March 22, 2012 Sports 15 Boys’ and girls’ tennis season underway Soccer teams look to continue success Both the boys’ and girls’ tennis teams have started their season in the past couple weeks. The boys ended their past season with a record of 8-5 in the MVC and 10-5 overall. They also placed second the MVC division. The boys’ team has a couple returning players this year back to try and lead the team to victory, senior Noah Schmall and junior Grant Hunt. “I hope we have a great year and everyone plays to their potential,” Schmall said. Last year’s boys’ coach Rob Martin, will not be returning after resigning last year. Hannah Jensen will instead be stepping up into the head coach position to help the team be victorious this year. Jensen is a senior at Coe College and is a girls varsity tennis player. Returning to the girls’ team are senior Meggie Gates and
fellow senior state runner up of last year in doubles, Laura Birky, also comes back this year to lead on the girls’ varsity tennis team. “I would like to grow as a team. Since it is a rebuilding year, we would like to get the team prepared for the next couple years,” Birky said. The girls’ are determined to return to the state meet this year to hopefully win a state title. The boys’ and girls’ next meet is Monday, April 2 against Waterloo Columbus. The boys will play here at Xavier and the girls play in Waterloo.
Lucy Martin Sports Writer
Spring is here, which for many Xavier student athletes means the beginning of the much anticipated soccer seasons. Both the boys’ and girls’ teams are coming off state titles in 2011. Both teams are hoping to continue the tradition of excellence the Xavier soccer programs have seen. The girls’ are coming off their six straight state victory, and hope after another year of hard work to increase that number to eight. With a strong core of players who have been on the team for several years, including seniors Mary Levett and Annie Dale, the team has the experience and talent to accomplish that goal. “We have really started a great tradition as a team, and we hope to continue that not only for ourselves, but also for all the other players in the past that helped start the streak,” junior Kayla Armstrong said.
The boys are in a similar situation as their girl counterparts. After grabbing two consecutive state victories, the team is just getting started on hopefully their own streak. Just like the girls, the team will have experience as their main weapon. Seniors Tommy Bales, Logan Buschette, Chad Gilmer, and Joshua Steffensmeier all return in hopes for their third straight title. The team has already started two-a-day workouts, and is bringing the work ethic of a championship team. “The whole team is really working hard, we all want to push ourselves so we can win another championship,” junior Isaac Frisch said.
John Richardson Sports Writer
Top seeds upset in March Madness March Madness, the 68 team single-elimination tournament that features some of the best Division I college basketball teams across the country, began March 13. Four games were played March 13 to determine the final 64 teams that would compete for the Naismith trophy. In the second round of the tournament, several surprising upsets took place. Two of the number two seeded teams were defeated in the second round. The Lehigh Mountain Hawks beat the Duke Blue Devils, 75-70 in a game that was thought to be very lopsided in Duke’s favor. The other big upset of the second round was fifteenth seeded Norfolk State outlasting the second seeded Missouri Tigers, 86-84. Iowa State was given a eight seed in the tournament. The Cyclones defeated the ninth seeded Connecticut Huskies in the second round of the tournament, 7764. In the third round, the Cyclones tournament run ended when they were beat by the number one overall seed of the tournament, Kentucky Wildcats, 87-71. Sweet Sixteen coverage begins tonight. In the NIT invitational the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa were both invited to participate in the consolation tournament. Both teams won their first round games. UNI beat St Joseph’s, 67-65, and Iowa defeated Dayton, 84-75. Both teams lost their second round games, Iowa to Oregon, and UNI to Drexel.
Bracket Goes Here
Alex Fox Sports Writer
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