Teams: UC Davis vs. Alaska Anchorage

Where: The Pavilion

When: Friday at 7 p.m.

Who to watch: Sophomore Erika Van Dyke placed first on both balance beam and floor exercise with scores of 9.775 and 9.800 respectively to lead the Aggies to victory over Seattle Pacific on Friday.

The Sacramento, Calif. native received All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Honors on floor last year and was a recipient of one of the team’s Major Contributions awards.

Did you know? UC Davis is currently ranked first in the MPSF with an average team score of 191.435 after posting a season-high score of 194.250 against Seattle Pacific last week.

Preview: After a strong finish in the fifth week of competition, coach John Lavallee believes that the girls finally understand their true potential.

“It’s easy to sum up why we did as well as we did on Friday,” Lavallee said. “From Day One, this team has been very focused in practice about what they need to do to perform at that level in meets. We had fewer extra little steps and bobbles. On uneven bars, we were better with handstands and had better control on dismounts.”

The Aggies now prepare to host defending MPSF champion Alaska Anchorage in a dual meet on Friday.

Alaska posted 188.900 points two weekends ago in a quad meet at the Metroplex Challenge in Dallas, Texas. This score marked the season-best for the Seawolves.

The Aggies hope to continue their four-meet winning streak, while also looking to build momentum and points for the rest of the season.

“We talk continually about where we’re at and where we’re going,” Lavallee said. “The fact is we need to put a string of big scores together, which really would change the complexion of our program from a national standpoint. We’re already looking down the road three or four meets to see what we need to do.

“When we saw how talented, and more importantly, how motivated this team was, we started looking at those things. On Friday night [against Seattle Pacific], I think this team finally realized how good they are.”

– Grace Sprague

Teams: UC Davis vs. UC Irvine

Records: Aggies (9-13, 5-5); Anteaters (10-14, 3-7)

Where: The Bren Center – Irvine, Calif.

When: Saturday at 7:05 p.m.

Who to watch: If Dominic Calegari can replicate anything close to his previous performance against UC Irvine this season, UC Davis will be in good shape.

The Berkeley, Calif. native shot a perfect 10-for-10 from the field and six-for-eight from the charity stripe, finishing with 28 points.

The scoring explosion was good enough to move Calegari over the 1,000-point mark, only the 16th Aggie to ever do so.

Did you know? UC Irvine leads the Big West Conference in free throw percentage at 71 percent.

Preview: In their last game against the Anteaters, the Aggies held on for a 79-77 win.

The first half featured 13 lead changes and at one point UC Irvine held a four-point lead.

Coach Gary Stewart, however, would like to get out to a better start more often.

“You can ill-afford to start the race in lane nine all the time,” Stewart said.

The Aggies have been outscored 737-705 in first halves this season. They tend to score more in the second half of games, as they are tied 834-834 with opponents.

UC Davis currently leads the Big West in shooting percentage at 46 percent, slightly ahead of first place Pacific.

The Aggies also have recent history on their side as they have defeated the Anteaters four straight times, including three wins last season.

Eric Wise and Michael Hunter, who average 16 and 13.8 points per game, respectively, lead the Anteaters. Darren Moore, the third-leading scorer with 9.6 points per game, joins Wise and Hunter as the only three Anteaters to start every single game for UC Irvine this season.

– Richard Procter

Event: Battle at the Beach

Where: Pelican Hill Golf Course, Ocean North – Newport Coast, Calif.

When: Sunday through Tuesday, all day

Who to watch: Freshman Andrew Haggan had the best tournament of any Aggie last week at the Mauni Lani Invitational, finishing the tournament tied for 29th.

Haggan showed great consistency while dealing with harsh wind conditions. Look for the Walnut Creek, Calif. native to keep his momentum going this week at Pelican Hill.

Did you know? Freshman Josh Granger will be making his collegiate debut for the Aggies this weekend.

“He’s been working hard to get in the lineup,” said coach Cy Williams, “We’re excited to see how he does. He’s a good golfer.”

Preview: UC Davis is looking to turn things around following its disappointing 16th-place finish last week in Hawaii.

“We simply have to play better,” Williams said. “The guys have a lot of pride and we really want to rebound this tournament.”

The Aggies will face a difficult field in this tournament, which features five teams ranked in the top 25 – including No. 3 Washington. This will be UC Davis’ second straight tournament against some of the best teams in the country. Williams feels the Aggies can play with the best.

“We can compete with any team,” he said. “We’ve beat Oregon before and they placed second in Hawaii.”

While all of the Aggies will be looking to improve this week, none will be looking to get back on track more than Tyler Raber. Raber is one of the Aggies statistical leaders, but finished tied for 95th in Hawaii.

“Things just snowballed on him in Hawaii,” Williams said, “He’ll get back to hitting the ball well.”

Williams also stressed that things can change dramatically in a short time in golf.

“More than any other sport,” he said. “Things can turn around week to week in golf.”

– Trevor Cramer

Event: UNLV Sportco Kick-Off Classic

Teams: UC Davis at UNLV; vs. Kent State, Loyola Marymount, Cal State Bakersfield

Records: Aggies (0-0); Rebels (0-0); Golden Flashes (0-0); Lions (0-0); Roadrunners (0-0)

Where: Eller Stadium – Las Vegas, Nev.

When: Saturday at 9 a.m., 11:15 a.m.; Sunday at 3:45 p.m., 8:15 p.m.; Monday at 12 p.m.

Who to watch: Sophomore infielder Kelly Harman started in 53 games in the 2009 campaign.

The Trabuco Canyon, Calif native led the Aggies last season with a .295 batting average, five homeruns and 23 RBI.

Harman was named Big West Conference Freshman Field Player of the Year last season and received All-Big West honorable mention.

Did you know? UNLV came out with a 5-3 victory over UC Davis when the two teams met in March of last year.

In the following game against Cal State Bakersfield, the Aggies beat the Roadrunners in just five innings by a score of 9-0.

Preview: Coach Karen Yoder sees potential in her 2010 squad as it starts the season at the UNLV Sportco Kick-Off Classic.

“We have depth at more positions and more players who are playing multiple positions, which creates versatility and strengthens our team,” Yoder said.

Returning seniors include outfielders Marissa Araujo, Michelle Espiritu and infielder Sarah Axelson.

Araujo started in 48 matches last season as she finished the year with 13 doubles and a .248 batting average.

“Marissa is our anchor in the outfield,” Yoder said. “She’s just a tremendous athlete. She’s so well rounded and will give us a boost in our lineup.”

Alex Holmes leads the pitching staff and was named first-team All-Big West last year and received honorable mention.

Yoder also has high hopes for the six members of the rookie class.

The freshmen include Megan Guzman, Elizabeth Santana, Kelly Shulze, Jessica Thweatt, JJ Wagoner and Dana Waldusky.

“I’m excited about the different strengths our freshmen bring to the table,” Yoder said. “The six games we had in the fall gave us great insight into their talent and game readiness. They’ve had time to really absorb the transition from high school and travel ball to this level.”

– Grace Sprague

Event: Washington Indoor Invitational

Where: Seattle, Wash.

When: Friday and Saturday, all day

Who to watch: Freshman Melanise Chapman is pushing the competition to new levels for UC Davis.

The Lancaster, Calif. native managed to set a school record in the 200-meter race with a time of 25.40, beating the previous record of 25.48 held by Ugo Eke.

With Chapman’s record-setting performance right out of the blocks, coach Deanne Vochatzer expects her to break this record again and possibly even set a record in the 60-meter.

Did you know? Two weeks ago at the Washington Husky Indoor Invitational, the Aggies were able to set four new school records.

In addition to setting school records, 14 different marks made the all-time top-ten lists for indoor track.

Preview: This weekend the track and field team returns to Seattle, Wash. with many returning athletes from two weeks ago.

Poor weather conditions prevented the Aggies from practicing as much as intended before opening their season at the Washington Husky Invitational.

Despite this, Deanne Vochatzer believes the team is more prepared as they make their way up to Seattle for the second time.

“I can already see an improvement in the team’s preparedness for competition,” Vochatzer said after practice on Monday. “We had a very solid week last week, which showed at practice today. We were able to actually do a little bit more tune up work, which makes them feel like they’re actually ready to race, throw or jump. “

Highlighting the action two weeks ago, senior Igor Seriba won the triple jump with a mark of 49-6.25. Coach Jon Vochatzer commented that he would not be surprised if he jumps even further this time, possibly reaching into the 50-foot range.

Additionally, competing for the men is distance runner Jonathan Peterson. Peterson broke his own school record in the 3,000-meters with a time of 8:11.52 two weeks ago and will be returning to compete again this weekend.

On the women’s front, senior Sirena Williams will be competing in the 60-meter hurdles, an event in which she currently holds the school record. “She’s close to tying if not breaking her own school record,” Deanne said.

Senior Chidinma Onyewuenyi threw a 45-8.5 last weekend in the shot put, moving her into No. 2 in the school record book.

“She is hungry and ready to set some new school records this weekend and she is another athlete to be watching for,” Deanne said.

– Madeline Weeks

Teams: UC Davis at Pacific; vs. UC Irvine

Records: Aggies, 15-7 (7-2); Tigers, 3-18 (1-9); Anteaters, 8-15 (5-5)

Where: Alex G. Spanos Center – Stockton, Calif.; The Pavilion

When: Today at 7 p.m.; Saturday at 7 p.m.

Who to watch: Everybody knows that the Aggies are deep.

What some people don’t know is how versatile they are.

A prime example of this versatility is sophomore Vicky Deely who has made her presence felt in all facets of the game.

Despite being ranked ninth on the team in minutes per game (11.5), she has the best field goal percentage at .476, ranks fifth in points per game with 4.9 and places fourth with 2.7 rebounds per game.

Did you know? Pacific ranks last in 14 out of the 21 statistical categories recorded by the Big West Conference including field goal percentage (.350), assist-to-turnover ratio (.5), scoring margin per game (-14.6) and rebounding margin per game (-11.9).

Preview: UC Davis has beaten both Pacific and UC Irvine this season by a combined total of 42 points.

The Aggies remain unsatisfied.

When they travel to Stockton today to take on the Tigers, the Aggies will be facing a team that took them to overtime in the Pavilion. Despite the on-paper mismatch, UC Davis knows not to take Pacific or UC Irvine lightly.

“Every matchup is different,” said coach Sandy Simpson. “Some teams just have problems with others. What we’ve done so far is nice but we’re only half way through the conference schedule.”

When the Tigers came to Davis in January, they gave the Aggies all they could handle as a pair of Paige Mintun free throws with 36 seconds left sent the game into overtime.

The Aggies then took charge, pulling out the 68-59 victory.

Their struggles against Pacific notwithstanding, UC Davis believes the victory shows what their team is made of.

“It was a really exciting game to play in and to watch,” said guard Haylee Donaghe. “One of our strengths as a team is how much we trust each other. To pull out a win like that says a lot about how close we are as a team.”

The Aggies will need to stick together in order to beat the Tigers and the Anteaters in a span of two days.

Since UC Davis annihilated UC Irvine on the road a month ago by a score of 77-44, repeating the feat at home should be an easy task.

That doesn’t keep the Aggies from staying on their toes.

“If we want to keep winning,” Simpson said, “we have to take our game up a notch.”

– Mark Ling

Event: Peg Bernard California Collegiate

Where: Stanford, Calif.

When: Saturday and Sunday, all day

Who to watch: In UC Davis’ last tournament in O’ahu, Hawaii, Demi Runas posted four birdies in her first 13 holes.

The freshman from Torrance, Calif. helped the Aggies carve a six-shot lead over fierce competition after 36 holes.

Did you know? This weekend’s tournament will be the Aggies’ first competition since Nov. 4. At that tournament, UC Davis posted a convincing nine-stroke win over second place UCLA.

Preview: The UC Davis women’s golf team will try to prove it can repeat these types of successes against some tough competition this weekend at the Peg Barnard California Collegiate Tournament.

The Aggies will take on teams like California, Oregon and Washington with hopes of improving their national ranking.

“We’re ranked No. 22 in the country,” said coach Anne Walker. “We finished the fall with a big win.”

Last November, UC Davis finished first amongst 18 competitors – eight of them ranked in the top 50 – at the Turtle Bay Collegiate Invitational.

Still, the first-place finish is not enough for Walker or her players.

“Our goals are much bigger than No. 22,” Walker said.

The Aggies look to do this by starting the spring with a win, something they were unable to do last weekend when the Gold Rush Tournament in Long Beach, Calif. was canceled due to weather.

The weather is something the Aggies can’t control. So they will put their focus on what they can do.

“My team is well aware that I expect them to be 100 percent prepared,” Walker said. “We talked a lot about the short-game and putting.”

Walker talked about details but still sees the larger picture.

“As long as we walk away Sunday moving in a forward direction, I know we’ll be fine,” Walker said. “I’m excited for the season. I’m really excited for the girls to play and to see how good we are.”

– Matt Wang

Teams: UC Davis at No. 19 Cal Poly; Cal State Bakersfield

Records: Aggies (3-10, 1-5); Mustangs (7-4, 4-2); Roadrunners (5-5, 2-4)

Where: Mott Gym – San Luis Obispo, Calif.; The Icardo Center – Bakersfield, Calif.

When: Friday at 6:30 p.m.; Saturday at 7 p.m.

Who to watch: Junior Barrett Abel has had a very strong year for the Aggies.

The 149-pound wrestler leads the team in wins this year with 18. He’s currently ranked No. 15 nationally in his weight class and No. 2 in the Pac-10.

The Diamond Springs, Calif. native had a very strong performance in the San Francisco State dual on Friday. The Aggies were down 22-18 going into his matchup. Abel was able to get a fall, giving the Aggies their third victory of the season.

Did you know? Cal Poly will be the fifth nationally ranked team that UC Davis has matched up against this year. The Mustangs are currently ranked No. 19 in the country. The Aggies have faced-off and lost to No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 7 Lehigh, No. 12 Boise State, and No. 14 Oregon State so far this season.

Preview: The Aggies split their final two home duals of the season last weekend against San Francisco State and Stanford. They were able to squeak by the Gators on Friday night 24-22 thanks to Abel, but lost in a heartbreaker on Saturday night, 20-19 to the Cardinal.

The Aggies road to the Pac-10 Conference Tournament doesn’t get any easier from here.

UC Davis competes against two very strong Pac-10 opponents this weekend and will be looking to build some momentum heading into the league tournament.

They will have their hands full with the Mustangs who have won four of their last six duals.

Against the Roadrunners, the Aggies will be looking for some redemption. UC Davis fell at the hands of Cal State Bakersfield during the Menlo duals earlier this year.

– Kyle Hyland

Teams: UC Davis vs. Sacramento State

Records: Aggies 1-3, Hornets 3-1

Where: Rio Del Oro Racquet Club – Sacramento, Calif.

When: Friday at 1:30 p.m.

Who to watch: Desiree Stone faces No. 26 Katrina Zheltova in singles play on Friday.

This is Stone’s second nationally ranked opponent in her last three singles matchups.

The North Hollywood, Calif. native recently lost to former pro Jennifer Lee-Heinser last Friday.

Did you know? Lauren Curry and Sidney Brady lead the Aggies in singles wins this year. Their latest victories were 6-3, 6-2 and 6-2, 6-0, respectively, against San Francisco.

Preview: After having the momentum from the first win of the season thwarted by rain, weather will be the most irrelevant part of their performance on Friday against the Hornets.

Coach Bill Maze will be more worried about the No. 59 Hornets trying to prevent the Aggies from recording their first win streak of the season.

The Hornets defeated the Aggies last season by a 6-1 score. Maze explains that playing indoor tennis has really provided the Sac State players with a wide array of improved shots.

“They have a lot of players with experience,” Maze said. “They play indoors and they develop shots over time because of it.”

Regardless of his concerns, Maze has seen improvement in an area that is crucial if the matchups come down to a final set.

“We had problems [last year] with third sets,” Maze said. “But when we play the big points well, we can win those close matches in singles.”

The Aggies doubles play, meanwhile, has been beneficial when closing out opponents. After suffering a tough loss at Stanford, the developing chemistry in doubles play gave the team three consecutive wins over the Dons.

“If history is any indication, it will be very tough,” Maze said. “It’s going to be a real challenge for us.”

– Marcos Rodriguez