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!

News from the last few days

The last few days have provided quite a few news stories. Here are some I’ve seen. There’s some really good stuff in the football stories that I didn’t copy and paste below. Be sure to check those out.

Volleyball -
McCollum’s Column: Even at 9-6, UCA volleyball a program on the rise

McRoberts has not only been energized by the effort against the toughest schedule a Sugar Bear team has placed but by the aesthetics. When the team visited Oklahoma and TCU, two FBS schools in the national rankings, the coach asked to tour the locker room and offices.“They’re good, but ours are better,” McRoberts said. “What we’re doing is as good as anybody in the nation, I think.”

…

The teams that have defeated the Sugar Bears have a combined record of 62-12.

UCA, with a 9-6 mark, is currently has an RPI of 85 among 300-plus NCAA Division I volleyball teams. Last year’s 27-3 team reached an all-time high of 91 RPI.

Football –

• TU Opponent Watch: Central Arkansas
• Todd Graham today: TU is headed in the right direction (if you have some free time, check out the comments on this one)
• Tulsa Has Plenty to Prepare for in Bears
• TU Notebook: Familiar face
  

  Nathan Dick gave a verbal commitment to Rice during Graham’s lone season at the school. When Graham departed after the 2006 campaign, Dick de-committed and joined his brother Casey Dick at Arkansas….

  “(Nathan) is a winner,” Graham said. “He’s a guy that will have a chance to play in the NFL. Central Arkansas has done a great job of recruiting transfers and talent. They are a dangerous team.”

  Graham is a former head coach at Allen (Texas) High School, where Nathan and Casey Dick played prep football.

• TU’s woes similar to Central Arkansas

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

Gameday: Jackson State/Murray State

Volleyball

Gameday gets started today at 1:00 when the volleyball team looks to sweep its own tournament. Today’s match against Jackson State in the Prince Center will be the last non-conference warm-up before conference season gets into full swing. LIVE STATS | VIDEO

The Tigers come in with a 3-7 record and lost their opening game of the tournament to Memphis. With all the people – hopefully – already on campus tailgating, the attendance at today’s match may set a record.

Football

Things keep rolling today into the nightcap where the Bears take on an 0-2 Murray State team at 6 p.m. There’s a 0% chance of rain, and it’ll be a down to 89 degrees tonight at kickoff. There’s no reason that people within driving distance shouldn’t be there. See the Scouting: Murray State story for more on the game. LIVE STATS | VIDEO | LISTEN

Some light reading:

• SLC honor comes from the blind side for Bears’ Smothers
• UCA living up to coach’s expectations
  

  “I was worried in camp if this team early in the season would have the ability to have the will to win. We’ve been able to do that,” Conque said. “My concern is that we’ve had a few average practices this week.”

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!

UniWyo Wyoming Invite

The season kicks off at noon today as the Sugar Bears take on a Northern Arizona (live stats) team that returns 10 players from last year’s 8-17 (5-10) season. The Lumberjacks were picked seventh in the Big Sky preseason poll.  NAU started the 2009 season win a 3-1 win over Boise State. On paper, it would take a near-perfect effort for that to happen again – but it is just the first match of the season.

Tonight at 7, they will face a very experienced host in Wyoming (live stats). All six starters return for the Cowgirls. They finished just 13-18 (3-13) in the Mountain West in 2009. They do have the MWC Freshman of the Year, outside hitter Jodi Purdy, leading their offensive attack. Her numbers weren’t that different from Chloe Smith’s. Purdy led the Cowgirls with a 3.43 kills per set average, while adding 2.53 digs and 28 service aces. Chloe’s numbers were 4.46/1.99/29. The matches that include the host will be video streamed online.

The schedule for Saturday starts with another noon match, this one against the Murray State Racers (live stats). They struggled in non-conference play – losing 10 straight to start the season and had an overall 13-18 record, but finished at 11-7 in the Ohio Valley. They reached the semi-finals of the conference tournament and have been picked to finish third in the OVC this year. They return the OVC Defensive Player of the Year in Kayleah Sauer. The Racers are return the bulk of their team. And their new libero comes in with high expectations from the coaching staff. The Racers started 0-1 already in the tournament as they lost this morning to Southern Utah. . .

who will be the final match for the Sugar Bears tomorrow at 6 p.m. (live stats) Southern Utah was 9-20 (7-12) last season in the Summit League. They are another team that returns all six starters. Sophomore Analaine Pelaez is their leader offensively, and the Sugar Bears will face another conference freshman of the year. Pelaez led the conference in kills per set at 4.18. They began the 2009 season in the Sam Houston State tournament and lost to the host 2-3.

The good news on paper is that the Sugar Bears are the only team that had a winning overall record last season. It’s certainly not out of the question to start the season 4-0.