The week that is (10.11.2010)

Well, things keep trucking along. So let’s see what’s on tap for this week.

1. Football

I’m not going to talk much about this for various reason, but let’s just say the Bears have lost 2 in a row [3-2 (0-1)], and now travel to Texas to face nationally ranked SFA at home.  Kickoff is 2pm on Saturday, and the game will be aired on SLC-TV (Channel 42 in LR).

2. Volleyball

Enough really can’t be said about what these ladies (and their coaches) are doing.  In the NCAA RPI that came out last week, the Sugarbears were ranked #62 in the nation! The latest numbers should come out later today.  They currently have a record of 17-6 (7-0).  This past week they started a stretch of conference road games and won both of them.  They even won at UTA for the first time in program history.  This week they travel to Lamar on Thursday and then to McNeese on Saturday.  Lamar is currently 2nd in the SLC East behing UCA with a record of 8-9 (4-2) and McNeese is last in the SLC East with a record of 7-14 (1-5).  The Sugarbears will look to keep the nation’s longest conference win streak (well, tied with Hawaii) alive, it currently sits at 29!

3. Men’s Soccer

The Men’s Soccer team has a record of 3-7 (0-1) on the year.  Their 2-game win streak was snapped by Memphis on Tuesday by a final of 2-1.  This team has lost 6 games by one point this season.  They have 6 games left this season (all MVC games) and only 2 of them are at home. This week they will host Eastern Illinois [3-7 (0-2)] on Wednesday and travel to Illinois to face Bradley [5-6-1 (0-1-0)] on Saturday.

4. Women’s Soccer

The Women’s Soccer team has a record of 4-7-2 (0-3-1).  They have 5 games left in the season, and the next 3 are at home starting with NW St on Sunday the 17th of October.

5. Softball

This past weekend the softball team wrapped up their Fall schedule with a 7-1 record.  The only game they dropped was to Tulsa (by a score of 2-0) in Springfield, MO.  Here is a recap of their fall schedule:

6. Cross Country

This past week the men’s and women’s cross country teams ran in the McNeese State Cowboy Stampede in Lake Charles, LA.  The women placed 3rd in the race behind UTA and LSU, while the men placed 5th behind McNeese, Lousiana Tech, LSU, and UTA.  This week they will run in the Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville on Saturday.

Plug for Basketball

Basketball Pick Your Seat Promotion (Farris Center); Tues 10/12 starting at 5 p.m.! One night only BOGO on all Courtside & Reserved seats! Coach Williamson and his team will be on hand for pics & autographs… Watch Coach Matt Daniel and his Sugar Bears workout live!

The week that is (9.20.2010)

Here is a look at what is coming up for the Bears and Sugarbears this week.

1. Football

The Bears are 3-0!  How we got there isn’t important right now.  All that matters is that we are 3-0, and shouldbe ranked in the Top 25 this week.  The Bears face their biggest challenge of the season this Saturday when they travel to Tulsa to face off against the University of Tulsa Golden Hurricanes at 6 pm.  Tulsa is 1-2 on the season and will be hungry for another win.  The last time the Bears played Tulsa we kept it pretty close and it was a great game.  I expect nothing less this time around.  So far, they are  averaging 36.7 ppg, 189.7 yards rushing per game, and 328 passing yards per game.  Their QB is 78-126-5 on the season.  We will need both our offense and defense to show up in order to win, but it is a winnable game!

2. Volleyball

The Sugarbears improved their record to 9-6 (1-0) with a sweep of the Sugarbear Classic.  UCA sophomore middle blocker Taylor Hammonds, the tournament’s MVP, hit .500 with nine kills and six blocks. Junior outside hitter Jessica Hays recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 15 kills and 12 digs. All-tournament team selection Chloe Smith had 14 kills and four aces and senior Chloe Evans came up with a season-best 15 digs. Freshman setter Marissa Collins, also an all-tournament selection, had 42 assists and four aces.  The Sugarbears will continue their home stretch by facing two SLC foes this week, Sam Houston State on Thursday at 7 and Stephen F. Austin Saturday at 2.  SHSU is 6-9 so far on the season and SFA is 7-8.  We are 1-0 in SLC play, and as I saw on Coach McRoberts’ twitter feed the other day we are only 15 games away from another undefeated SLC season!

3. Men’s Soccer

They are having a rough go of it so far this season with a record of 1-5.  They have played a tough schedule and it doesn’t get any easier as they start conference play (Missouri Valley) this Saturday by hosting Missouri State at 4 pm at the Bill Stephen’s Track/Soccer Complex.  Missouri State is 2-3 on the season after playing some very close games (a 2-3 L to SMU in 2 OT, and 2-1 L to #12 Louisville, they also beat IUPUI 3-0 whom the Bears lost to 2-1).  Hopefully they can pull it together and do well in conference play.

4.  Women’s Soccer

The Bear’s Soccer team has a nice 3-game win streak going that has improved their record to 4-3-1. Their streak includes wins against Prairie View A&M (4-0), Tulsa (1-0), and UAPB (2-1 OT).  The only time they play this week is Sunday (9-26) in Conway vs SIU-Edwardsville who is 5-3-1.  A note from the UCA Women’s Soccer Twitter feed: 13 goals scored this year by 12 different players, including 6 goals by freshmen, including game winner vs. Tulsa and UAPB.

5. Men’s Golf

After a 4th place finish at the NebraskaFairway Club Invitational at ArborLinks Golf Club, the men are back in action today at the UTA/Waterchase Invitational in Fort Worth, TX. Senior Steven Lecuyer finished highest for UCA tied for 4th.

6. Women’s Golf

After a disappointing 10th place finish at the Nebraska Chip-N-Club Invitational have a week off to regroup before the Golfweek Conference Challenge next week.  The showing in Nebraska was disappointing because they finished the first round in fourth place.  Although it appears bad weather may be to blame.  Overall they were led by Sophomore Julie Roth who finished tied for 11th.

7. Cross Country

They will run this week (9-25) at the Brooks Memphis Twilight Classic.  In their first race of the season, they had a pretty good showing by some freshmen.  Both of the University of Central Arkansas’ cross country teams were paced by a pair of freshmen at the UALR Invitational held at the Rebsamen Golf Course on Friday evening. Conway’s Erika Setzler finished second in the women’s 5k race with a time of 19:22.83, while Little Rock’s Kayla Nehus was fifth in 19:35.04. Russellville’s Michael Allen was the Bears’ top finisher in the men’s 5K, placing 14th in 16:15.25 and Amos Gerber of Hot Springs took 16th in 16:33.41.  Also for the women, sophomore Elizabeth Craig finished 20th (20:27.25), sophomore Courtney Efurd placed 22nd (20:36.59). and sophomore Dacey Mitchell was 38th (21:33.76). For the men, sophomore Tony Stewart took 21st place (16:42.25), freshman Jeremiah Fleeman was 25th (16:56.61) and senior Logan Dockery finished 30th (17:09.03).  Also competing in the meet were UALR, Arkansas State, Memphis, Christian Brothers, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Arkansas Tech, Grambling, Hendrix and Henderson State. From: UCAsport.com

The week that is (8.30.2010)

Well, this week ALL of the Fall sports get into the full swing of things! Let’s take a quick look at the match ups coming this week.

1. Football

The first football game of the season is Thursday night at 7:00! I don’t know about you, but I am excited to see how this team will come together. The Bears will face off against DII foe Elizabeth City State (North Carolina). The Vikings [1-0 (1-0)] won their first contest on Saturday against Johnson C. Smith 45-27 after holding a 24-7 lead at halftime. One of their defensive ends to watch out for is Malcolm Jenkins who finished Saturday with 7 tackles (5 solo, 2 assisted), a sack for a loss of 3 yards, 2-1/2 tackles for a total loss of 10 yards, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, 2 pass breakups and 8 quarterback hurries vs. Johnson C. Smith. Granted Johnson C. Smith is a conference foe for ECSU, and they finished the last season with a record of 3-7 (2-5). Good luck guys!

2. Men’s Soccer

After playing three exhibition games and coming out of those with a record of 1-1-1, the Bears open regular season play at home versus Oral Roberts Wednesday at 4:00. This will also be Oral Roberts’ first regular season game of the season. In their last match, the Bears tied NAIA member Oklahoma Baptist. However, in that match the Bears played 23 members of the team in order to prepare them for the regular season matches. After facing Oral Roberts, the Bears with travel to Kansas City, MO to face UMKC on Saturday. Good luck guys!

3. Women’s Soccer

After opening the season with a 1-1 record, the Bears will play three games this week looking to improve their record. It all starts Wednesday when the Bears face off against UALR in Conway at 2:00. The Lady Trojans come into the match with a record of 0-3 (all on the road). On Friday the Bears will travel to Baton Rouge to face Southern University, and then return home to face Lipscomb on Sunday. Good luck ladies!

4. Volleyball

Volleyball opened their season with a 3-1 week at the UniWyo Wyoming Invite hosted by the University of Wyoming. The team’s only loss came at the hands of the home team. Jessica Hays and Chloe Smith were both named to the all-tournament team. This week the ladies continue their travels as they face-off against OU in Norman on Wednesday. OU comes into the match with 2-1 record after a loss to Wichita State and wins over UT-Arlington and Miami (FL). The team will then travel to Fort Worth to face LSU and Alcorn State on Friday and then TCU on Saturday. The road doesn’t get any easier next week either…Good luck ladies!

The week that is (8.23.10)

A few fall sports are getting into the full swing of things this week.

1.  Women’s Soccer

Women’s Soccer got underway last week with an exhibition game against Lyon College in Conway.  The Bears won 2-0, with senior Brittney Warren scoring both goals.  They then went on the road to UL-Monroe.  They came up short, falling 1-0 to the Warhawks.  The team starts the season with an 0-1 record, but on Thursday are facing off against Alcorn State in Lorman, Miss., in an effort to improve their record.  They will be off the rest of the week before facing UALR in Conway on Wednesday, Sept. 1.

2. Men’s Soccer

The men open the season today with the first of three exhibition matches.  The first is today at 5:00 pm against John Brown in Conway.  They will then travel to Dallas to take on SMU on Wednesday, and then they are off to Shawnee, Okla., to face Oklahoma Baptist (NAIA team who thinks the Men’s Soccer team plays in the SLC, I guess we are just being nice to them).

3. Volleyball

The ladies kicked off the season with the Alumni Game last Saturday, where the newcomers came out on top (25-15, 25-13, 25-22).  They will kick-off regular season play this Friday at the UniWyo Wyoming Invite with matches against Northern Arizona [8-17 (5-10)] and host Wyoming [13-18 (3-13)], and then on Saturday they will meet Murray State [13-18 (11-7)] and Southern Utah [9-20 (7-11)].  On a side note, Southern Utah is only in its 2nd season of volleyball in over 20 years since starting the program back up last season.  The Sugar Bears’ schedule only gets tougher in the coming weeks…

The week that is (3.2.10)

Baseball finally takes a real road trip this week. Basketball finishes up the season. Softball plays Ole Miss and finally gets out of Mississippi. Tennis is still at home, looking for its first win against a D1 opponent.

1. Baseball - Tuesday @3 at Oral Roberts; Weekend Series at Nevada

   After picking up a series win over Saint Louis last weekend, the Bears head to Tulsa today to take on a winless ORU team. This is only the fourth game of the season for the Golden Eagles, and it will be their first home game. They were swept last weekend by Florida International, twice with late inning collapses. And when I say late, I mean 9th and 10th inning losses. They are sure to be upset about the start to their season after being picked to win the Summit League yet again. The weekend series with Nevada will get its own post later in the week.

2. Softball - Wednesday @6 at Ole Miss; Saturday and Sunday at Corpus Christi

   The softball team will play its 6th straight game in Mississippi on Wednesday night. So far, they are just 2-3 and winning against the Rebels (10-5) would be a nice one heading into the first conference weekend. Not that pre-season polls are a good judge, but Corpus was picked a couple spots ahead by the coaches and one spot behind by the SIDs. Last season the team started off SLC play with a 2-1 series win at home against UTA. Winning the opening series would be a great way to start again this year.

3. Women’s Basketball – Wednesday night @7 at SFA; Saturday @2 against McNeese

   The SBs look to bounce back after an ugly 27-point loss. Problem is that their next opponent is one game ahead of them in the East Division, so having to face SFA next will make the challenge much more difficult. The win might give the Sugar Bears a leg up in the race for the East as SFA has to play at UTSA on Saturday while 3-11 McNeese comes to Conway to close out the season. The Sugar Bears lost by 11 at home in the first matchup with SFA. That was a long time ago though.

4. Men’s Basketball – Wednesday @7 against SFA; Saturday @3 at McNeese

   If the Bears hope to get to match last year’s SLC win total of three, it’s not likely to happen until Saturday. SFA is 20-7 on the season and leads the East with a 10-4 record. The beat the Bears by 15 at their place. McNeese is one of three East Division teams sitting at 5-9 right now. The good news is that they are just 3-12 on the road. The bad news is that they also beat the Bears by 15 – on the road – earlier in the season.

5. Women’s Tennis – Saturday @10 against Sam Houston

   So far it looks like the Southland has one set of teams that are just better than the other set. Five teams are a perfect 2-0, but on the other side are four teams that are 0-2 or worse. That, of course, includes the Sugar Bears at 0-3 so far. And you guess it. Sam Houston is one of the 2-0 teams.

6. Women’s Soccer has an alumni game @3 on Saturday
7. Men’s Soccer will be in Tulsa for a 2:00 start.

The week that is (2.22.10)

Four things going on in Conway this week if you only count baseball once:

1. Women’s Basketball – Wednesday night @7 against Nicholls (4-20, 1-11)
   Sugar Bears won by 7 at home in the first meeting over a month ago. A loss at home would be a huge let down.
2. Baseball - Friday @3, Saturday and Sunday @1 all against Saint Louis (2-1)
   The Bears haven’t played SLU since 2007 when they swept them at home. The Billikens had their fourth game of the weekend rained out. Before that they beat UAPB and lost to UALR. For your weather report, it looks like the highs for the weekend should be the low 50s.
   Side note: The recently added UALR game Tuesday @4 is close enough to be considered a home game.
3. Men’s Basketball – Saturday @4 against SELA (15-10, 7-5)
   The men only lost by 7 on the road. SELA’s coming off a 10-point home win over SFA, but they play at Corpus Christi on Wednesday before facing the Bears.
4. Women’s Tennis – Saturday @10 against McNeese State
   This will be the second SLC opponent for the Sugar Bears after losing to Corpus Christi. McNeese is 4-1 and has not played a conference opponent.

Away from home:

1. Softball plays Mississippi Valley Wednesday @4 and then stays in Mississippi for a tournament in Hattiesburg over the weekend.
2. Men’s basketball plays Nicholls Wednesday @6:30.
3. Women’s basketball plays SELA Saturday @3.
4. There’s even a spring game for the men’s soccer team on Saturday against Tyler Junior College in Texas. This will be their second game this spring if they were able to get in the game yesterday. If you know what happened or if nothing happened, leave a comment below.