8B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2008
VOLLEYBALL
Second-place finish for Hawks at tournament
BY JOSH BOWE
jbowe@kansan.com
The Kansas volleyball players had three goals for the weekends compete, show signs of improvement, and, of course, win all their games. Well, as the saying goes, "two out of three ain't bad."
The Jayhawks wrapped up the Jayhawk Invitational Sunday afternoon with a convincing victory against Central Florida in four sets, finishing second in the invitational. Kansas, which improved to 3-2, had its only backset of the weekend against nationally ranked Oregon.
Coach Ray Bechard said he was relieved his team came out with energy after losing to Oregon in 3 sets the night before.
"It really was a pretty good match," Bechard said. "It was an hour-and-45-minute match, and we played really well for an hour."
Bechard said that after the Jayhawks dominated the Knights in the second set 25-10, they came out flat for the third, falling 25-20. Consistency was a common problem for the Jayhawks all weekend. The Jayhawks would follow a great play with a hitting error or service error, making it hard to maintain any momentum. But thanks to back-to-back aces from senior middle blocker Natalie Uhart,
Kansas took a 18-9 lead in the second set and never looked back.
A big reason the jayhawks rolled against the UCF was an incredible balance that showed six players with five or more kills, three of them
having at least 10, with freshmen Allison Mayfield leading the way with 11.
"You can't get too top-heavy to the left side. Teams will game plan against that," Beachard said.
"Just like last night, we were a roller coaster."
was obvious Williams still needed more time to continue to get herself back to 100 percent.
Uhart, who was doubtful for the weekend after tweaking her ankle on Tuesday, finished with 10 kills and continued to live up to her preseason All-Big 12 team selection. And as for that flat third set? Uhart said it would be used as a practice point.
"Just like last night, we were a roller coaster," Uhart said. "We know that we do it, and we're very aware and we're trying to get over the humps that we go through."
"We need to get Brittany more involved, which we will," Bechard said. "She has some soreness after
Another factor to watch was how junior middle blocker Brittany Williams looked after playing three games in two days. Williams looked like the player of old at times, as it
NATALIE UHART Middle blocker
back-to-back games, but I think that it will continue to be more manageable"
Williams said her trainer gave her a specific regimen for her to follow, which has helped her feel
better after a long stretch of games. Williams also knows how important these non-conference games are.
"We realize that from these past couple of years, that these nonconference games are actually the ones that put us above the .500 mark," Williams said.
Which is exactly where the Jayhawks stand after the invitation- al, with a 3-2 record heading into a Tuesday match against UMKC. "This is the challenge this early in the year; can you play better long?" Beccahrd said.
Edited by Adam Mowder
volleyball notes
DUCKS TOP HAWKS
Oregon swept Kansas 3-0 on Saturday in the volleyball team's second match of the Jayhawk Invitational.
Sophomore outside hitter Karina Garlington led the team with 12 kills.
"We looked tentative," Coach Ray Bechard said, "needed to show a little bit more courage at times."
Sophomore outside hitter Heather Meyers led a balanced Oregon attack with 10 kills. Oregon tallied 44 digs.
"We moved forward pretty good this morning in some areas," coach Ray Bechard said.
KANSAS WINS OPENER
Sophomore Karina Garlington had a career-high 15 kills as the Jayhawks defeated the Utah Valley Wolverines 3-0 in their first match of the tournament Friday afternoon.
ALL-TOURNAMENT
SELECTIONS
Sophomore outside hitter Karina Garlington and senior middle blocker Natalie Uhart were the two Jayhawks named to the Jayhawk Invitational All-Tournament team. Junior middle blocker Neticia Enesi of Oregon was selected as the tournament's most valuable player.
HOMECOMING FOR
HEPPERT
It was a special homecoming for Jenny Heppert of the University of Central Florida. The senior hails from Lawrence and grew up watching Jayhawk volleyball.
"It's been a really great experience," Heppert said. "What a great program it is."
Although Heppert said she loved her hometown, she never really considered playing for her childhood team.
"Lawrence is a really great town, but I wanted to go elsewhere," Heppert said. "KU's a
huge program so they probably had some more physical athletes in mind."
Heppert had by far the biggest reception from the home crowd during pregame introductions, as many of her friends came to watch her play.
Coach Bechard said he was in contact with Heppert during her recruiting process.
"It was a little about how she would fit in the Big 12," Bechard said. "She had an opportunity to really go help a program. Here, she thought it would be more of a role-type situation."
Bechard also wanted UCF to come to Lawrence to give Heppert a chance to play on the court she watched as a child.
"We've been after them for a couple of years to get them out here," Bechard said. "I think it was great for UCF to come out and reconnect with some of their home people."
basketball notes
PLAYING AS PROS
All five former Jayhawks who were drafted in this summer's NBA Draft will play professionally next year.
Darnell Jackson became the final Kansas player to sign a contract this weekend when the Cleveland Cavaliers offered him a three-year deal.
The Cavaliers acquired Jackson in a trade with the Miami Heat, who selected him in the second round, on draft night.
Jackson
Jackson played for Cleveland's summer league team in Las Vegas and averaged nearly six points and more than five rebounds per game.
"Darnell has showed us he is a young, smart, hard-working player." Cleveland general manager Danny Ferry said in a state ment. "And we are excited to see his development continue."
The Cavaliers also hold the rights to former Kansas center Sasha Kaun, but Kaun will play professionally in Russia for CSKA (a major Russian sports club) Moscow this season. Brandon Rush and Darrell Arthur were given guaranteed contracts by the Indiana Pacers and Memphis Grizzlies, respectively, for being picked in the first round of the draft. Mario Chalmers signed a contract with the Miami Heat this summer after they picked him in the second round.
Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur both issued apologies for being kicked out of the NBA rookie symposium this weekend, but said they were not using marijuana.
CHALMERS, ARTHUR
APOLOGIZE
Chalmers released an apol
"Everyone who knows me knows I am a good person," Chalmers told the Miami Herald. "I am embarrassed this happened. I broke the rules, but I did not smoke mariana."
ogy through the Miami Heat. Arthur expressed remorse in an interview with the Memphis Commercial Appeal. They both said they were wrong to violate the league's policy by bringing women into their room, but denied reports that they were smoking marijuana.
Chalmers and Arthur will have to attend the symposium again next year. They were fined $20,000 each and could be suspended to start the season.
"I made a bad mistake by bringing the girls in and violating the rules." Arthur told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. "It was a bad mistake. I'm not a bad kid or anything. I just put myself in a bad situation."
Case Keefer
Junior setter Katie Martincich jumps over a teammate to hit a shot Friday against Utah Valley. Martincich finished with seven defensive digs in Kansas' 3-0 victory.
GOLF Colombian model, golfer finally wins PGA title
BMW Championship.
ST. LOUIS — For three years, Camilo Villegas made a name for himself without winning.
He was the young Colombian with model good looks and chic clothing, limber enough to strike a pretzel-shaped pose on the green to read putts, earning him the nickname "Spider-Man." Trouble was, not many of those putts went in.
That changed Sunday at the
Clinging to a one-shot lead on the back nine at Bellerive, Villegas saved par with a 12-foot putt, followed that with two birdie putts and finished off a 2-under 68 for a wire-to-wire victory and his first PGA Tour title.
"It was a pretty good little stretch there that just tested my nerves and showed myself that I was good enough to stay out there," Villegas said.
Villegas pulled away from Jim Furyk, held off Anthony Kim and wound up winning by two shots
over Dudley Hart, who birdied his final two holes for a 65. It was Hart's best finish in four years and it earned him two trips to Georgia — the Tour Championship in two weeks and the Masters next April. With one playoff event remaining, the FedEx Ex cup essentially is over.
Vijay Singh, who won the first two events, tied for 44th but earned enough points that all he has to do is finish four rounds at the Tour Championship to collect the $10 million payoff.
Associated Press
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