In light of the most recent matchup between professional tennis’ legendary sisters Venus and Serena Williams in the Australian Open, where Serena came away with her seventh Australian Open title victory, let’s take a look back to when these two first entered the world of tennis.

The Williams sisters started their tennis careers at an early age. Venus was 10 when she was serving 100-mph tennis balls to her opponents and began her pro career in 1994, at the age of 14. Serena was three when she first starting swinging the tennis racket and went pro in 1995. The sisters would go on to change the face of tennis with their combination of pure strength and incredible athleticism.

Although these two sisters have experienced huge amounts of success playing on separate courts, it has been an epic showcase of two legends of the sport each time they have competed against each other or have doubled up to take on opponents. The first time Venus and Serena faced off was in the second round of the 1998 Australian Open — the two teenage sisters would leave a lasting impression on the crowd and on future opponents, but only scratched the surface of what would be two celebrated careers. Venus won the first four out of five matchups, including their first meeting in the 2001 Grand Slam final. It was only a matter of time before the tides turned and Serena caught her dominating stride that nearly took over this sibling rivalry. The period between 2002 to 2003 was when Serena established her dominance over her older sister, defeating Venus in all four Grand Slam finals. The last time Venus defeated her sister in a Grand Slam event was in the 2008 finals. Their recorded single title victories are: Venus 7, Serena 23.

Together, their dominance is a different story. As a team, Venus and Serena have 14 wins and no losses in the Grand Slam doubles finals and have racked up an astonishing 15-1 record and three gold medals in the Olympics for doubles, receiving their first loss in the 2016 Olympic games in Rio.   

Although the competition has always been fierce when these two have faced off on the tennis courts, they have always praised one another for the other’s inspiration and overall reasons for success. Their impact on the sport will always be remembered — whether it be the way they ferociously grunt while swinging their rackets or the sheer power that both have exhibited — that few opponents have been able to withstand. Venus and Serena Williams will go down as two of the best professional tennis players in the history of the game.  

Written by: David Flores — sports@theaggie.org

The Aggies take control of the first and fourth quarters en route to victory

With 17-6 record this season, the UC Davis women’s basketball team was in prime position to take advantage of the 3-20 Anteaters of UC Irvine, who came in on a six-game losing streak. The Aggies scored the first 19 points of the game, including three three-pointers, and ended the quarter with a 29-4 advantage. UC Irvine couldn’t catch up, and fell to the Aggies 62-42.

The afternoon game, which began with head coach Jennifer Gross’s own son, Josh, introducing the Aggies’ starting lineup, felt electric from the start. Junior guard Dani Nafekh, who was playing on her birthday, felt that energy.

“We always want to come out with energy,” Nafekh said. “I think that when you hit 100 percent of your shots, it helps. But we just try to play hard and have our defense start our offense. And also Josh’s announcing at the beginning was amazing!”

Gross was impressed with her team’s mindset going into the game.

“We were just extremely focused to start the game,” Gross said. “I thought our energy was really good, and we just came out, hit a couple shots, and it just kind of fueled us from there.”

Nafekh tallied 20 points, going four for six from downtown, with six rebounds during the course of the game. Helping her was sophomore forward Morgan Bertsch, who tallied her second double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds as well as three blocks and two assists. Junior forward Pele Gianotti also contributed with 14 points, 12 of which came from three-pointers, in which she made four of her eight attempts.

The Anteaters controlled the middle quarters of the game with the help of freshman guard Andee Ritter, who scored 15 of her 16 points in the second and third quarters.

“They do so many things to get her open, and so you just constantly have to work to be aware of where [Ritter] is,” Gross said. “And I thought we went from playing individual defense to playing more team defense on her, and I thought we did a better job.”

With just five games to go, the Aggies are looking to finish the season strong. According to Nafekh, that means keeping their composure.

“We’re just trying to stay really focused and just keep getting better,” Nafekh said. “I know it’s a long season, but we’ve worked so hard. We don’t want to just let it all slip right now, so stay focused on practice and let that translate to games.”

After a brief stop at Hawai’i on Feb. 16 at 4:00 p.m. (PST), the Aggies will return home to face Cal Poly on Feb. 22 at 7:00 p.m.
Written by: Bradley Geiser — sports@theaggie.org

NBA All-Star weekend is here! Well, not physically here, not in the Davis/Sacramento area, but wouldn’t that be amazing? Nah, probably not. If you have any concept of what true entertainment actually is, you probably grew out of enjoying this weekend when you were seventeen. All-Star weekend has become increasingly obnoxious over the years. Surely, we will see an excess of Kevin Hart, meaning a plethora of jokes about the height of Kevin Hart, but it surprisingly doesn’t get any funnier after the fifth time.

Also, the concerts are downright awful. The lurid stages, the barely-relevant performers, the acting by the fake fans, it just lacks authenticity. Many look to the Saturday night festivities as the highlight of the weekend, with the three-point contest (I got Klay) and slam dunk (Aaron Gordon all the way) contest as the headliners, but the quality of the dunk contest has been reduced significantly over the years — at a certain point, only so many things are humanly possible before we start getting the repetition and gimmicky props to spice it up. Last year’s slam dunk contest was actually a fantastic showdown between Zach Lavine of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Aaron Gordon of the Orlando Magic, but I strongly believe that performance was an anomaly and the allure of this contest will eventually fade over the years.

But enough of the pessimism, I want to look back at the first 55+ games of the season and give my two cents on the deserving winners and other takes. Let me preface this by stating I was very unexcited by the beginning of the 2016-2017 season, as reflected by sarcastic explanations for award picks at the beginning of the season, but I have been absolutely proven wrong. The product the NBA has put out on the floor has been the best it has been in five or six years, and the amount of marketable players has skyrocketed.

Best Team: Golden State Warriors

This surprises nobody. The addition of Kevin Durant to the already lethal offense of the Golden State Warriors has made this team historically dominant on the offensive end. The Warriors, with a record of 44-8, are averaging an unbelievable 118.6 points per game while also being the only team in the NBA to have a collective field goal percentage above 50 percent. Nobody has surpassed this PPG average since 1991-1992, when it was, funnily enough, done by the Golden State Warriors, headed by Chris Mullin and Tim Hardaway.

The Warriors have been downright dominant on the offensive end, but there is a caveat to their success thus far — this team really struggles to guard offensive-minded big men. DeMarcus Cousins ripped the Dubs apart in a surprising upset on Feb 4. Cousins nearly earned himself a triple-double with 32 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists in 40 minutes.

The Memphis Grizzlies have posed quite the threat to Golden State thus far, as big-men Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph have capitalized on Golden State’s vulnerability in the paint. Despite the Warriors victory on Friday, Feb. 10, the Grizzlies have still taken two of three in the season series. With strong play from both Randolph and Gasol, I could definitely see the Grizz being a worthy challenger capable of taking the Dubs to six or seven games in the playoffs.

NBA MVP: James Harden

The Houston Rockets find themselves in a drastically different scenario than they were following the 2015-2016 campaign. The Rockets finished the season with a .500 record and were wiped out of the first round of the NBA Playoffs in five games. Dwight Howard decided to leave to join the Atlanta Hawks, and it seemed as if the franchise was in quite the quagmire. When general manager Daryl Morey hired Mike D’Antoni, that was the first step in making the team an offensive juggernaut. D’Antoni decided that a change of position to point guard would do a world of good for his star shooting guard, James Harden, and it has worked out brilliantly. Harden is averaging 28.9 PPG, 11.4 APG, and 8.2 RPG on 43.9 percent shooting. Rarely does a player land himself in the top five in both scoring and assists per game, but that is exactly what Harden has done. With the help of newly-acquired Ryan Anderson and the resurgence and emergence of Eric Gordon and Clint Capela, respectively, the Houston Rockets find themselves near the top of the Western Conference, behind only the Spurs and Warriors. Harden’s dominance has been the reason why.

Most Improved Player: Otto Porter

Some might say I didn’t choose Giannis Antetokounmpo because spelling his name is too difficult, but Otto Porter is incredibly deserving of this award thus far. The Georgetown product was tabbed as a bust by many in his first couple years in the NBA, but in the last two seasons, he has come on very strong and should earn a multi-million dollar contract this offseason. Porter has improved his scoring output by 2.8 points, his rebound output by 1.4, and his turnovers have decreased by 0.2 despite more minutes in an expanded role, but that’s not even the biggest difference. Porter has increased his field goal percentage from 47.3 percent to 53.2 percent, and his three-point field goal percentage has risen from 36.7 percent to an astounding 46 percent, leading the NBA. This season has shown that Otto Porter will be one of the premier 3-and-D talents in the NBA for years to come, meaning he is capable of precise three-point shooting and talented on the defensive end as well.

Rookie of the Year: Joel Embiid

I wrote about Joel Embiid’s amazing start to the year back in November, and the man has definitely kept up his dominance. An All-Star snub, Embiid has single-handedly brought the Philadelphia 76ers back from the dead, and their future looks as bright as it has in years with an influx of young talent. Joel Embiid has done it all in limited minutes on the floor, averaging 20.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 2.5 blocks on 46.6 percent shooting and 36.7 percent from downtown. Embiid has been one of the most, if not the most, dominant bigs in the NBA, but unfortunately the injury bug has tagged Embiid once again. On Feb. 11, it was reported the Embiid has a partially torn meniscus that will fortunately not require surgery. We will see how this injury affects him during the rest of his rookie campaign.

NBA Sixth Man of the Year: Eric Gordon

Eric Gordon has been a revelation for the Houston Rockets during the 2016-2017 season. Gordon was once a budding star for the Los Angeles Clippers, but injuries have really derailed his career and it seems like this guy could never stay healthy. It was hard to watch him fade into obscurity, but Gordon has reemerged and found himself the perfect niche in Houston. Gordon has fit Mike D’Antoni’s mold in Houston perfectly, as he is averaging 17.3 PPG off the bench and is averaging 3.5 three-pointers a game, making an impressive 38.7 percent of his attempts. It’s so encouraging to watch someone with an injury-riddled career reestablish themselves and find success, and that is exactly what Eric Gordon has done this season.

Defensive Player of the Year: Draymond Green

You know how I was saying the Warriors struggled with interior defense? Yeah, that issue would be exponentially greater if the Warriors didn’t have Draymond. The forward out of Michigan State has long been regarded as one of the preeminent defenders in the NBA, but this year, no Andrew Bogut has meant his presence just means that much more. Green is averaging 2.1 blocks, 1.5 steals, and continues to be that nightmare on the defensive end capable of legitimately guarding all five positions. Last Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies, Green accumulated 10 steals to set a franchise record. Draymond recorded the most unique triple-double in NBA history in this game, one that didn’t require him to surpass the 10 point threshold, which was the only time that has ever been done. In this game, Green also totaled an impressive five blocks. He may be an obnoxious personality, but he is deserving of this honor.

The NBA All-Star game will kick off at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 19 on TNT. I hope that at one point in the game, Steve Kerr decides to throw out all four of his Warrior All-Stars on the court with Russell Westbrook to complete the lineup. That would make this game a must-watch.
Written by: Michael Wexler — sports@theaggie.org

Aggies earn first victory of the season with 19-7 rout

The UC Davis women’s lacrosse team claimed its first win of the season with a 19-7 thrashing of the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds on Sunday afternoon. Fresh off a tough 20-10 loss in their season opener against Stanford two days prior, the Aggies came into Sunday’s game with renewed energy and focus.

One of the team’s bright spots in the season opener loss was senior attacker Melissa Kellan, who led the team with five goals and added in an assist against the Cardinal. Kellan stood out once again on Sunday, as she tallied four scores and two assists in the contest. She leads the team in goals scored with nine in the first two games.

“I know we have a young team, so trying to be the ‘mother figure’ on the attack is what coach has been talking about,” Kellan laughed. “Just trying to lead [the young players] through these first games.”

Against LIU, the Blackbirds were the first to get on the scoreboard with a goal coming off a free position shot. The Aggies, however, came roaring back less than a minute later with a score from sophomore attacker Shannon Cross, who, after her initial shot was halted, collected the deflection and hurled the ball into the net to tie the game at one.

A goal from each side tied the game for the second time. Kellan then made her presence felt, scoring off of a terrific interior pass from freshman midfielder Maddie Myers to break the game’s deadlock and give the Aggies the lead for good. Minutes before halftime, Myers added in a goal of her own, showing off her speed on a brilliant breakaway and putting the Aggies up 7-3 at the break.

The Aggies fed off the momentum from the first period and came out on fire in the second half, rattling off eight straight goals within the first 15 minutes of play. Kellan, freshman attacker Amanda Outcalt, junior midfielder Kelsey DeJesus and sophomore midfielder Taylor Cuenin each scored two goals in this offensive flurry.

The Aggies’ firepower overwhelmed the Blackbirds, helping UC Davis secure the victory. All in all, eight different players scored in the contest for the Aggies.

“Today was really good because we had so many different scorers,” Kellan said. “It was great to see that we can have those younger players step up.”

Head coach Tee Ladouceur said that the win was important for the young players.

“We got everybody in today,” Ladouceur said. “Last game we had two freshman score, this game we had two different freshman score and it’s just good for them to gain that experience moving forward.”

The Aggies will head to Colorado next weekend to take on Denver University and Colorado Boulder before returning to UC Davis for a slew of home games during the first half of March.

“It’s going to be a tough weekend,” Ladouceur said. “That’s why we were looking to get all of our freshman in today, make sure that we can go in with a clear mind and get those jitters out.”
Written by: Dominic Faria — sports@theaggie.org

Aggies lose 20-10 to Stanford Cardinal

The UC Davis women’s lacrosse team kicked off the 2017 season on Friday night with the first of two weekend games. While the Aggies lost several seniors from last year’s squad, the team is coming off of its first trip to the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament since 2010 and maintains high expectations for the year. The Aggies opened this year against nationally-ranked Stanford, and, despite falling 20-10, the Aggies showed grit against one of the nation’s premier teams.

For the first 25 minutes of the first half, the Aggies hung tough with the Cardinal, thanks to goals from freshman attacker Amanda Outcalt and senior attacker Melissa Kellan. With just over five minutes remaining, Kellan’s goal tied the game up at five a piece. This would be as close as the Aggies would get. Stanford proceeded to rattle off four consecutive goals to end the first period with a 9-5 lead.

At the start of the second half, Stanford quickly padded its four-goal lead and threatened to run away with the game. However, UC Davis sophomore midfielder Taylor Cuenin responded with her first goal of the game and cut the deficit back to four. From then on out it was all Stanford, as the Cardinal went ahead by as many as 12 goals. Kellan and Cuenin remained the few bright spots for UC Davis, as Kellan’s five goals and Cuenin’s three assists led the Aggies.

“We just lost focus for a little bit and they gained the momentum, and that’s kind of what lacrosse is made of, it’s a series of momentum,” head coach Tee Ladouceur said. “[We got] tired in the midfield, we don’t have the same legs that they [have, and] we don’t have the subs that they [have].”

With a team as young as the Aggies, players and coaches are always looking out for who is going to step up and become a leader. Cuenin could be just that for the Aggies. Her strong play on both the offensive and defensive sides has not gone unnoticed, as she was frequently double-teamed by the Stanford defenders.

“[The double teams] make me want to go out every game and play a little harder,” Cuenin said. “[In order to] be an offensive player and a threat out there [I need to know] that maybe it’s not always going to be me taking the drive and scoring the goal but being a threat as a [facilitator].”

Despite the loss, the Aggies gained valuable experience against one of the nation’s premier teams. The Aggies translated that into a better result against LIU Brooklyn two days later, when they defeated the Blackbirds 19-7.

Written by: Rowan O’Connell-Gates — sports@theaggie.org