Men’s tennis looks to buck No. 25 Broncos
The Utah men’s tennis team will face tough opposition after a convincing sweep last weekend.
The Utes (2-1) are looking to extend their two-game winning streak at home tomorrow against No.-25 Boise State. The Broncos are 5-1 with their only loss coming against No.-22 Texas A&M. The team is looking to avoid a repeat of last year’s matchup when Boise State, ranked No. 19 at the time, swept the Utes 7-0.
“Boise State is one of the premier programs in the nation,” assistant coach Roeland Brateanu said. “We have a great opportunity at home with a great crowd to upset them. We need to play well at every single spot for us to have a chance at doing that, though.”
Zach Ganger and Miron Mann must play well if the Utes hope to achieve the upset.
James Boehly
Rested ski team ready for Western State Invitational
After a week off, the Utah ski team will compete in Colorado today at the Western State Invitational.
After finishing second at the Colorado Invitational, the Utes look to maintain their momentum toward the NCAA West Regionals during the last week of February.
The team will be led by Snorri Einarsson and Even Sletten in the men’s contingent, who finished first and second in the 15K Classic two weeks ago.
For the women, Casey Simons will need a solid performance to help the team finish strong in the standings.
The Utes will also look to juniors Scott Veenis and Mikaela Grassl, who both had solid performances in this event when the Utes last participated in 2006.
Competition is scheduled to begin today and end Saturday.
James Boehly
Cougars sweep Utes in men’s and women’s swimming meet
Both the men’s and women’s swim team had the chance to hand rival BYU its first conference loss of the season. Both teams were defeated soundly in their regular season finale.
“I’m impressed with the way our athletes swam tonight,” commented head coach Greg Winslow. “Many of our swimmers had their best performances of the year and I’m proud of the way they fought.”
Shannon McQueen won two events in the women’s attempt at blemishing the Cougars’ record. After going undefeated last season under former head coach Mike Litzinger, Winslow’s group finished 6-5 overall. John Baque had the lone win for the men in the 200 meter breast stroke, but his team did little else in its attempt at winning its first meet of the season. The failed upset attempt left the Utes with a 0-7 record in the regular season.
Utah now sets its sight on the MWC tournament that begins at the end of February.
“BYU is the top team in the conference and I’m pleased with how well we competed against them. We have prepared all season with the conference championships in mind and now we just need to make a few adjustments and we will be very competitive at that meet,” said Winslow.
Tony Pizza
Hockey club gears up for UVSC
The U hockey club is set to host UVSC at the Steiner Ice Arena tonight at 7 p.m.
This will be the sixth time the two clubs have met this season, with UVSC claiming each of the previous five.
On Jan. 18 and 19, the Utes traveled to Orem for a back-to-back set. In the first game, Eric Rees scored a hat trick in just the first period to bring the Utes to a 4-1 lead by period’s end. The Wolverines switched goalies, however, and the Utes struggled to score the rest of the game. UVSC came back to win 5-4.
“I thought we played a really good game against them,” forward Greg Swenson said. “In the beginning of the season, they would kill us, but we’ve learned to keep it close with them. We just couldn’t put the puck in the net.”
In the second game, the Utes scored the game’s first goal behind a Mike Vrtis shot off a Swenson feed, then fell behind 6-1 by the end of the first quarter. The Wolverines went on to win 9-2.
As for tonight’s game, Swenson doesn’t know what to expect.
“It’s been a roller-coaster ride — you never know what you’re going to get from UVSC,” Swenson said. “They’re a really talented team, but we know we can play with them. If we come out strong defensively, I think we’ll have a shot.”
Jason Peterson