying to convince your teammates that you do indeed have a good arm for quarterback or can kick a soccer ball past the slow, chunky goalie who reminds teammates of Goldberg, the goalie from the Mighty Ducks movies, the action is exciting and the weather cooperates for the most part…Until that freezing cold 10 a.m. Saturday game with winds at 20 m.p.h. comes unexpectedly after a long night of studying or whatever else kids might do with their weekends.

There is also 4x4 indoor volleyball, indoor futsal, 2x2 badminton, tennis, 6x6 indoor volleyball and other miscellaneous things that go on throughout the course of a long school year here at UIS. No matter what your taste for sport or activity, our recreation center has you covered for scratching that itch that so many of us get from retirement of all athletic competition.

Even if you really don't care for participating in one of these sports, you probably have some friends or acquaintances that do. This weekend will be a prime example of what Intramural Sports at UIS is all about when, on Saturday; a one-day single elimination tournament will decide the champions of sand volleyball and the rescheduled softball championship game will take place at some point.

In the spirit of the Fall Festival week, I urge you readers to come out and support your friends, jeer your enemies and find out what the fuss is about on your own instead of taking my word for it. The way things are shaping up, it looks like a promising and electrifying weekend…barring any forfeits, of course. Take care and thanks for reading.

Campus Recreational Sports Briefs

Intramural 6x6 Sand Volleyball League Results

The rec sports volleyball court saw no games this past Friday and Saturday due to lack of attendance. Friday's match ups were team Huge Volleyballs, Huge versus New Booties, The Dirty Dozen versus Sultans, and team Smokers versus Ocean's Twelve. All three games ended in forfeits. Huge Volleyballs, Huge, Sultans, and Ocean's Twelve took the wins. Just as Friday's games ended Saturday's games rounded out the lack of volleyball played. The first scheduled game showed New Booties versus Los Gangstars, in which Los Gangstars took the win by forfeit. Ending the regular season games scheduled were team Smokers versus The Dirty Dozen and Ocean's Twelve versus Sultans. All four teams failed to show up thus making both games a double forfeit. Tournament play will begin and end on Saturday, October 1. Teams will participate in a single elimination tournament to determine the winner. Based on regular season play, Huge Volleyballs, Huge has drawn the first seed and will have a bye in the first round. Ocean's Twelve and New Booties, seed 2 and seed 7, respectively will meet at 10:30 am. The Sultans and Smokers will play in the 11:30 am match up after drawing the third and six seeds. The finally first round match will take place at 12:30 pm and will feature Los Gangstars (seed 4) versus The Dirty Dozen (seed 5). Semi-final games will take place at 1:30 pm and 2:30 pm with the championship game set for a 3:30 pm start time. Good luck to all teams!

Intramural 9x9 Softball Tournament Results

On Saturday, all softball tournament games were forfeited. In the first game, Her Majesty's Royal Squadron of MMV took the forfeit win over Team Wilson. In the second game, The BAMF's took the forfeit win over No Softballs Here. Heading into the championship game, The BAMF's were to face off against Her Majesty's Royal Squadron of MMV. Due to rain, the championship game was postponed and is to be rescheduled for next weekend.

How Can I Learn About Campus Rec Sports Activities and Events?

Contact the Campus Recreational Sports Office located in the Fitness Center (SLB 118) at 206-6658; send an e-mail to RecSports@uis.edu ; or check out our website at www.uis.edu/recsports/ .

Women's tennis plays great fall season

Volleyball team starts road trip on high note

Men's tennis successful

Intramural sports bring fun, life into UIS

Campus Rec Sports Briefs