Sports

Through the first 38 games of the season,the Aggies have proven they’re far from being the last place team preseason polls picked them out to be. UC Davis has already surpassed its24winsfrom2007and currently sits third in the Big West Conference with a6-3league mark.Now it will have to prove its placeamongthe conference’s elite. Over the next eight games,the Aggies will take on four consecutive rankedopponentsin No.15Cal State Fullerton,No.5Stanford,No.25Long Beach State and No.7California.

The rabbits were bound to run out. After weeks of dramatic comebacks, the UC Davis baseball team (25-13, 6-3) ran out of its rally magic this weekend, hitting a wall of quality pitching from Cal Poly (17-19, 5-7), to drop its first series of the season. “Cal Poly always plays us tough, [so] it doesn’t surprise us,” saidhead coach Rex Peters. “It’s just a disappointment that we couldn’t win the series at home.”

Sports can entertain and excite fans. Sometimes, they can do more than that. On Saturday, the UC Davis softball team hosted the Fourth Annual Strike Out Cancer event and raised nearly $500 for the UC Davis Cancer Center. The teams also donned special pink uniforms in honor of the event. “We appreciate the community and everyone coming out to watch us [Saturday] and support a great cause,” said head coach Karen Yoder. “Having UC Riverside take part in Strike Out Cancer is a tribute to the class of their team.” UC Davis (20-30, 5-7) earned their second straight Big West Conference series, defeating UC Riverside (18-27, 4-8) in two of three games.

It was a pair of seniors that led the UC Davis women’s lacrosse team through its season, and Senior Day was no different. Midfielders Katie McGovern and Katie McMahon closed out their regular season careers with three goals each to lead UC Davis over St. Mary’s for its first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation win, 14-13. “They have made great contributions for four years,” said head coach Elaine Jones. “I am happy for both of them for closing out the regular season with a win.” “They are our leaders and they really command respect,” said senior goalie Hilary Harkins. “On the field they are complete leaders.”

Kaitlin Callan has been rotating in and out of the No. 6 singles spot all season. For this weekend’s Big West Conference Championships, the senior has been penciled in as the clear-cut starter, and on Friday she showed why. The former La Jolla High School standout defeated senior Audrey Bardot in straight sets, 7-6, 6-0, in the UC Davis women’s tennis team’s 6-1 road loss to No. 70 Nevada (8-10). “It was great to see her get the win,” said head coach Bill Maze. “She is going to be our No. 6 for the conference championships, so I’m sure that was great for her to get some confidence going into it. It’s always good to get a win before the conference championships.”

080421_sp_column.CHeadline: Bred for competitionBy Michael Gehlken Zephyr the Destroyer and the UC Davis Division I athlete have much in common. Both train for months on end. Both have a strong supporting cast to push them to their limits. Both know what it’s like to have thousands of screaming fans cheer them on. There is just […]

Event: Big West Conference Championships Where: Tijeras Creek Golf Course – Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. When: Today and Tuesday, all day. Who to watch: Consistency is key to the Aggies’ success, and Ramie Sprinkling has it. The junior from Camarillo, Calif. leads the Aggies with a 73.0-stroke average per 18 holes, with two fourth-place finishes on the year.

It had been over two years since the UC Davis men’s tennis team last faced UC San Diego, but it hadn’t been long enough to forget the result. The Aggies took their revenge on their non-conference opponent, defeating the Tritons 4-3, after losing by the same score in the two teams’ last meeting Apr. 21, 2006. “We haven’t had success against San Diego for the last few seasons,” said senior No. 3 Justin Garcia. “This win was a great sendoff for our seniors.” The victory concluded the home careers of Garcia, Daniel Elefant and Henri Landes.

The sun wasn’t the only thing shining on Woody Wilson Track on Picnic Day. After a successful overall performance at the rain-drenched event last year, the Aggies shined once again as hosts to the Woody Wilson Classic that featured 600-plus athletes. UC Davis turned in several standout performances Saturday. Junior Sirena Williams claimed the 100-meter hurdle event with a time of 13.96, breaking the school record that she set last week. At the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational hosted by UCLA last weekend, the Fresno, Calif. native earned a share of the Big West Conference Women’s Track Athlete of the Week award by setting a new school record time of 14.06. Her Saturday performance also broke the Woody Wilson record of 14.00 set by Donica Merriman in 2002.

Event: Big West Conference Championships Where: Tijeras Creek Golf Course – Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. When: Today and Tuesday, all day Who to watch: For Sydney Roughton, the sand is running out of her hourglass. UC Davis senior will be competing in what will potentially be the final tournament of her collegiate career. The Davis native is averaging 77.3 strokes per round this season and has averaged 77.1 strokes in her career.

The Schaal Aquatics Center was packed at 4 p.m. when eight Aggies were scheduled to play the final home women’s water polo game of their collegiate careers. An hour-and-a-half later, the game finally began and not a single person had left their seat. The delay, due to the absence of referees, did not deter anyone from honoring the eight seniors in their final farewell at Schaal. UC Davis came out like they had been waiting for this game much longer than an hour-and-a-half, letting itspresence be known by tyrannizing the Tigers, 14-5, for the team’s 10th straight victory.

Teams: UC Davis vs. Cal Poly Records: Aggies, 24-11 (5-1); Mustangs, 14-18 (3-6) Where: Dobbins Stadium When: Today at 2:30 p.m.; Saturday at 1 p.m.; Sunday at 1 p.m. Who to watch: Junior catcher Jake Jefferies’ quest for .400 continues. The Merced, Calif. native led his team to a 3-1 record last week with a […]