UC Davis athletics from Feb. 8 to Feb. 15

Women’s Basketball (15-9 overall, 8-3 Big West Conference)

UC Davis vs. Cal Poly (W, 82-71)

UC Davis vs. Cal State Fullerton (W, 80-56)

The Aggies came in strong over the Cal Poly Mustangs on Wednesday, Feb. 10, winning 82-71 due to an amazing performance by sophomore guard Rachel Nagel. Nagel scored 19 points and collected six rebounds, falling one point short of her career high from last year against UC Irvine in the Big West Conference Tournament. Just behind Nagel, senior forward Alyson Doherty contributed 17 points and six rebounds, while sophomore forward Pele Gianotti added 12 points.  Sophomore guard Dani Nafekh scored 10 points and senior forward Celia Marfone ended up with the most rebounds of the night, coming in at seven.

Take a look at a recap of the game by sports reporter George McConnell here.

Coming in with another win, Nagel and Gianotti led the team to a big 80-56 victory on Saturday, Feb. 13 against Cal State Fullerton. The duo each scored 20 points, and Doherty contributed nine rebounds and three blocks. Marfone added 12 points for the win, and overall the Aggies made 24 assists on 28 successful baskets, with help from freshman guard Courtney Eaton at seven assists and sophomore guard Dani Nafekh with six.

Catch up with a recap by sports reporter Julia Wu here.

The Aggies will cruise over to Hawai’i for a game on Feb. 18, and then will return home for a game against UC Riverside on Feb. 20 at 7 p.m.  

Men’s Basketball (10-14 overall, 5-6 Big West Conference)

UC Davis vs. UC Santa Barbara (L, 72-66)

UC Davis vs. Long Beach State (L, 57-48)

Junior guard Darius Graham excelled in the game against UC Santa Barbara, scoring 19 points, while freshman guard Siler Schneider contributed 13 points. Junior guards Lawrence White and Brynton Lemar both scored 11 points, but overall, the Aggies were not able to pull through and lost to the Gauchos 72-66.

Sports reporter Veronica Vargo covered the game.

Coming off of their previous loss, the Aggies kept the score even throughout the game against Long Beach State, but lost 57-48 in the last minutes of the game. Senior forward Josh Fox, for the fourth time in his career, scored 20 points, while junior center Neal Monson added 10 rebounds and Schneider put in five points, getting closer to setting a new freshman scoring record.

Get a recap from sports reporter Aaron Sellers here.

The Aggies will travel next week to take on Cal Poly on Thursday, Feb. 18, and will face UC Santa Barbara two days later.

Softball (2-2)

UC Davis vs. Montana (L, 4-3)

UC Davis vs. Sacramento State (postponed)

UC Davis vs. CSU Bakersfield (W, 7-1)

UC Davis vs. CSU Bakersfield (L, 4-2)

UC Davis vs. Santa Clara University (W, 3-0)

Against Montana, junior center fielder Brianna Warner scored and freshman second baseman Meghan Bradbury earned her first RBI.

The end of the softball game on Feb. 12 versus Sacramento State was postponed due to inadequate lighting.

Sports reporter Michael Martinez covered both games.

Senior pitcher Leah Munden excelled in their first game against CSU Bakersfield, defeating 11 of the 13 batters for an eventual score of 7-1. The following game versus the same teams, the Ags were not able to earn another win, despite Bradbury’s first home run. The final score was 4-2.

Later that day, the Aggies did an amazing job at not letting the Santa Clara Broncos garner any points, especially with a two-run home run by sophomore outfielder Megan Salazar during the second inning.  The game ended with a win for the Aggies, 3-0.

The UC Davis softball team will return home on Feb. 25 to face Iowa State.

Women’s Gymnastics

UC Davis at Seattle Pacific (1st, 192.550)

The Aggies won by a slim margin, coming in at 192.550 as junior Katy Nogaki tied with a Falcon senior at 9.800 on the vault, but earned a victory over sophomore teammate Alexis Brown on the beam with a score of 9.875. The Aggies’ performance on the bars was solid, yet suboptimal, with Brown scoring 9.775, sophomore Miranda Holder scoring 9.650 and junior Yonni Michovska contributing 9.625. Doing better on the floor, the Aggies scored a 49.050, as freshman Yasmine Yektaparast scored 9.850 and was followed very close behind by Holder at 9.825, while freshman Kara Jones tied with sophomore Amanda Presswood at 9.800.

UC Davis will take on Michigan at Southern Utah on Feb. 19.

Men’s Tennis (9-3 overall, 1-0 Big West Conference)

UC Davis at Sacramento State (W, 6-1)

Five of the six singles matches were won by UC Davis athletes, as well as two of the three doubles set ups. Juniors Alec Adamson and Bryce McKelvie dismantled their opponents in two sets, 6-2, 6-0 and 6-2, 6-3, as did senior Brett Bacharach, 6-1, 6-0.

The Aggies will compete against Villanova on March 3.

Women’s Tennis (4-4 overall, 0-1 Big West Conference)

UC Davis at UCLA (L, 4-0)

UC Davis at UC Santa Barbara (L, 4-0)

UC Davis at Cal Poly (W, 4-0)

With a significant loss, the Aggies were unable to defeat the UCLA Bruins who won two of the three doubles matches, even as senior Tiffany Pham and junior Alex Huie won theirs, 6-4.  Junior Samantha Martino was on track to win her singles competition, but the Bruins had accumulated enough points to render her final result invalid.

Coming off of their previous loss, the Aggies were again not able to bridge the gap. Similar to their match against UCLA, senior Tiffany Pham and junior Alex Huie won their doubles match with a score of 6-4.

After two losses, the Aggies defeated Cal Poly 4-0 in an away game. UC Davis won every completed match for the day, though by the end there were four that were unfinished.

The UC Davis women’s tennis team returns home on Saturday, Feb. 20 to play Cal State Fullerton at 11 a.m.

Women’s Water Polo

Triton Invitational at UC San Diego

UC Davis vs. Cal State University, Northridge (W, 10-5)

UC Davis vs. UC Irvine (W, 12-6)

UC Davis vs. UCLA (L, 5-1)

UC Davis vs. Arizona State University (W, 10-9)

Traveling south to UC San Diego, the UC Davis women’s water polo team returned from their trip largely victorious. The team took down CSU Northridge and UC Irvine 10-5 and 12-6, doubling their opponents scores both times. Against UCLA, the Aggies were not able to find an edge, and lost 5-1, but they quickly rebounded in a close game against Arizona State University, where they came away with a slim win, 10-9.

The UC Davis women’s water polo team returns home to host the Aggie Shootout on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 20 and 21.

Women’s Indoor Track

UC Davis at New Mexico

At the Don Kirby Elite Invitational, freshman Mikaela Adolphus ranked 27th for the 400, coming in with a time of 55.85 seconds, and sophomore Emma Redick placed 38th with a time of 24.88 seconds for the 200. Junior Holly Tokar and senior Ariel Maroon tied for 10th on the pole vault, while junior Rianna Goins took seventh in the 600, and senior Katie Fry came in at ninth in the 800.

Women’s Golf

UC Davis vs. Stanford

13th of 13 (18 of 36 holes)

Peg. Barnard Invitational

Senior Andrea Wong contributed 11 pars and posted three birdies, while freshman Daniela Anastasi and sophomore Alexandra Zeng both shot 81. Senior Betty Chen shot 87 for the day, and junior Paige Lee came in with a 94.

Sunday February 14th, 13th of 13 (Final)

With an incredible performance by Wong, the Aggies were able to finish 13th at Peg Barnard Invitational. Wong tied for 11th at the opener, and Anastasi shot an 82, Zeng hit 83 and Lee had 84.

The Aggies will travel to New Orleans, Louisiana for the All-State Sugar Bowl, Feb. 21 to 23.

Written by Iman Farahani – sports@theaggie.org

Missed opportunities in first quarter seal UC Davis men’s basketball’s fate in defensive game.

Looking to settle the score from an earlier loss to Long Beach State, the UC Davis men’s basketball team hosted the Long Beach State 49ers on Saturday, Feb. 13. Unfortunately for the Aggies, history repeated itself as an early 49er lead proved too much to overcome. The UC Davis men’s basketball team was able to tie the game twice in the second half, yet these runs were not enough, and the 49ers left with a 57-48 victory.

“I can’t ask for any more fight from them,” said UC Davis head coach Jim Les. “We’ve got to clean up some of our issues, but what they are giving me in terms of energy, effort and coach-ability, I’m not sure they can give me much more.”

At the half, the Aggies had turned the ball over 15 times out of 21 total turnovers for the game. These 21 turnovers led to many scoring

opportunities and a combined 17 points for the 49ers.

The Aggies might not have had the offensive opportunities they were looking for in the first half, but they certainly had the defensive ones. Holding the 49ers to 25 points, the second-lowest total for any half by Long Beach this season, was critical to keeping the Aggies in the game.

“We were much better defensively today than we were at Long Beach. Just as a group, as a team, consistently, you know better defensively,” Les said. “Where we need to get better is just our offensive execution, taking care of the ball. I think there, the one common denominator was we turned it over a lot.”

The Aggies came out of halftime looking like a brand new offensive team. Senior forward Josh Fox lead the team on the first run of the second half, scoring six of the eight points, while junior guard Darius Graham added the other two.

Fox would not stop there. Hitting all eight of his free throws and half of his shots in the paint, Fox finished with a team-high 20 points, only the fourth time posting 20 or more points in a game throughout his collegiate career.

Freshman guard Siler Schneider also showed his potential. Leaving the game with five points, Schneider is now only three points shy of setting a freshman single-season scoring record. Currently holding 234 points in his debut season, Schneider is just two shy of tying recent alumn Josh Rickart’s record. With five more games before the championship tournament, we may be looking at a brand new record holder in Schneider.

The Aggies will be taking their next games on-the-road, playing against Cal Poly on Thursday, Feb. 18 and UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m.

Written by Aaron Sellers – sports@theaggie.org

UC Davis men’s basketball team loses 72-66 to UC Santa Barbara

The stats were above average, and the Aggies outplayed the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos in many ways, but changing their defensive tactics left room for open players on the opposing team to make buckets, setting the Aggies on the path to a loss.

The UC Davis men’s basketball team is not known for intense double-teaming, but on Thursday, Feb. 11 the Aggies were left with no other choice.

Previous Big West Conference player of the week, Michael Bryson of the Gauchos, put up 16 points for the win against UC Davis, while junior guard Darius Graham from UC Davis put up 19 points, sinking every shot in the first half and nearly all in the second after feeling the pressure of the final two minutes of the game.

“We made them work for a lot of the stuff they had to get,” Graham said. “But it’s the second effort plays, I feel like they played harder than us tonight and that can’t happen.”

The Aggies were making a comeback early in the second half, but every shot was matched by a Gaucho point.

“We are not always going to be the most talented team on the floor but we always have to hold each other accountable for playing hard, rebounding the ball, getting the 50/50 balls and we felt collectively that we didn’t do that today,” Graham said.

UC Davis only recovered five second-chance balls during the second period, while UC Santa Barbara picked up 15 and made two fast breaks.

“We’ve been doing a decent job on the board, but I just didn’t think we were physical enough,” head coach Jim Les said. “They were quicker, more aggressive to the ball and I told the team that that was really disappointing, that we allowed that to happen.”

Double teaming is not a common strategy for the Ags, but it was deemed necessary after the halftime locker room chat, in order to shut down the offensive firepower that the Gauchos were displaying. However, despite their efforts, the Aggies lost to the Gauchos 72-66, both teams walking away with a 5-5 Big West Conference record.

“If you tell me we were going to shoot 43 [percent] from the floor and make 11 threes against the matchup zone, I’m thinking we’re walking out of here happy,” Les said.

The Aggies continued on their losing streak in the doubleheader Saturday, Feb. 13 against Long Beach State, which was recapped by sports reporter Aaron Sellers. They return to the road on Thursday, Feb. 18, where they will play Cal Poly, a team with a 5-6 Big West Conference record.

Written by Veronica Vargo – sports@theaggie.org