With only one Pac-10 victory this season, UC Davis needed some momentum heading into their final matches of the season.

Unfortunately, the Aggies couldn’t come out with a win in either of their final two regular season dual meets of the year as they fell to Cal Poly on Friday and Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday.

To begin the weekend, the No. 19 Mustangs proved to be too much for the Aggies, winning 34-7 in front of their home crowd at Mott Gym.

Only two UC Davis wrestlers came away with victories over Cal Poly. Fifteenth ranked Brandon Low came away with a big upset against No. 8 Boris Novachkov at the 133-pound class, earning a 6-3 decision. The Aggies dropped the next seven bouts including an injury default to No. 15 Barrett Abel at 149.

No. 15 junior heavyweight Ricky Alcala earned the Aggies more points with a 14-5 major decision against Jim Powers to finish off the match.

With the victory, the Mustangs moved to 8-4 overall and 5-2 in the Pac-10.

UC Davis looked to overcome their loss at Cal Poly as it traveled to Cal State Bakersfield to take on the Roadrunners at the Icardo Center.

Unfortunately for the Aggies, the match was more of the same as the Roadrunners beat them for the second time this season, this time by a score of 39-4.

The lone win for the Aggies came at the 133-pound division where Low earned a major decision against Justin Durham.

Abel did not compete for the Aggies because of injuries sustained the night before. However, they hope to have him back in time for the Pac-10 tournament.

The two losses drop the Aggies to 1-7 in Pac-10 play and 3-12 overall heading into the conference tournament at the Pavilion starting Feb. 26.

Heading into the competitive tournament, coach Lennie Zalesky wants his young team to relax and work on the basics.

“I would say quite honestly that because we have such a young team we’ll be working on things that the seniors from last year left with,” Zalesky said. “There will be a heavy emphasis on the basics and sound wrestling.”

KYLE HYLAND can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

When a team begins to struggle, one player must step up and take charge.

Meet Heidi Heintz.

After winning seven straight games, the Aggies began to stumble as they went 2-2 during their last four contests.

During the Aggies’ recent struggles, Heintz has been a solid presence, registering two double-doubles over the last three games and willing her team to victory over UC Irvine on Saturday.

“This is a rough stretch of the conference season,” Heintz said. “We need to be on the rise, getting better every practice and every game so we’re peaking at the end of conference and heading into the tournament.”

Before UC Davis upended UC Irvine, it fell to Pacific on the road.

Thursday – Pacific 74, UC Davis 58

This was supposed to be an easy win.

The Aggies had won eight of their previous nine games and would be playing a team that was tied for last in the Big West Conference with a record of 1-9.

Instead of rolling over, Pacific shocked UC Davis (16-8, 8-3) by shooting 15-of-22 from long distance on its way to an impressive 74-58 victory.

The Aggies believe they simply weren’t at their best while the Tigers were.

“Pacific just ran us around,” said coach Sandy Simpson. “We were slow on everything. The big difference was their three-point shooting. Whether we were contesting the shots or not, they knocked them down.”

The game marked the third straight time the Aggies faced a team that was lights-out from beyond the arc. During the streak the Aggies went just 1-2 as their opponents combined to shoot an unprecedented 58 percent from long distance.

The Aggies understand that there isn’t much that can be done when a team is that hot.

“I’ll tell you what,” Simpson said. “Stick a kid in a gym with no defense and that’s a hard number to reach. I just hope we don’t run into that again.”

Heintz continued her hot streak leading the Aggies with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Kasey Riecks and Hana Asano chipped in 10 points apiece.

Saturday – UC Davis 74, UC Irvine 71

After being upset by Pacific, UC Davis had no choice but to respond with a win over UC Irvine.

If not for Heintz, the Aggies may have fallen short of their goal.

Despite trailing for most of the game, Heintz took control late and willed her team to a 74-71 victory over the visiting Anteaters.

UC Davis believes claiming a victory after a loss is pivotal.

“It’s hard coming off that loss,” Heintz said. “We talked about playing with no regrets. We don’t want to be outworked or out hustled in a game. It’s huge to win after losing to Pacific.”

While the Aggies ultimately came out on top, things did not look good for them in the first half.

The Anteaters’ intensity was evident as they would lead by as much as nine before taking a 37-34 lead into the half.

“In the first half we came out a little flat,” Heintz said. “We had five of our bench players in there halfway through the first half to give us a little spark defensively.”

The second half was hard fought as the outcome was mostly in doubt until the very end.

That was until Heintz scored a three-point play with 15 seconds remaining to give the Aggies a one-point advantage, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

“Without her making those plays at the end,” Simpson said, “it would have been difficult to win.”

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

The Aggies saw a higher level of competition over the weekend when they returned to the University of Washington for their second consecutive meet.

UC Davis did not return empty handed, though. The women met the challenge, setting five new school records. The men, meanwhile, managed many personal bests.

“A lot more heavy hitters came into the meet,” said coach Jon Vochatzer. “The team really stepped up to the plate.”

One of the more notable performances on the women’s side came from senior Sirena Williams. She managed to break her 60-meter hurdles school record with a time of 8.67, beating her old record of 8.82.

“For Sirena Williams to break her own school record – that’s huge,” said coach Deanne Vochatzer. “When you’re going that fast and you only have 60-meters to go, then everything counts.”

Freshman Melanise Chapman had a record-breaking performance in both the 200- and 60-meter races.

Racing for only her second time with the Aggies, Chapman managed to break her own school record in the 200 with a time of 25.28. She also tied the existing school record of 7.81 in the 60.

The UC Davis women impressed in field events as well.

Chidinma Onyewuenyi captured second in the weight throw with a distance of 61-1.50, breaking her old school record by almost five feet.

Senior Tessa Fraser tied Jennifer Swanson’s decade-old school record in the pole vault with a distance of 12-04.0.

While the men didn’t break any school records, many set new personal bests.

Polly Gnepa finished third in both the prelims and the finals in the 60-meter hurdles, securing a top-three spot for the second meet in a row.

Another notable performance came from sophomore Gavin Banks, who won his heat in the 60-meter with a time of 7.04.

“He really stepped up to the competition and showed that he was ready to take on anyone,” Jon said of Banks.

Matthew Council took first place in the 400-meters with a personal-record time of 48.61. Alex Wilright took second in the event in a personal-best time of 48.72.

In field events, Igor Serbia had another impressive performance in the triple jump. He came in third, clearing 48-10.0. Ray Green, meanwhile, finished fourth with a distance of 47-11.75.

As the Aggies progress toward their spring season, coaches Jon and Deanne Vochatzer are hopeful that this past weekend is an indicator of what is to come.

“The team looked much more unified than I have seen them in previous years,” Jon said. “This past weekend you could really feel the heart beat of what was going on out there.”

MADELINE WEEKS can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

A three-day weekend in Las Vegas may distract most.

Not the UC Davis softball team.

The Aggies began their season with two come-from-behind victories at the UNLV Sportco Kick-Off Classic.

They finished the weekend with a 3-2 record, both losses coming to host UNLV.

Coach Karen Yoder said the squad showed tenacity as it battled two tough losses against the host team.

Friday – Game 1: UC Davis 10, Kent State 2 (5)

Kent State held a 2-0 lead until the fifth inning, as it scored one run in each of the first two innings.

In the bottom half of the inning, a two-out UC Davis rally began with a Megan Guzman infield single, driving in Sarah Axelson.

After an illegal pitch brought in the tying run, Alex Holmes hit an RBI-double to give the Aggies a 3-2 lead.

The Aggies scored all 10 of their runs in the fatal inning.

“It was the moment when you really saw this team come together,” Yoder said.

Friday – Game 2: UC Davis 4, Loyola Marymount 3 (8)

Loyola Marymount put the first run on the board with a solo homerun, forcing UC Davis into what would become a back-and-forth contest.

After tying the game at 1-1 in the third inning, the Lions took back the lead and maintained it until the sixth.

The Aggies then regained the lead only to see the Lions come back to tie it again in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Elizabeth Santana drove in Guzman in the top of the eighth with a sacrifice fly, proving to be the deciding run.

“I was impressed with the overall presence of our players on opening day,” Yoder said. “We had some key offensive performances by [Jessica] Gonzalez and Santana, who came through in situations with runners in scoring position.”

Saturday – Game 1: UC Davis 2, UNLV 7

UC Davis suffered its first loss of the season to UNLV as the Rebels edged the Aggies with a five-run second inning.

“Six of the seven runs were unearned, which makes it difficult to win any game,” Yoder said. “It was a huge learning opportunity.”

Santana went 2-for-3 at the plate with an RBI.

Saturday – Game 2: UC Davis 8, Cal State Bakersfield 7

Yoder said game four was a good one.

UC Davis fell behind 4-1 in the second inning before eventually coming back to gain a 7-5 lead in the seventh.

Axelson proved to be a powerful asset to the Aggie offense.

“The ball probably looked like a beach ball to her,” Yoder said. “She was hitting everything. She brought her leadership to the plate in the cleanup spot.”

Axelson took advantage of two Roadrunner defensive miscues and went 5-for-5 at the dish. Her last hit drove in the winning run.

Sunday – UC Davis 2, UNLV 3

This was a strange finish.

Due to the Aggies’ strict travel arrangements, coaches from both sides agreed to a specific time to end the game, regardless of who was ahead.

With UC Davis behind 3-2 in the seventh inning, Axelson hit a three-run homerun to give the Aggies a 5-3 lead.

However, the long ball didn’t count as time had ran out just before Axelson went deep, preventing the Aggies from claiming victory.

“I was proud with how our team handled themselves, not only this game, but in all of the games this weekend,” Yoder said. “We proved how we battle and how we’re a united front. We came from behind in many of the contests, which showed a lot of character.”

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

Gone with the Wind won the Oscar for Best Picture.

The United States hadn’t entered World War II.

Martha Stewart hadn’t been born yet.

All these things were true the last time the UC Davis men’s basketball team beat Pacific.

That was 1940.

This is now.

UC Davis pulled out a 62-59 victory over Pacific at the Pavilion, ending a 49-game, 70-year losing streak.

The game got off to a back-and-forth start with eight lead changes or ties in the first eight minutes, finally settling down with the Tigers taking a 13-10 lead on a three-pointer by Demetrece Young with 12:46 left to play.

The lead grew to 21-12 when UC Davis headed into a timeout with 7:47 left in the first half.

“We all came together and said ‘We’ve gotta box out,'” said guard Julian Welch.

The Aggies came out of the timeout and finished the half on a 15-5 run with 10 points coming from Welch.

“We just focused on defense,” Welch said. “Game preparation and everything was geared on defense, heart and rebounding. We weren’t concerned about offense at all.”

The Aggies held the Tigers to 2-of-10 shooting from the field and forced four turnovers over the final eight minutes before the break.

“At that point I was like ‘We’ve got a great shot,'” Calegari said. “‘We can play way better.’ That halftime locker room was the most alive I’ve ever seen it. Everyone was talking. It was fun. It was a good energy.”

Although the Aggies felt confident, the Tigers wouldn’t go away easily. No team led by more than five in the second half as both teams took turns scoring in bursts. After using a 6-0 run to pull ahead 37-32, Pacific then allowed the Aggies to go on an 11-4 run and regain the lead.

Two free throws by Sam Willard gave Pacific a 59-58 advantage with 1:31 to go. Calegari answered on the other end, collecting an offensive rebound and sinking two free throws of his own to give the Aggies a 59-58 lead with 1:06 to play.

Three free throws by Joe Harden over the next 54 seconds stretched the margin to 62-58 with 12 seconds left in the game.

Down by four, the Tigers tried for a three point shot with two seconds remaining. Welch fouled Allen Huddleston, who was awarded with three shots from the charity stripe. Huddleston missed two of the free throws and Young clanged a three-pointer at the buzzer, sealing the win for the Aggies.

“It was an old fashioned slug fest,” said coach Gary Stewart. “That’s what I’m most proud of, it was a defensive deal.”

The Aggies held the Tigers to 40 percent shooting overall and 21 percent from beyond the arc while forcing 11 turnovers. Both Harden and Todd Lowenthal had three steals while Calegari provided an interior presence on defense with three blocks.

Calegari will become the first player in the program to have beaten every Big West Conference team.

“This is by far the best athletic moment I’ve had in my life,” Calegari said. “This is why I play team sports. It’s just the most amazing feeling I could ever ask for.”

The game was played before the Pavilion’s largest crowd of the season, 2,878, many of whom stormed the court to celebrate after the final buzzer.

“There’s a huge energy from the crowd,” Calegari said. “It was the loudest I’ve ever experienced it. This place was rockin’. That’s the kind of energy we feed off of.”

UC Davis traveled to UC Irvine following their historic win.

The Anteaters overcame a strong three-point shooting performance by the Aggies to come away with the 69-67 win at the Bren Center, putting the game away with a 9-0 run over the final three minutes.

The Aggies are now 6-6 in Big West Conference play, putting them in a three-way tie for fourth place with Long Beach State and Cal Poly.

UC Davis will play at Seattle tonight at 7 p.m.

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

Okay, so Alaska Anchorage won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Conference championship last year.

And yes, they have solid performers.

Unfortunately for the Seawolves, the Aggies’ consistency and depth proved to be too much to overcome.

“They had good routines out there, but we outnumbered them,” Bobonski said. “We performed better than they did.”

UC Davis won the dual against Alaska Anchorage by a final score of 193.175-190.200.

This score helped the Aggies maintain their top position in the conference – and it wasn’t even a season-best.

“Last week we hit 24 out of 24 routines, which was a huge accomplishment,” Bobonski said. “This time we had a few falls. We didn’t do our best, but we still whipped out a 193.175. It shows how good we are and that when we do our best, we’re going to score pretty big.”

UC Davis’ usual four-event performers Tanya Ho and Katie Yamamura competed in just two events each on Friday.

“It’s hard to do all-around every meet, so we gave them a break,” Bobonski said. “Despite the fact that our lineup wasn’t the same as usual, everyone stepped it up and hit a really high score.”

Senior Kendall McCann and junior Marcy Miller took the top two all-around spots with scores of 38.700 and 38.250 respectively.

McCann placed first on balance beam with a 9.800 score while Miller won uneven parallel bars with 9.775 points.

“It was expected because [McCann and Miller] have been doing so well in the gym for practice,” Bobonski said. “The good thing about our team is that we have a lot of depth.”

Additionally, sophomore Erika Van Dyke posted a season-high score of 9.850 to win floor exercise.

The meet marked the fifth victory in a row for UC Davis.

“Our team is really good and we have high energy,” Bobonski said. “We need to get the little things together like our landings and the extra steps here and there. Once we do that, we’ll be back to 194 for sure.”

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

Last Tuesday evening began like any other for Gary Stewart.

The UC Davis men’s basketball coach went to a high school game. He watched some tape. He went to bed.

Everything normal about Stewart’s night changed at 3:35 a.m. when he got a call. It was Mark Payne. He was sick and at the hospital. Stewart couldn’t get back to sleep.

It didn’t end there, though.

“We had shoot around at 9 a.m.,” Stewart said. “When shoot around ended at 10 a.m., I was on the phone with Mark’s mom and the trainers from 10 until 10:50, and then I taught badminton.

“After that, I went back to the hospital with Mark, then back home for more preparation. It was a little bit different than a normal script.”

Senior Dominic Calegari tells his side of the story.

“I thought it was a joke at first,” Calegari said. “Joe [Harden] picked me up this morning. Usually, Mark’s in the car, and Mark wasn’t there. I thought he just drove himself or something.

“Then Joe says, ‘Mark was in the hospital last night.’ I’m like, ‘Geez, that’s not a real funny joke.’ … Joe’s one to make those kinds of jokes. He kind of kept saying it and saying it. Then I got here and Coach Stewart reaffirmed it.”

Any way you look at it, the fact of the matter was this: UC Davis was going to have to play Big West Conference leading Pacific without arguably the conference’s best player.

So with no Payne in the lineup and the first-place Tigers coming into town, Stewart was sure to change the game plan, right?

Think again.

“We really didn’t have time,” Stewart said. “We’ve played without Mark before. We had a belief that we built this program on a team. We didn’t waver from that belief.”

You can probably say that again.

In front of a raucous crowd of 2,800-plus, a Payne-less UC Davis squad beat Pacific for the first time since 1940, finally ending a 49-game losing streak.

“You could’ve done away with the three-point line,” Stewart said. “You could’ve gone back to two officials and short shorts. It was an old-fashioned slugfest.”

The Aggies packed the bigger punch, though. They believed in themselves more, too.

“This is by far the best athletic moment I’ve had in my life,” Calegari said. “This is why I play team sports – to have this kind of feeling. I’ve seen a lot of seniors come through here who want this victory and go home empty-handed.”

Stewart wasn’t hesitant to praise his veteran player.

“Dom is awfully special,” Stewart said. “He’s a lone senior. He’s shed a lot of blood for this program.”

With the win, Calegari will become the first UC Davis men’s basketball player to have beaten every team in the Big West.

As impressive as that and the victory are as a whole, UC Davis still has a lot of work to do.

After the game, Stewart and his players were focused on their next opponent – UC Irvine – and didn’t want to speculate on the affect this win could have on the reminder of the season. He didn’t want to talk about the future of the program, either.

Because they didn’t talk about it, I’ll try to fill in the blanks for you.

What it means for the rest of the season

It’s no secret that UC Davis has been slightly inconsistent this year. The Aggies have seen late leads turn into losses and their own comebacks fall short.

However, the fact still remains; they beat the conference-leading Tigers with out their star player.

If the Aggies can ride this victory into the conference tournament, there’s no telling how far they can go.

As a former sports editor once told me, it’s all about getting hot for four days down in Anaheim at the Big West Tournament. At that point, you never know. It could mean seeing the “UC Davis” name on your March Madness brackets. (Thank you, Adam.)

What it means for the future of UC Davis basketball

There’s a lot of talk about a rivalry existing between UC Davis and Pacific. It’s hard to agree with that claim, seeing as the results have been so one-sided.

However, it must be known that of the 49 consecutive victories by the Tigers since 1940, only six of those occurred while both teams were in Division I.

I’m not saying one victory changes everything, but a win is a step in the right direction.

For schools located only 47 miles away from each other, though, there’s much more at stake than just a rivalry.

There’s pride, bragging rights and – of course – recruiting. This victory is progress toward building a perennial Big West power. Future meetings between these teams could possibly come on the final day of the conference tournament.

Yes, this victory is big. The Aggies proved they could win when they needed to. They proved they could beat the best team in the league. They proved they could win without one of the conference’s best players.

Now, we wait.

MAX ROSENBLUM thinks it’s great so many people showed up to watch the game. However, he doesn’t think it should take free T-shirts and television cameras to get fans to go. You’ve seen what your team can do. Now go back again. And again. He also thinks the game was the best sporting event he’s ever attended. Agree with him (no disagreeing) at sports@theaggie.org.

Women’s golf

The No. 25 Aggies finished fifth in their first tournament of the year at the Peg Barnard Invitational.

Junior Alice Kim shot 3-over 74 to earn seventh place overall. Freshman Demi Runas tied for tenth after shooting a 75 while fellow freshman Amy Simanton shot a 78 on Saturday and Sunday to earn 25th place for the weekend.

As a team, UC Davis shot a 24-over 305 to tie Washington for fourth on Sunday, and finished the weekend at 615.

Host No. 14 Stanford edged rival No. 7 California by one stroke to win the tournament.

– Jason Alpert