Last week, I gave you a preview of the UC Davis men’s basketball squad.

Now it’s time switch over to the ladies’ side of things.

Here are some headlines about the 2009-2010 UC Davis women’s basketball team that you should take note of.

Welcome back, Haylee

Five years and two season-ending injuries later, senior Haylee Donaghe is back for one more year with the Aggies.

Donaghe, who was the first UC Davis women’s basketball player to receive a full scholarship, has been through her share of ups and downs in her six-year career.

But she’s finally back and feeling good after a knee injury cut last season short.

“[My knee] feels really good,” Donaghe said. “It’s been a long and pretty hard rehab process.”

Donaghe, who’s experience will be a key asset to the Aggies’ success this season, is just trying to take it easy for now and looking to get used to playing at full speed again.

“I’m just trying to be patient and focus on not getting out of control and not pushing too hard from the beginning,” she said.

Donaghe played in only nine games last season before the injury forced her to call it a year. Fortunately, she was granted another year of eligibility by the NCAA as she attends graduate school.

Coach Sandy Simpson couldn’t be more pleased.

“One of the things she gives us aside from her skills and experience,” Simpson said, “is her understanding of the system and coaching staff. She is able to interpret for the younger players what the coaches are saying. She helps them read between the lines. There is no substitute for that.”

Donaghe has done more than come back from injuries, though. She’s also helped the program evolve to the point it at now.

“She’s had a star-crossed career injury wise,” Simpson said, “but she’s had the opportunity to see this program evolve into a legitimate Division I program.”

Turning the Paige

Well, there won’t actually be any page turning. Junior forward Paige Mintun was already good. This year, she’s that much better.

“Paige is a very unique blend of skill set and athleticism,” Simpson said. “You don’t see a lot of 6-foot-3 posts who have a variety of low post moves, can go out and shoot the three, run the floor and defensively block shots the way she does. She is a matchup nightmare.”

The Valley Center, Calif. native led the Aggies with 13 points and 6.4 rebounds per game last season. She also accumulated team-highs in assists (69), steals (44) and blocks (31).

Loaded with experience

The Aggies were riddled with injuries last season. As a result, a lot of freshmen got valuable playing experience.

Due to this, Simpson says that many of his sophomores have junior-level experience.

“The advantage is we’re moving so much more quickly this year,” Simpson said. “A couple of weeks into our preseason practice we were probably where we were at midseason last year.”

With that experience, the return of Donaghe and Vicky Deely from season-ending injuries – plus the addition of several new faces – the only weakness the Aggies have is, well, playing time.

Donaghe joked about how if that’s the only problem the Aggies have this year, they are going to be all right.

“We have so many people that can contribute,” Donaghe said. “That’s going to be one of our biggest challenges this year, which is not such a bad problem to have.”

Some of those new additions are freshman Blair Shinoda and senior Heidi Heintz, a transfer from San Francisco, who will add a lot to the Aggies’ game.

Stacked schedule

In addition to playing its slate of 16 Big West Conference games – which includes perennial power UC Santa Barbara – UC Davis has several matchups against other solid programs.

The Aggies will play Washington State, Creighton, Kansas State and Seton Hall.

The most notable game on UC Davis’ schedule is Sunday’s contest against No. 2 Stanford at the Pavilion.

“[Stanford] might be better now than their two national championship teams,” Simpson said. “They have the best post contingent in the country – even better than UConn.”

Even with the tough non-conference schedule, the Aggies are still certain of where they want to be by season’s end.

“Our number one goal is to be Big West champions,” Donaghe said. “We have been emphasizing championship effort in our practices. That’s where we know we are going to be at the end of the season if we stick to our mottos.”

MAX ROSENBLUM wants a packed Pavilion for UC Davis’ matchup against Stanford this Sunday. Tipoff is at 2 p.m. Come through for him at sports@theaggie.org.

On Senior Night, the Aggies sent their seniors off with the only present they could have asked for – a win.

“I can’t help but think about the seniors as we go into this weekend,” head coach Jamie Holmes said. “This has been a special season for them, and they have truly left their mark on where this program is going.”

Things did not go the Aggies’ way Friday night against the UC Santa Barbara as the Gauchos came out on top in four sets. The loss dropped the Aggies into a tie for third place in the very competitive Big West Conference.

The Aggies got redemption Saturday night, as they took down the Mustangs of Cal Poly in five exciting sets on Senior Night. With the win the Aggies maintained a tie for third in the Big West standings.

Friday – UC Santa Barbara 3, UC Davis 1

UC Davis entered the match tied for second with UCSB.

After the contest, Aggies found themselves in third place in the conference.

The Aggies battled, but could not overcome the Gauchos as they fell 25-19, 25-20, 21-25, 25-15 in four sets in front of a home crowd at Hickey Gymnasium.

Freshman Allison Whitson led the Aggies on offense with 15 kills.

Fellow freshman Kaitlyn Plum had a career-high 13 digs while senior libero Avreeta Singh scooped up 12 of her own while adding three of her team’s six aces.

As a team the Gauchos had thirteen blocks including eight in the first set. They were not able to put the Aggies away for the sweep but took care of business in the fourth set.

The Gauchos had an advantage in kills by a 56-38 margin and hit .217 to the Aggies’ .081. With the win the Gauchos took over sole possession of second place in the league with a 10-4 conference record.

Saturday – UC Davis 3, Cal Poly 2

The Aggies honored their three seniors – Singh, Carson Lowden, and Tori Hooper – in a 26-28, 28-26, 25-23, 22-25, 15-6 win against Cal Poly.

The Aggie faithful came out strong for senior night with 635 in attendance at Upper Hickey Gymnasium.

Junior opposite Melanie Adams led the Aggies with a career-high 24 kills and served up four of her team’s eleven aces against the Mustangs.

Whitson had 16 kills with six blocks, while sophomore Katie Denny hit 11-2-1 for a .429 hitting average along with three aces.

Sophomore middle blocker Betsy Sedlak led the Aggie blocking attack with nine while Singh and Plum had a combined 30 digs.

Holmes made sure her three seniors were on the floor for the first part of the night as well as the last.

“I’m going to miss this class of seniors,” Holmes said. “They have been a wonderful group – Tori, Avreeta and Carson. They epitomize the type of athlete you want in your program. They’re respectful, they’re unselfish, they work hard everyday and they think of their team.”

With the win the Aggies move to 10-5 in conference play and 19-10 overall. The Aggies finish up their season this Saturday against Pacific.

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

Of the 31 wrestlers on UC Davis’ roster, only six are returning from last season.

Of those six, five were unable to compete Friday night against No. 17 Arizona State.

This proved to be a major disadvantage as the nationally ranked Sun Devils defeated the Aggies by a final score of 38-6 in the season opener for both teams.

In the ten bouts on Friday night, junior captain Ricky Alcala was the only upperclassman to compete for the Aggies. He won his match in the 285-pound bracket by decision over Eric Nye.

Along with Alcala, eight redshirt freshmen suited up against Arizona State and despite a loss, showed they could handle adversity.

“I think we did better than our score showed,” Alcala said, “but as long as our guys didn’t quit and wrestled hard, I’m okay with it. We’re upset but we can’t take it too hard because it’s the first time for these guys and Arizona State is no slouch team. They’re in our conference for the Pac-10, and along with Boise State they are our toughest competition.”

Alcala and Nye were tied 1-1 after three periods. The score remained through a sudden death overtime period and two 30-second rideouts.

In the second rideout, Alcala used a quick escape and earned two points for a takedown leading to a final score of 4-3.

Alcala’s victory at the 285-pound class proved to be one of just two individual wins for the Aggies.

The other UC Davis win came in the 197-pound class.

Rory McBryde defeated Michael Hawkins by holding him down for one minute longer than Hawkins was able to hold McBryde down.

Called “riding time,” the extra point awarded to McBryde led to a 3-2 decision.

While the Aggies were unable to come out with the victory in their conference opener, coach Lenny Zalesky was still pleased with what he saw in his team.

“I feel that my team fought,” Zalesky said. “We knew it would be tough going into this match, but with having so many guys out on injuries, we still competed really well in the individual matches.”

Zalesky hopes his team will have battled through the injuries by this weekend as it travels to compete in the Fullerton Open on Saturday.

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

After losing 10 of their last 13, the Aggies were looking for a spark to get some momentum going into the Western Water Polo Association Championships starting on Nov. 20.

They got just that, as they grinded out a 7-6 victory over No. 13 Pacific on Friday afternoon for their first win of the month.

One day later, UC Davis fell to Santa Clara 10-4, the team they will most likely meet in the first round of the WWPA Tournament next weekend.

The loss to the Broncos also marked the last home game for the Aggies this season.

Friday- No. 16 UC Davis 7, No. 13 Pacific 6

Senior Defender Jim Breen scored a natural hat trick to lead UC Davis past the Tigers for the second time this season.

“This was a really solid win for us,” Breen said. “It was a dogfight but we needed the confidence going into conference.”

Friday marks the second upset over Pacific for the Aggies, as the then No. 18 Aggies beat the No. 10 ranked Tigers in September.

UC Davis fell behind 1-0 early but Breen scored two of his three in the first period to put the Aggies up 3-1.

The teams battled to 5-5 in the third before Breen scored his final goal with one minute remaining in the third frame, putting UC Davis up for good.

Junior lefty Matt Richardson put his second strike of the game away in the fourth to cushion the lead to two goals.

Saturday- No. 14 Santa Clara 10, No. 16 UC Davis 4

Seniors Breen, Brendan Sigourney and Dave Cooper were honored on Saturday as they played their last game at Schaal Aquatics center after five years of dedication.

Senior Day also brought about an important match-up against conference foe Santa Clara.

As a probable opponent next weekend at conference, coach Steve Doten decided to play his bench and keep the Aggies’ game plan secret.

UC Davis fought hard in the first quarter, knotting the score at 2-2 at the end of eight minutes of play.

Santa Clara senior Jack Wall then scored one of his four goals to ignite a streak of five unanswered goals, as the Broncos moved out to a commanding 7-2 lead.

The Aggies shot just 4-for-29 on the day including 2-of-9 on man-up opportunities.

“It was really bad we had to go out like this,” Cooper said. “We really wanted to give the home crowd a win.”

Cooper scored his first goal of the season in the first quarter to give the Aggies their only lead of the game.

Richardson, Ryan Hagens and Russell Hampton all added one strike for UC Davis.

The Aggies drop to 13-15 on the season and 8-7 in conference games.

UC Davis resumes action at the WWPA Tournament, held at Chapman University in Orange, Calif. from Friday through Sunday. The seedings will arrive from the conference office early next week.

SAMMY BRASCH can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

For the first time this season, only the men’s swimmers and divers were scheduled to play.

While they were alone in the pool, they were joined in spirit by many of the female swimmers who were on hand to root for their fellow Aggies.

The women along with other Aggie fans witnessed an exciting battle, one in which the Aggies emerged victorious over Fresno Pacific by a cumulative score of 167-125.

The UC Davis victory was made possible by seven wins in individual events along with victories in both diving events.

The win over the Sunbirds extends the men’s record to 4-0.

To begin the day, UC Davis won the 200-yard medley relay. The “A” squad of Jimmy Fong, Scott Weltz, Daniel Donnelly and Russ Underwood clocked in at 1:33.97. Sophomore Reid Hartz then gave the Aggies their first individual win as he finished first in the 1000-meter freestyle.

The Aggies swept the top three spots in the 200-meter butterfly with the help of Senior Ed Morrison, who came up with a season-best time of 1:58:29.

For the Sunbirds, Carl Weigley swam well in light of his team’s loss. Weigley won three individual events, including the 50 and 100-meter freestyles, as well as the 100-meter butterfly. The Sunbirds claimed a win in the 400-meter freestyle relay.

After the defeat of Fresno Pacific, men’s coach Pete Motekaitis was humble in victory as he praised Fresno Pacific, pointing out that they have some very good swimmers on their team. He claimed the win could be attributed to the superior depth of the UC Davis squad.

On the diving board, Juniors Paul Navo and Jason Andrade led the way for UC Davis.

In the 3-meter diving component, Andrade scored an impressive 291.10.

All four of the Aggies’ meets have taken place in the friendly confines of the Schaal Aquatics Center and after the meet, Motekaitis talked about the luxury of competing at the Schaal Aquatics Center. He said that the tremendous facilities serve as added benefits while admitting it was ultimately his team’s focus that was the decisive factor.

For the Aggies, there won’t be any more home meets in the fall. Neither the women nor men will return to Schaal Pool until a Jan. 16 contest against Pacific.

AARON FISCHMAN can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

The scenario entering Saturday’s game at Aggie Stadium was simple – winner claims the Great West Conference title.

By Saturday’s end, UC Davis proved that it wanted it more as the Aggies were able to make big plays when they needed them to come out with the 28-20 victory over North Dakota.

UC Davis jumped out to an early 14-0 lead and it looked as if the rout was on but North Dakota wasn’t about to let up their chance at a league championship.

After being held to seven yards on nine plays in the first quarter, North Dakota’s backup quarterback Brent Goska was sent into the game to change up the offensive pace.

“I thought North Dakota did a nice job mixing it up going no-huddle and letting [Goska] come in and use his athletic ability to move the ball down the field,” said coach Bob Biggs.

Goska led the no-huddle offense on a 10-play, 80-yard drive to close the gap to 14-7 with 9:06 left to play in the second quarter.

Each team traded punts on the next eight possessions as both sides struggled to get any kind of offensive rhythm going with the wind swirling around the stadium.

“The wind was a factor,” Biggs said. “It seemed like neither team could get a whole lot going when they were going into the wind.”

The offensive drought came to a close near the end of the third quarter when a personal foul on UC Davis kept a North Dakota drive alive, leading to a field goal by Brandon Hellevang and moving the score to 14-10.

Aggie quarterback Greg Denham threw an interception on the ensuing possession, giving North Dakota the ball on the UC Davis 30-yard line.

The UC Davis defense held North Dakota to 10 yards on five plays, forcing another Hellevang field goal that made the score 14-13.

Clinging to a one-point lead, the Aggies finally regained the offensive success that they had in the first half of play. A 10-play, 71-yard drive that featured five plays of 10 yards or more culminated in a one-yard touchdown run by running back Josh Reese, extending the Aggies’ lead to 21-13.

North Dakota quarterback Jake Landry, who struggled most of the day against the wind and a blitz-happy defense, threw an interception on the next possession, leading to an 8-yard touchdown pass from Denham to receiver Chris Carter.

Trailing 28-13, North Dakota refused to give up as it managed a 71-yard touchdown drive to cut the lead to 28-20 with 3:37 left to play. The chance for a come-from-behind win lingered until the ensuing onside kick failed as UC Davis walked away with the win.

The victory seals the first winning season for UC Davis since 2006 and their first Great West Championship since 2005.

In addition to the team effort, Carter and senior linebacker Mike Morales both had substantial individual contributions.

Carter had nine catches on the day for 96 yards and two touchdowns. The nine receptions Saturday gives Carter 204 receptions during his UC Davis career. He needs only three catches against Sacramento State next week to tie the all-time school reception record set by Tony Kays.

On the defensive side of the ball, Morales led the Aggies with eight tackles and was named the Great West Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the second consecutive week.

The Aggies are excited about their conference title but are not basking in their glory quite yet as they their attention focused on the season finale against Sacramento State.

With the win, the UC Davis is also two-third through its season goals – a win over Cal Poly, a Great West title and a victory against Sacramento State.

“I’ll be honest with you, getting two without the third is going to be kind of empty,” Biggs said.

The Aggies take on the Hornets Saturday at 2 p.m.

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

Throughout the season, Jonathan Peterson and Sarah Sumpter have proved to be two of the top runners on the men’s and women’s squad, respectively.

On Saturday, the two sophomores continued their strong running at the NCAA West Region Championships.

Peterson led the Aggie men by capturing 17th place in the 10K race, clocking in at 31:11.74.

Sumpter paced the women with a 22nd place finish and a time of 21:32.79 in the 6K run.

“[Peterson and Sumpter] did all that I could have asked of them,” said coach Drew Wartenburg. “I told them, ‘You can’t control what anyone else does in terms of the race.’ Both raced very patiently and finished strong.”

For the men’s race overall, Stanford took the top three spots and the team title. In the women’s race, reigning national champion, Washington, captured first.

While the Aggie men and women will not be going to the NCAA Championships as a team, there is still the possibility that Peterson may qualify individually. The final decision is still pending and will be based on the results of other regional races across the country.

Wartenburg was also pleased with the team running of his women’s squad as he claimed the top three finished as high up as was needed and helped move the Aggie women up a spot in their regional standing.

The men’s finish marks the third consecutive year that the team has come in at 11th, something that Wartenburg sees as somewhat of a curse because their goal was to finish in the top ten.

“Once you get to the level where Davis is at it becomes a fight to gain every inch possible,” Wartenburg said.

Looking back on the past season, Wartenburg emphasizes the fact that the Aggies are always looking for ways to move forward and be competitive as a team.

The Aggies are now reflecting on what they have gained and learned from this year of competition in order to make improvements for the future.

“What we talked about was that the two jobs were to find the good in it and the progress in terms of the team [while] also finding places where we can improve,” Wartenburg said.

As a team, the Aggies close out their 2009 campaign. There is still the hope of sending Peterson to the NCAA Championships, but for the rest of the squad now is the time to reflect on the past season and find improvements that could be made for next year.

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