Men’s basketball
The UC Davis men’s basketball team is picked to finish fifth in the preseason coaches’ poll and seventh in the media poll. Cal State Northridge is the preseason favorite in both polls.
UC Davis received 28 points in the coaches’ poll, finishing above Cal Poly, UC Irvine, Long Beach State and UC Riverside. The order was the same in the media poll with the exception of Long Beach State and UC Irvine, who placed above the Aggies. UC Santa Barbara, Pacific and Cal State Fullerton occupied second through fifth, respectively, in both polls.
Women’s basketball
The UC Davis women’s basketball team, coming off a championship appearance at last year’s Big West Tournament, has been picked to finish third by the league’s head coaches and in a tie for second by the media, according to preseason polls released as part of the conference’s media day on Wednesday at Irvine.
Additionally, junior Haylee Donaghe, an All-Big West Conference second-team selection last season, was named to the 2008-2009 Preseason All-Conference Team selected by media members.
UC Riverside, which was the two-time defending Big West champion before losing to the Aggies in the conference semifinals last season, was picked by both the coaches and media to reclaim the league title. Perennial power UC Santa Barbara, which beat UC Davis in the Big West final to advance to the NCAA Tournament, was voted second by the head coaches and to finish in a tie with UC Davis for second by the media.
Men’s soccer
UC Davis senior Dylan Curtis added to his list of academic achievements on Thursday when the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced that he was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District first team in District 8.
A native of Pleasanton, Calif., Curtis’ first-team honors advance him for consideration on the All-America ballot, which will be announced Nov. 19. Curtis earned the distinction in District 8, which encompasses all NCAA Division I schools on the West Coast.
Women’s golf
Led by a 2-under 69 from sophomore Alice Kim, the UC Davis women’s golf team benefited from three sub-par rounds during Wednesday’s final round of the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown, finishing in a tie for 11th.
The Aggies, who sliced eight shots off Tuesday’s score to fire a 4-under 284 on Wednesday, tied with Colorado State in the 18-team standings at 5-over 869. UC Davis was 14th after the first round and improved to 12th after the second before finishing the 54-hole event strong.
Pepperdine dominated the field to post a 41-under team score of 823 and claim top honors over Oklahoma State by 12 shots. Louisville was third at 23-under while host UNLV took fourth at 19-under. Ten teams finished below par.
Kim led a trio of Aggies in the red during the third round. Sophomore Chelsea Stelzmiller followed her 68 on Tuesday with a 71 on Wednesday, tying for seventh at 7-under 209. She birdied her first two holes in the final round and got to 5-under before posting her 1-under score.
Kim tied for 31st with her best 18-hole score of the week, carding four birdies before taking her only bogey on her 17th hole. She posted a three-round total of even-par 216. Sisler also enjoyed a strong last round, picking up birdies on holes 1, 3 and 4 to move to 3 under before ending with 70. Sisler tied for 40th at 2-over 218.
Seniors Brittany Smith and Bryana Gregory also had their best rounds of the tournament with Smith shooting a 2-over 74 and Gregory posting a 77. Smith had two birdies over her final 10 holes while Gregory was just two over on her front nine.
The tournament brings to a close the fall season for UC Davis, which will resume action in February at the San Diego State Invitational.
Aggie Digest is compiled by the California Aggie sports staff with briefs from the UC Davis athletics website, ucdavisaggies.com.
