Sports

Competing in its first Division I season, the UC Davis women’s basketball team was enjoying an impressive campaign. The Aggies won 19 games – the most the program has seen since the 2001-2002 season – locked up second-place honors in the Big West Conference and earned a bid to the Women’s National Invitational Tournament. And within a 40-minute span, that all became a memory. Playing in the first round of the WNIT on Mar. 20, UC Davis fell to host Gonzaga, 81-60, to close the book on a storied 2007-2008 season.

Event: Regional Preview Host: Sacramento State Where: Lincoln Hills Golf Club – Lincoln, Calif. When: Today and Tuesday, all day Who to watch: At the Oregon Duck Invitational on Mar. 24 and 25, freshman Chelsea Stelzmiller led the way for the Aggies with a fourth-place finish. The Placerville, Calif. native has placed in the top 10 in five of her last six tournaments and is averaging a team-best 73.6 strokes per round this season.

Going into the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships this year, head coach Lennie Zalesky knew it was going to be tough. UC Davis was only able to send three wrestlers – juniors Marcos Orozco, Nexi Delgado and Tyler Bernacchi – to the national tournament Mar. 20 to 22 at the Scottsdale Center in St. Louis, Mo. But Zalesky was still optimistic, especially about one particular wrestler. I think we can surprise some people with Marcos, he said. And that’s exactly what Orozco did.

Last weekend the 10th-ranked UC Davis women’s water polo team opened an 11-game homestand, which will encompass the rest of the regular season. After a Friday afternoon win over Brown, UC Davis completed the sweep with Saturday wins over Hartwick and UC Santa Cruz. Friday – UC Davis 12, Brown 7 After having a long two-week break for finals and spring break, the Aggies came out still on vacation against a weaker Brown opponent. We played like we had not played a game in two weeks, said head coach Jamey Wright. UC Davis would fight back after its slow start.

Women’s basketball in the Big West Conference had become monotonous. In the 2005-2006 season, UC Riverside finished first, and UC Santa Barbara took second. In 2006-2007, UC Riverside finished first and UCSB took second. Entering this season, the media and coaches predicted that UC Riverside would finish first and UCSB would take second. Women’s basketball in the Big West Conference had become monotonous, but it is no longer.

He was the first person in his family to attend college, the first Aggie to wrestle an undefeated season, the first Aggie to earn Pacific-10 Wrestler of the Year. He won UC Davis’ first Division I national title and was the first Californian wrestler to win a national title at the 141-pound weight class. And if things go the way he plans it, he’ll be the first Aggie wrestler to compete at the Olympic level. One year ago, on Mar. 17, No. 2 Derek Moore of UC Davis dominated No. 1 Ryan Lang of Northwestern by a 17-2 technical decision in the most decisive match of the 2007 NCAA Division I National Wrestling Championships.

When the final buzzer sounded on Saturday’s loss to UC Santa Barbara in the conference championship, the Aggies run in Big West Conference play had come to a close. UC Davis’ season – unlike seven of the conference’s nine teams – is far from over. With their second-place showing in the tournament, the Aggies have locked up a berth in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament. The bracket for the 48-team tournament will be announced today by 9 p.m., according to the WNIT’s official website.

Coming off an upsetting overtime loss to conference rival Loyola Marymount, the No. 10 UC Davis women’s water polo team traveled to No. 9 San Jose State hoping to uproot its extra-play exhaustion. Instead, UC Davis’ overtime woes would only continue. Deep into the fourth period of overtime, Spartans’ senior hole set Beth Harbert found the back of the cage, and for the second game in a row the Aggies found themselves on the losing side of an extra frame contest, 10-9.

Who to watch: After tallying 12 goals, eight ground balls, seven caused turnovers, six draw controls and five assists in consecutive Aggie wins against Holy Cross and Quinnipiac, senior midfielder Katie McMahon cooled off Thursday against Temple. The Pleasanton, Calif. native had only one goal and two assists with seven turnovers in a 12-9 loss. On the season, she leads the team in goals (22), assists (7), ground balls (19) and caused turnovers (12).

Who to watch: Before UC Davis’ 18-8 pounding of Nevada on Wednesday, junior outfielder Ryan Scoma had been hitting the cover off the ball, batting .429 in 13 games. But even for the red-hot Scoma, Wednesday was remarkable.

Shane Hanson has left the UC Davis men’s basketball team due to personal reasons, head coach Gary Stewart said Thursday. It’s a situation where there were some things going on that Shane wanted to address and focus on 100 percent, Stewart said. After meeting with him, it was obvious that it was in his best interests to leave the team and deal with those issues.

Who to watch: Sophomore sprinter Ugo Eke opened the outdoor season Mar. 1 with authority, winning the 200- and 400- meter dashes at the All-Cal Challenge Cup in Irvine. She also ran a leg in each of the Aggies’ winning 4×400 and 4×1600 relay teams. For her efforts, the Gold River native earned Big West Conference Women’s Track Athlete of the Week honors.