With two minutes left, coach Elaine Jones felt it. With 30 seconds left, she knew it.

“Near the end of the game, I turned to [assistant coach] Kristen Waagbo and said, ‘We were going to win,'” Jones said.

For the first time under Jones’ tenure, the Aggies beat fellow Mountain Pacific Sports Federation member California, 12-10. With the win, UC Davis (1-0, 1-0) sits atop the conference.

“It was a tremendous conference win,” Jones said. “It’s important to get that first victory, especially when it comes against Berkeley.”

With this victory and the win over Denver in the MPSF playoffs last season, Jones feels the Aggies have proven to be a legitimate contender in the conference.

“This win proves last year’s win over Denver was not a fluke,” Jones said. “This has to be one of the top wins for the program.”

The victory was not only big for the program, but also for the team’s confidence.

“We worked hard all pre-season for games like this,” Jones said. “It was not unexpected for us to win this game.”

The Aggies jumped out to an early 3-1 lead behind senior Molly Lapolla’s first-half goal and assist.

The Golden Bears fought back to tie it up with under a minute left in the first half, but senior Britt Farquharson broke the tie with a buzzer beater to give UC Davis the 4-3 halftime lead.

The Aggies capitalized off 24 fouls and six penalties by Cal in the second half to secure the victory. UC Davis led by as much as five en route to the historic win.

“We did very well capitalizing off Cal’s mistakes and turnovers,” Jones said.

Junior Christina Corsa had a strong performance with three assists and a goal. Eight Aggies scored, with Farquharson, Hannah Mirza, Gina Hoffmire and Anna Geissbuhler each netting two goals.

Sophomore Vannessa Jamison led a tough UC Davis defense with four ground balls and two steals. Jones said the defense was the key to victory.

Jones was also proud of the contribution from the entire team, especially the underclassmen.

“Our freshmen played very well,” Jones said. “We had a good mix of upperclassmen and underclassmen contributing.”

UC Davis returns to action on Feb. 27 for an MPSF home battle with Saint Mary’s.

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

UC Davis followed a seven-game winning streak by going 2-2 over their last four games.

As a result, they wanted to show improvement against Long Beach State on Thursday.

They responded by handily defeating the 49ers, 80-68.

“We haven’t been playing really good basketball for a while,” said coach Sandy Simpson. “So it’s kind of nice to break out and put it together for a little while. The first 28 minutes is the best we’ve played all year.”

The Aggies were on fire in the first half as they got out to a 22-2 lead in the first eight minutes. They would go on to lead by as many as 30 before taking a 48-19 lead into the break.

“We’re known as being a system program,” said forward Paige Mintun. “We came in thinking they knew how to play us so we threw them a left turn. Tonight we were like, ‘let’s just go out there and play.’ It was just so much fun to be able to do that.”

The Aggies attribute their early success to both offense and defense as they scored 26 points off of 18 Long Beach State turnovers.

“In one of the first possessions of the game, Paige came flying in from the wing defensively and set the tone for the game,” Simpson said. “We were getting our hands on a lot of passes early and I was impressed with how aggressive we were offensively. We haven’t played that well defensively for some time.”

The UC Davis onslaught continued at the onset of the second half as it extended its lead to 39 with 12:52 remaining.

Long Beach State then turned on the jets.

With the help of 18 second-half points from guard Karina Figueroa, the 49ers used a 35-6 run to shrivel the lead to 10 with 2:17 left.

“We were hesitant,” said forward Vicky Deely. “We had a really big lead so we thought we should slow it down and use the clock. We were playing so well that if we had kept up the intensity it would have been different in the second half.”

Despite the late 49er charge, the Aggies were able to hold on to win by 12.

Though his team let Long Beach State back in the game, Simpson believes that there is no cause for concern.

“The last 12 minutes didn’t bother me that much because we haven’t been in that situation before,” Simpson said. “We were halfway between trying to manage the clock and taking good shots. Since it was our first time in that situation, I’m confident that it’s a good lesson learned.”

Deely was one player who showed how far she’s come as she scored a career-high 15 points in just 15 minutes of play.

“She was ballin’,” Mintun said. “She just stepped up to shoot and stuck it. She’s also so strong down low that it’s hard for anybody to stop her.”

Deely, who was 8-for-8 from the field, attributes the breakout to intuition and experience.

“Coach told me to just go out there and use my instincts,” Deely said. “I’m still trying to learn, but as the season goes on, I’m figuring out how to use my instincts within our system.”

MARK LING can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

The Aggies finally made it home. After the weekend, they might be glad to head straight back for the road.

UC Davis hosted its first two home contests of the season and fell to Loyola Marymount on Friday and San Francisco on Saturday.

The Aggies’ tough luck started in doubles against the Lions. Loyola Marymount got the doubles point after winning two out of three doubles matches. The duo of Nic Amaroli and Tyler Lee was the only Aggie doubles team to win, the only victory of the day.

When it came to singles play, the Aggies knew they would have a tough time as usual No. 1 singles player, Nick Lopez, was not going to participate.

With Lopez out, freshman Toki Sherbakov was promoted to the No. 1 match. He was not able to out duel Ivan Lopez, though, as he lost in two sets. Coach Daryl Lee thinks regardless of the outcome, Sherbakov stepped up for the team.

“Toki did a nice job of doing his best,” Lee said. “He showed some true leadership.”

Freshman success seemed to be a theme for the Aggies this year coming into the weekend. Fellow freshman Connor Coates had not lost a match coming into Friday’s contest.

Coates took part in the No. 5 singles match against Johan Berhof. After quickly losing the first set, 6-2, Coates came back and won the second set 6-1. Coates was barely edged out in the tie-breaking set 12-10, resulting in his first loss of the season. He also lost on Saturday to Jacob Hartwig of San Francisco in the No. 6 match.

“[Coates] had a lot of success leading into this weekend, but he played tougher players,” Lee said. “This is an opportunity for him to get better.”

After Coates lost, there were only two singles matches still taking place. One of those was the No. 2 match with sophomore Chris Aria. Aria lost to Loyola Marymount’s Borja Malet in two close sets.

“I knew it was going to be tough,” Aria said. “[Loyola Marymount] was hungry for a win.”

After Aria’s loss, the Lions sealed the victory as they were leading 6-0 However, Tyler Lee played on in the No. 4 match.

After the first two sets were split, the third set was a nail-biter. Lee was defeated in the end though losing 11-9 in the third set, wrapping up the 7-0 victory for the Lions.

Despite Tyler Lee’s loss, coach Lee still believed Tyler played even better than he did during his victory over the Dons on Saturday.

“I give credit to Tyler,” coach Lee said. “He did a good job of having a business-like approach.”

The Aggies were much more impressive on Saturday against the Dons starting off well by winning two of three matches including an impressive win for Nick Lopez and Hunter Lee.

Tyler Lee and Sherbakov also picked up singles wins, but the Aggies fell 4-3.

After the two losses this weekend, the Aggies are now 4-5 overall this season. UC Davis now heads back on the road and will face UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly next weekend.

ZANDER WOLD can be reached at sports@theaggie.com. 

Coming off a 25-point loss to Seattle, UC Davis was looking to rebound against Boise State in every sense of the word.

The Aggies beat the Broncos 82-74 Saturday night at the Taco Bell Arena thanks in part to a strong performance on the boards.

“[Rebounding] was one of the main focal points we talked about in preparing for Boise State,” said coach Gary Stewart. “We could ill-afford to give them second and third opportunities. They’re a very good offensive rebounding team.”

The Aggies out-hustled the Broncos 37-28 on the glass, holding Boise State under their season average of 35 boards a game. Despite a slow start (5-for-19 shooting), the Aggies were able to keep the game close for most of the first half before pulling away with six minutes remaining in the opening period.

Down 19-17, the Aggies took the lead on Ryan Sypkens’ three-pointer and then extended the margin with consecutive treys by Dominic Calegari and a layup by Joe Harden. The 11-0 run gave UC Davis a 28-19 lead which became a 36-27 advantage heading into the break.

The Broncos performed better in the second half, actually outscoring the Aggies 47-46, but could not get closer than seven points due to Harden’s hot hand.

After scoring only four points in the first half, Harden scored 20 in the second.

“He was very aggressive and we ran some plays to get him the ball at the basket,” Stewart said. “He did an excellent job.”

Harden’s aggressiveness paid off as he drew several fouls and finished with 10-of-11 shooting from the charity stripe. Harden’s 24 points were second only to Calegari’s 26.

“We liked [Calegari and Harden’s] matchups,” Stewart said. “We had some opportunities down in the interior. Our perimeter players did an excellent job in getting them the ball.”

Ryan Howley and Todd Lowenthal  both finished with four assists and Julian Welch chipped in with three. Lowenthal – following a 13-rebound performance in Seattle – tied Harden for a team-high nine boards against the Broncos. The victory gives the Aggies an 11-15 overall record and concludes their non-conference schedule for this season.

“It was a good win for us,” Stewart said. “Any time you can go on the road and win a game this late in the year against a team that’s just two years removed from the NCAA tournament, it’s a good win. It’s the time of year you want to get some momentum and sustain it.”

RICHARD PROCTER can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

Not much has come easy for the UC Davis wrestling team this season.

The youthful Aggie squad (3-11, 1-6 Pacific-10 Conference) has endured injuries. It’s fought through sicknesses. It’s faced four teams currently ranked in the top 20 (No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 11 Boise State, No. 15 Oregon State and No. 20 Cal Poly).

“We knew we were going to have five weights that were brand new,” coach Lennie Zalesky said. “Brandon [Low] was out for most of the season. Barrett [Abel] was out for most of the year. It took us awhile to get going.

“Also, we wrestled the toughest schedule in the history of UC Davis. So the combination of being young, our good guys being hurt and the tough schedule wasn’t very good.”

Starting Friday, all can be forgotten.

The Aggies can redeem themselves with a good performance at the Pac-10 Tournament, which will be held this year at the Pavilion.

“As a team, we didn’t do well this season,” junior heavyweight Ricky Alcala said. “That doesn’t matter anymore. What matters is the conference tournament.”

For Alcala, Low and Abel, this will most likely not be the last competition of the year. All three are good bets to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

For the rest of the squad, however, this is a final chance to end a tough season on a positive note.

This won’t be easy, though, as the Aggies will compete against some of the best teams in the nation.

“The Pac-10 is possibly the toughest it’s ever been and one of the toughest in the nation at this time,” said senior Bryan Osuna. “I can’t think of another year you’ve been able to say that.”

To deal with this, some of the Aggies are taking different approaches going into the league tournament. For Alcala, it’s one of blocking out all distractions and emphasizing focus.

“I feel like there’s no difference,” Alcala said. “I feel like I perform the same everywhere.”

However, Alcala then thought about it for a second and acknowledged the difficulties that come with hosting a tournament of this magnitude.

“There might be a little more pressure, though, because people tell you they’re going to be there to watch you,” Alcala said.

Still, this could be a good thing for the Aggies.

“It gives you a little more motivation to practice and prepare for this tournament at higher level than you normally would,” Alcala said.

Regardless of UC Davis’ approach to this weekend, the fact remains that the competition will be fierce.

However, top-notch opponents and the opportunity to perform on this stage will only benefit the large group of freshmen and sophomores, whether they’re on the mat or off.

“All of our young guys are competing at this level now,” Osuna said. “It’s only going to pay off later.”

The advantages of hosting the Pac-10 Tournament go far beyond just helping the younger guys, though.

It’s convenient. Alcala’s three-minute walk from where he lives at the Colleges at La Rue will benefit him. The fact the Aggies train on the upper concourse of the Pavilion can only help. Plus, it allows the only two seniors on the squad to go out with a chance to perform at home.

However, it’s also big for the future of UC Davis wrestling. UC Davis can present its facilities to visiting schools and show some of the more elite programs what Aggie wrestling is all about.

“It’s a great recruiting tool,” said senior Alex Darkhovsky. “It gives the school more recognition. More people will visit to watch. This will open local wrestlers’ eyes to wrestle in college and hopefully here.”

Zalesky puts it more simply.

“I think this facility is one of the best to host this in the nation,” Zalesky said.

For senior like Darkhovsky, putting it all out there for the final matches of his career is what’s important to him.

“[Hosting] is definitely kind of symbolic and of value to me,” Darkhovsky said. “It’s a great way to go out with a bang. I can see myself having one of the best performances of my life.”

MAX ROSENBLUM wants you to know the Pac-10 Championships are Friday and Saturday. E-mail him at sports@theaggie.org if you’re going to see him there.