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(10/19/11 10:03pm)
On Oct. 7, the Mercer women’s golf team headed to Daytona Beach, Fla. for the LPGA Invitational hosted by Xavier University. The tournament was played at the LPGA International Legends Course. After 18 holes, the Bears saw themselves in a tie for fifth place with a team composite score of 310 strokes.
Head Coach Gary Guyer was not happy with his teams’ performance, thinking that they could have played better all around. “We could have played a lot better today. We are 12 back and will need two good rounds to catch Campbell. Mary Alice (Murphy) was the only one that could get anything going today. She is just tenacious,” Guyer said. “Many players complain about something, like fast greens and long rough. She ignores all that and finds a way to get the ball in the hole. She is a solid player” added Guyer.
Murphy finished the day tied for third place out of 72 total entrants. After 18 holes of golf, Murphy was just one over par boasting a score of 73 on the day, placing herself just three strokes behind the leader. Lacey Fears was tied for 16th place with a score of 77. Aurelie Wiriath was tied for 29th overall with a 79.
Kimmy Graff (tied for 39th) and Sarah Louie Brown (tied for 45th) booked scores of 81 and 82, respectively, to finish up the score sheets for Mercer.
Unfortunately, due to rain, the tournament could not be finished and the results stood only after one round of golf not giving the Bears a chance to improve upon their day one efforts.
In November, the Bears head to Hawaii for the Rainbow Wahine Invitational, where they look to complete a solid performance.
(10/19/11 9:37pm)
On Sept. 28, the Mercer University Women’s Tennis team headed to Chattanooga to compete in the 28th Annual UTC Steve Baras Classic. This tournament was the first time the Bears competed in the 2011-2012 campaign. With many newcomers, the team looked to show well in order to prepare for their competitive season.
On day one, Sophomore Amanda Bertani was the only Bear to pull out a victory in singles play. Playing in the Silver flight, Bertani won her first match against Atlantic Sun foe Kelsey Kennedy of Kennesaw State. Bertani defeated Kennedy in straight sets (6-0, 6-3). Bertani then went on to the quarterfinal match playing yet another Atlantic Sun conference member in Stetson’s Maya Stauffer-MacDowell. Bertani was unable to keep up her winning ways losing in straight sets (6-1, 6-1). In doubles play, the twosome of Jennifer Lada and Lucy Payrat played their way to a victory against the North Alabama pair of MacKenzie Bishop and Victoria Rees winning by a score of 8-3. Melanie Schumilas, Katherine Cooper, Lada and Payrat each lost in their singles matches, moving them to play in the consolation bracket on day two.
Day two again saw victory for the combination of Payrat and Lada. They defeated the Xavier University pair of Kally Alkire and Ally Westing, advancing to the finals of the doubles gold bracket where they would vie for a championship. In consolation play, Payrat won both of her matches in order to advance to the finals of the Gold consolation bracket. Also winning in consolation play was Schumilas. With the win, she advanced to the semifinals of consolation play losing to Kennesaw State’s Tess Lagerkvist (6-0, 6-1). Lada and Cooper lost in their consolation matches.
On the third and final day of the UTC Steve Baras Classic, Lucy Payrat worked her way to victory in the Gold bracket consolation final. Payrat made work of her opponent Mackenzie Bishop of North Alabama winning 6-4 and 6-3. In the doubles match, Payrat and Lada clashed with Kaylene Chadwell and Jenna Nurik of host UT-Chattanooga, and eventually fell by an 8-5 margin. In the Platinum doubles flight, the MU tandem of sophomore Amanda Bertani and newcomer Melanie Schumilas brought home the consolation bracket title when their opponents from Lipscomb were unable to compete due to an injury.
“I am very happy with the performance of my teammates. We came out hard and everyone got some valuable playing experience, which should help us when we begin our competitive season in January,” said Lada.
All in all, the Bears had a more than successful outing, gaining valuable experience for a very young squad seeking to improve upon previous performances in conference play and eventually achieve what every team dreams and hopes for: a berth into the national tournament. The next action for the Bears takes place on Oct. 21 when they head to the ITC Regional.
(10/06/11 2:04am)
With a more-than-powerful performance at their own RunFit Sports Invitational, the Mercer men’s and women’s cross country teams looked to take their success on the road. The next challenge for the Bears was in Louisville, Ky., on Oct. 1, at the Greater Louisville Cross Country Classic. This was a homecoming of sorts for two of Mercer’s top runners, one on the women’s side and one on the men’s. Juniors Kacie Niemann and Jacob Law both hail from the Louisville area and were previously familiar with the course, which leads to a great advantage. “Knowing the course so well makes a big difference, because you know exactly where the tough parts are, so you can mentally prepare yourself before you get to it, and you know how to take advantage of the good parts like where crowds of people are cheering, and downhills,” Niemann commented when asked about the advantages of being familiar with a course. The Bears wanted to have a great showing, and that is exactly what they did. The women’s team finished ninth out of 32 teams in their flight while the men’s team finished 27th out of 29 in the top flight of competition at the race.The women’s team was able to clinch their ninth place finish thanks to the efforts of hometown hero Kacie Niemann. Despite battling a stomach virus, Niemann came out with her eyes on the prize. She finished her 5K race with the second-fastest time in Mercer history. Niemann finished fourth overall in the race with a time of 18:12.53, and now owns the top four times in a 5K race in Mercer history. With Niemann leading the way, four other runners were able to achieve personal bests in this distance. Although she didn’t set a personal record, sophomore Lena Hamvas finished with a time of 19:07.72, just half of a second away her personal record, which was good for a 49th place finish. Sophomore Sammy Woller also established a personal record and placed 52nd in the race at 19:09.45. Senior Christina Kivi also came in with a personal record time of 19:30.02, placing her at 85th. Kylen Hughes was 164th (20:20.40), followed by freshman Iliana Garcia with her own personal record time of 20:34.27 at 178th. Sophomore Caley Cranford also set a personal record by posting a 22:04.47.The men’s race started off badly for the Bears when some of the runners went down in a massive pileup just 250 meters into the race. Despite this, the Bears were still able to establish a team record for the 8K distance. For the third-straight time, the Bears were led by sophomore Sony Prosper, who finished with a time of 25:24.42, finishing 87th. Prosper almost broke a school record by coming just less than half a second away. Senior Marc Kushinka (143rd) beat his own personal record, trimming off a whopping 16 seconds (25:59.18). Kushinka was then followed by three junior teammates Chris Svidesskis (26:00.77), Andrew Weems (26:27.50) and Jacob Law (26:28.87), who finished 146th, 177th and 179th respectively. Also notching personal records were sophomore Kasib Abdullah (27:18.68), freshman Josh Pendley (27:06.76) and freshman Jeff Law (27:46.61).Both teams look to keep up their impressive displays in their next race at the Royal XC Challenge in Charlotte, N.C. on Oct. 14.