UC Davis teams aimed at some of the best Pac-10 teams last weekend. While the men’s water polo and football team engaged California, the women’s soccer team took on both Oregon and Oregon State University as part of the University of Oregon Nike Tournament.

On Friday against the Ducks, defense would be the key difference. After an 11th minute goal by Kelsey Hones of Oregon, the defense would hold off a barrage of 10 shots in the first half. Oregon’s defense was just as good. Despite freshman Mary Beth Mazurek scoring her first collegiate goal as an Aggie, UC Davis only managed nine shots-compared to the Ducks’ 18 as UC Davis fell 3-1.

Oregon State played host to the Aggies on Sunday as the women’s soccer squad looked to rebound from a tough loss. The offensive tempo was high for both teams, but both teams were unable to score until late in the second half, where the Beavers’ Ashley seal scored in the 88th minute. The Aggies were unable to stage a last minute rally and fell 1-0 to the Beavers. The Aggies fell to 1-2 on the season.

The women’s soccer team will come home to host Cal State Bakersfield Friday at 5 p.m. at Aggie Soccer Field.

– Matt Wang

The anticipation of a new season was present in Berkeley, Calif. last weekend as the Aggies’ men’s water polo team took on the Golden Bears.

Unfortunately, the rust was there too.

“Too many turnovers,” said Steve Doten, men’s water polo coach . “Our passing was horrible. You got to be able to make a pass. There were miscues on defense. Those things, that’s not how we play.”

California took advantage of errant passes, as attacker Ivan Rackov recorded six steals and three assists.

Early on, however, it looked as if the Aggies would put up a great show in front of a huge crowd at Spieker Aquatics Complex.

Goalie Kevin Peat recorded save after save as the Cal offense seemed to dig in near the cage. Peat recorded five saves in the first quarter alone, with one block coming off a power play.

“Kevin Peat can do that for us,” Doten said. “As a team, if we can come together and showcase his strengths, we can score.”

Senior Cory Lyle worked his way down to five meters outside of Cal’s cage and drew a foul. He converted his attempt to give the Aggies the first score of the game and the new season. UC Davis had a quick 1-0 lead.

The Aggie advantage, however, was short-lived. Two quick goals from Cal’s Luka Saponjic gave the Bears the lead-something they would never relinquish. Cal would score the next seven goals, and after Lyle’s goal, 10 minutes would elapse until the Aggies would score again.

Cal centers Zach White and Jack Stampfl were huge presences near the cage. The two created mismatches for the Aggies. Stampfl would finish with two goals and White with one.

“They’re a very good team,” Doten said. “Their center is one of the best in the country. Their big guys guarding our big guys made it hard to do anything offensively. We don’t have the same size.”

In the fourth quarter, center Aaron Salit shook off the rust and planted back to back goals from two meters out.

“It’s his first college game in a year,” Doten said. “Last year, he redshirted. The center is the toughest position because he’s going to have to run the offense. He’s doing a great job on taking the responsibility.”

Despite the lopsided score, Doten remains optimistic.

“It was the first game of the season against the best team in the country in front of a big crowd-it’s easy to get excited,” Doten said. “The question is if we can be just as excited and work just as hard throughout the rest of the season. I have no doubt that [we] will continue to work hard. As we get better, in better shape, we can get consistent.”

Women’s volleyball coach Jamie Holmes is all about beating the teams they should and playing the tough teams strong.

At the Doubletree Invitational this weekend in Dallas, the Aggies did just that – and then some.

UC Davis topped host and previously undefeated Southern Methodist University en route to going undefeated at the event.

“It was super exciting to do this well at the tournament,” Holmes said. “We improved a lot offensively. We played well all around.”

Junior Betsy Sedlak earned tournmanet MVP while senior Kayla Carney earned top libero for the event.

Friday – UC Davis 3, Texas State 2

After three sets against Texas St., the Aggies were down 2-1.

UC Davis stormed back in the final three sets to take the match 22-25, 25-16, 13-25, 25-23 and 15-10.

Sedlak produced 11 kills in the Friday matinee to lead the Aggies.

Friday – UC Davis 3, Texas Tech 0

UC Davis showed no afternoon sluggishness in its straight sweep of the Red Raiders 25-12, 25-18 and 25-20 in the afternoon set of the invitational.

The Aggies never trailed in the match against Texas Tech. UC Davis hit a remarkable .444 in the opening set of the match en route to the easy victory.

Sedlak and Allison Whitson each had double-digit kills in the match, with Sedlak leading all players with 11. Sedlak hit .500 for the match with Junior Katie Denny hitting .462.

“We hit extremely well in this game,” Holmes said.

Saturday – UC Davis 3, SMU 1 In order for the Aggies to garner an at-large birth for the post-season, they would need to beat some higher ranked opponents.

That’s exactly what the Aggies did in their win over SMU in the finale of the weekend tournament.

“A goal for this season was to play teams with higher RPI’s so we can compete against better teams,” Holmes said. “SMU had a higher RPI so this win can really help us for the post-season.”

Freshman Morgan Borch had a breakout game against the Mustangs, leading the Aggies with 17 kills. Whitson added 16 kills in the victory.

UC Davis and SMU traded the first two sets before the Aggies topped the Mustangs in the final two sets to take the victory and give SMU its first loss of the season.

“We had a total team effort in this one,” Holmes said. “We had three different lineups an we had the best bench in the entire gym. Its always good to get some wins under our belt.”

UC Davis travels to Berkeley, Calif. to take part in the Hiltop Garden Inn Classic next weekend. The Aggies open up against newfound rival California Sept. 10.

JASON ALPERT can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

UC Davis opened the 2010 campaign on Saturday on the turf of Memorial Stadium in Berkeley to play Pac-10 cousin Cal.

An appreciative coach Bob Biggs was excited to see the amount of support from the Aggie community, who bought their entire allotment of 5,000 tickets in the Blue Zone, with others sprinkled throughout other parts of the stadium.

“The best part was when I looked up and saw all those white T-shirts where the Davis fans were,” he said.

In the Aggies’ spring and summer camps, a large emphasis was placed on simulating the speed of an opponent like the Bears, but according to Biggs, Cal’s strength was just too mighty.

Last season as a freshman, Randy Wright traveled with the team, but never played a single down.

On Saturday afternoon, the redshirt freshman opened up his Aggie football career at Cal’s Memorial Stadium before a crowd of 58,040, one of the largest crowds UC Davis has ever played in front of.

“How many people can say they started against Cal in their collegiate debut?” Wright commented, reflecting on the excitement of the game.

Despite the power and magnitude of the Cal defense and the struggle to find an offensive rhythm, UC Davis’ kicker Sean Kelley found a way to put points on the board for the Aggies in the third quarter with a 43-yard field goal – a kick that made him 5-for-5 from beyond 40 yards in his career.

Afterwards, Biggs asserted that the lessons learned from a contest against an opponent like Cal would only benefit the growing Aggie program in the long run.

“I think it’s a taste of the future for Davis football,” he said. “I have a broad perspective and I know where we’re heading. There’s going be a day when we’re going be competitive in these kinds of games.”

Biggs also credits Cal’s strength on both sides of the ball.

“I’ve been in games when I’ve been really disappointed with how we played and felt like we gave points away, we put the ball on the ground,” Biggs said. “It wasn’t that kind of game.

“They were better. They were much more physical. And I don’t mean it wasn’t effort on our part that made it not physical. They just moved us around. They controlled the [offensive] line and [defensive] line and made it very difficult, obviously, offensively for us to do anything.”

The Bears outgained the Aggies 332-31 in the first half and had 16 first downs to the Aggies’ one. UC Davis’ only first down in the opening half was on the first play of the game.

Although largely stifled by an overpowering Cal defense, Wright completed eight passes for 57 yards, and UC Davis held onto the ball well, turning the ball over just once.

Still, Biggs could see a look of confidence in Wright’s eyes.

“He showed good composure, he delivered the ball well and he took some big hits,” Biggs says. “But that’s part of the initiation at this level of football. He’ll learn from it.”

The Aggies opened up last season in a nearly identical way with a 51-0 loss to Fresno State at Bulldog Stadium. Yet, confidence remains high in the Aggies camp because of the way they finished the season, capturing a winning season and their first conference crown.

“The truth is, we have smart kids,” Biggs said. “These guys will bounce back. We’ll be ready next week, I have no doubt about that.”

UC Davis will begin its five-game home schedule on Saturday at 6 p.m. when it hosts Portland State at Aggie Stadium.

GRACE SPRAGUE can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

You can tell a lot about a team by the way they respond to a loss.

The Aggies did not get the start they were hoping for this season, but the way they bounced back showed true heart.

Friday – CSU Bakersfield 3, UC Davis 1

UC Davis was on the attack early on the road.

The Aggies began the game with shots from Randy Cuellar and Michael Garrick in the first 10 minutes.

But the Aggies’ fortunes changed on a dime.

UC Davis conceded an own-goal on a missed clearance in the 12th minute, swinging the momentum in the favor of the Roadrunners.

“We started fast,” said coach Dwayne Shaffer. “We had the first few chances of the game, but our own-goal gave them a lot of confidence and it took the wind out of our sails.”

The Aggies entered halftime down 1-0.

In the second half UC Davis was forced to come out more aggressively in an attempt to catch up.

Unfortunately for the Aggies, their offensive focus left them a little weak on the defensive end, and Bakersfield midfielder Jesus Sanchez scored in the 63rd minute on a counter-attack.

The Roadrunners added another goal on a shot from Keeyan Ghazanfarpour in the 85th minute to make the score 3-0.

UC Davis got on the score sheet in the 86th minute when junior Lance Patterson scored on a shot from 20 yards out.

That was all the scoring the Aggies could muster, however, and the game ended in defeat for UC Davis.

“It was tough,” Shaffer said. “You never want to start the season with a loss.”

Sunday – UC Davis 1, San Jose State 0 – (OT)

UC Davis started the second game of the weekend on the attacking side as well.

The Aggies had a plethora of scoring opportunities early on, posting eight shots in the first half compared to just one by the Spartans.

UC Davis was unable to place the ball in the net, however, and the game went to halftime tied 0-0.

In the second half the Aggies picked up just where they’d left off.

Less than one minute into the period UC Davis freshman Alex Henry nearly scored on a shot from outside the box, but the ball bounced off the crossbar out of play.

Sophomore Dan Reese just missed scoring in the 70th minute when his header went just over the crossbar, and again in the 75th minute when he missed wide left on a shot from the outskirts of the box.

Despite their many opportunities, the Aggies were unable to score in regulation, and the game went into sudden-death overtime with the score tied 0-0.

UC Davis could not put the ball in the net on 19 shots in regulation, but it took just one in overtime to finish the game.

Aggie sophomore John Joslin made a perfect pass forward to Lance Patterson, and Patterson knocked it past the keeper to score in his second straight game and give UC Davis a victory over the Spartans.

“I saw their defense was up high,” said Patterson. “I made a run and I got a great through ball from Joslin. I made sure I got it on frame and fortunately it went in the net.”

UC Davis goalkeeper Tommy Siragusa kept a clean sheet for the Aggies after coming off the bench to replace starter Ryan McCowan in the third minute.

“It was nice to contribute tonight,” said Siragusa. “My defense deserves a lot of credit and I’m proud of the way we played.”

The Aggies knew this was a very important win for them so early in the season, and they believe they will be able to keep this momentum going forward.

“This was a much needed win for us and it feels awesome,” Shaffer said. “It puts us back on the winning track. I think we’re going to be a dangerous team this year.”

TREVOR CRAMER can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.