8B SPORTS
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2007
SOCCER
Surging Hawks beat Missouri
BY ALISON CUMBOW
cumbow@kansan.com
Sarah Leonard/KANSAN
Senior midfielder Nicole Cauzillo goes for a kick during her last home game Friday afternoon against Missouri. The Jayhawks' 2-1 victory boosted them to the third seed in the Big 12 Tournament, which starts on Wednesday in San Antonio. Kansas will play Oklahoma State in its first game.
In their last game of the regular season, the Jayhawks played the best they have this year.
Kansas wrapped up its regular season with a 2-1 victory against No. 18 Missouri Friday. The victory was the third straight for the Jawhaws.
Although it was Senior Day, one freshman Jayhawk outshined the rest on Friday night. Freshman defender Katie Williams put two goals in the net, just minutes apart, after Missouri had taken a 1-0 lead. The Jayhawk players and fans alike were ecstatic, and the atmosphere at the game was the best possible conclusion to a rocky season — the Jayhawks won only one game out of their first 10.
Williams' first goal came during the 71st minute when she headed the ball on a corner kick received from sophomore forward Monica Dolinsky. As the ball hit the net, shouts of joy erupted from the field and the bleachers. Less then four minutes later, Williams did exactly the same thing with a corner kick from the other side by sophomore forward Shannon McCabe.
A STRONG FINISH
After the team overcame a losing streak at the beginning of the season, Kansas' final record reached 7-9-4 overall and 5-2-3 in the Big 12.
Texas' victory against Colorado this weekend put the Jayhawks into third place in the conference standings. This season marks the Jayhawks highest ranking since they entered the Big 12 Tournament ranked No. 1 in 2004.
SENIORS HONORED
Kansas' five seniors were honored in a ceremony after the game. After their families escorted them to the middle of the field, Kelsey Archuleta,
Nicole Cauzillo, Colleen Quinn, Afton Sauer and Emily Strinden were greeted with flowers from their coaches and pictures with their teammates.
UP NEXT
Next up for the Jayhawks is the Big 12 Tournament in San Antonio, Texas. Their first game will be on Wednesday against Oklahoma State at 7:30 p.m.
Edited by Matt Erickson
SWIMMING & DIVING
Kansas defeats Nebraska-Omaha
The Kansas swimming and diving team capped a busy weekend in the water with a victory against
Omaha Saturday,
just 48 hours
after losing to
the Arkansas
Lady Zarabacks
in Robinson
Natatorium.
Ledigh
On a day when the football team
could not be stopped by Nebraska, the swimming team was equally impressive, winning all of the meet's events and rolling to a 153-67 victory over Nebraska-Omaha. A Kansas swimmer took first in every race and the team's overall dual meet record this season moves to 2-2.
"It was our first dual meet in the morning," swimming coach Clark Campbell said, noting that the Big 12 Championships and other big races late in the season begin early in the day. "Being able to swim fast in the morning is a crucial part of our plan for the season."
Junior Ashley Ledigh recorded a pair of victories in the 50-yard freestyle and the 50-yard butterfly while sophomore Emily Lanteigne won the 100-yard freestyle and was a member of the winning team for the 200-yard freestyle relay.
The Jayhawks travel to Springfield, Mo., for their next dual competition against Drury University at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Edited by Meghan Murphy
"Maria is really starting off the year about as good as you can," Campbell said. "She is not only improving herself, but she is also raising the bar for the rest of the team."
The 86-point victory against Nebraska-Omaha came just two days after a one point defeat to the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks by a score of 150.5-149.5.
Thursday night featured many close races and lead changes in the team scores throughout the competition. In the end, Arkansas pulled out the victory, despite great efforts by Jayhawk swimmers and divers.
Freshman Erin Mertz tied for first place in the three-meter diving event and the 800-yard freestyle relay team of sophomores Ashley Robinson and Emily Lanteigne, junior Maria Mayrovich, and senior Terri Schramka claimed a victory in the competition.
Mayrovich continued her impressive season on Thursday, setting another pool record, this time in the 100-yard freestyle race. On Oct. 26, Mayrovich broke the previous record for the 200-yard freestyle for a swimmer in Robinson Natatorium.
"The meet could have gone either way," Campbell said. "For where we are and what we are trying to
accomplish this year, we are right on schedule"
Jon Goering/KANSAN
VOLLEYBALL
Kansas upsets No.18 Oklahoma
Freshman outside hitter Karina Garlington makes a dig during the volleyball match against Oklahoma Saturday at the Horeisi Family Athletics Center. Kansas came from behind to defeat Oklahma in five games. Garlington made 15 dots in the match.
Playing in front of 1,089 fans at the Horeys Family Athletics Center, Kansas snapped a sixmatch losing streak by defeating a ranked opponent for the first time since Sept. 7, 2006 — a 3-0 victory against No. 16 Brigham Young. Kansas hadn't beaten a ranked conference opponent since defeating No. 20 Kansas State on Nov. 5, 2005.
BY RUSTIN DODD rdodd@kansan.com
After Kansas' 3-2 (30-26, 28-
30, 20-30, 30-27, 15-10) come-
from-behind upset against No. 18
Oklahoma, one thing was clear:
Beachard's team listened.
Kansas coach Ray Bechard had a few extra words of motivation for his team before Saturday's game against No. 18 Oklahoma. The Kansas basketball队 had beaten Pittsburg State Thursday, the women's soccer team had defeated Missouri Friday, and the football team had rolled over Nebraska earlier Saturday.
"The kids were so happy in the locker room, and that's what its all about. They needed an opportunity to celebrate," Bechard said. "They've been working extremely hard, and we haven't been getting the results we wanted lately— until tonight."
"I told them it was time for them to hold up their end of the bargain." Bechard said.
Kansas improved to 11-14 and 4-11 in the Big 12, while Oklahoma fell to 18-7 and 10-5 in the Big 12.
THE COMEBACK
Kansas appeared poised to take a two games to zero lead early in the middle of game two. But Kansas let a 15-11 lead slip away and dropped game two 30-28. Oklahoma dominated game three 30-20.
"What's nice about that, though,
is there's not just one person on the
team that gets plays done," Uhart said. "Everybody is contributing
and doing their job and working
their butt off."
"I think we wanted to win so bad it hurt, and we got it done," Uhart said.
Trailing two games to one, and behind 20-15 in game four, it looked like Kansas might be on its way to its seventh straight loss. But Kansas showed some grit and went on an 11-6 run, and senior middle blocker Natalie Uhart, who finished with 14 kills, served up an ace to tie the game at 26-26. Uhart
After the dramatic game-four win, Kansas still had to finish off game five. With the game tied at 9-9, Kansas won three straight points on kills from senior right side Emily Brown, Noyes, and freshman outside hitter Jenna Kaiser to take a 12-9 lead. Kansas cruised from there to take a 15-10 game five win.
"It felt so good, because we've been working so hard on everything." Kaiser said.
Kaiser, who finished with a team-high 18 kills, said the team badly needed a victory.
"You look back at this, and it's just a blur of teamwork and six people working together to make it happen, so we're thrilled about that." Bechard said.
And whenever Kansas needed a play, somebody was there to step up.
In addition to the Uhart's 14 kills and Kaiser's 18 kills, freshman outside hitter Karina Garlington had 12 kills and senior middle blocker Caitlin Mahoney had 11, giving Kansas four players with double-digit kills. Brown added 38
"We came out flat in game three, but let's give Oklahoma a little credit," Bechard said.
assists and 15 digs, while sophomore Katie Martincich had her team-leading Martinchid double-double of the season with 23 assists and 16 digs.
— Edited by Matt Erickson