Published since 1915 by the students
of Xavier University
Published since 1915 by the students
of Xavier University
Team takes four of five behind senior leadership from Bjorklund, Skrajewski
Katie Zak
Contributing Sportswriter
The women’s volleyball team added four wins to its record over the past two weeks while suffering only one loss as they advanced to 13-9 on the season and 6-1 in conference play.
The Muskies swept La Salle last Friday night in their first home appearance in over a month. La Salle kept things interesting in game one until an 11-2 run led by senior Astyn Bjorklund helped secure victory for Xavier as the ladies took game one 30-21.
The Musketeers shut down the Explorers in game two, allowing La Salle only 12 points as they strode to an easy 30-12 win.
Game three went much the same way as game two, as Xavier held the Explorers to a .000 hitting percentage while driving home 19 kills in the 30-19 win.
The freshmen Muskies saw lots of action in game three as they helped lead their team to victory. Xavier’s win over La Salle was their 25th in the all-time series; La Salle has never triumphed over XU.
The next night saw the ladies taking on another conference contender as they faced off against Temple at Cintas Center. The Owls took game one 24-30 but Xavier turned things around to win the next three games 30-24, 30-23 and 30-24.
Bjorklund recorded her landmark 1,000th career kill in game three as she led the offense with 22 kills and a .594 hitting percentage on the night. The Muskies forced Temple to 29 hitting errors as they held them to a .188 hitting percentage, while recording a season high 14 team blocks and 73 assists.
Xavier hit the road again and took a break from conference play as they traveled to Louisville to take on the Cardinals.
Despite a match-high 20 kills in game one, the Muskies fell to the Cards 25-30. XU took an early lead in game two before U of L caught up at 22-22; a kill and back-to-back blocks by senior Danielle Skrajewski and Bjorklund secured the Musketeer victory as they took game two 30-27.
Game three saw 11 ties and 11 lead changes before the Cardinals edged out XU, 28-30. In game four, U of L secured an early lead at 3-4 and held it for the rest of the game as they won 23-30.
The Musketeers returned to A-10 action this past weekend as they took on Fordham and Rhode Island at Cintas Center. Friday night found the ladies facing off against the Fordham Rams.
The Rams took game one, their first ever at Cintas, 27-30 as they out-hit the Muskies. Xavier responded in game two by taking the lead at 7-6 and never relinquishing it. The Muskies held Fordham to a .063 hitting percentage as they forced 10 hitting errors and took the game 30-18.
Game three saw a tie at 12-12 before a four-point run by XU secured the lead for the Muskies in the 30-22 win. Sophomore setter Jenn Welsh kicked off game four by serving up three straight aces to give XU an early 5-1 lead. The Rams fought back to a 6-6 tie and the teams continued to battle it out to a final score of 31-29 as Xavier took the game and the match.
On Saturday afternoon, Xavier squared off against Rhode Island as both teams hoped to improve their conference record. The Muskies promptly shattered the hopes of the Rams as they swept RI with scores of 30-22, 30-22 and 30-17.
Skrajewski notched her 1,000th career dig in the match, earning her a spot in the record books as the ninth Muskie to join the 1,000-1,000 club for kills and digs; the match marked her 47th career double-double.
XU held the Rams to a .041 hitting percentage as they themselves recorded a .257 percentage on the match. The Muskies notched more kills, digs and aces than the Rams as they dominated the match.
The ladies have the week off before hitting the road again over the weekend to take on Duquesne and Saint Louis in two major A-10 match-ups. On October 26 they will play host to conference rival Dayton in Xavier’s first annual “Dig for the Cure” match.
Xavier joins this conference-wide effort to raise money for breast cancer research and awareness, in which sponsors pledge money per dig for their team of choice or make a flat donation.
Anyone interested in participating should contact the Xavier volleyball office at 513-745-3414. Either way, be sure to show up and support the blue and white.
Jimmy Byrnes
Asst. Sports Editor
This is the week. The time has come for Xavier University to field its first football team in nearly 33 years! Yes, I know it’s only club, but if you are as crazy about football as I am, then you must be excited to have a team here on campus – club or otherwise.
Things have progressed nicely for the newly formed club team. The offense is installed and the defense looks like only the Chicago Bears could rival their talent. OK, maybe that’s a stretch, especially with the Bears basically coming from 21 points down to beat Arizona (but that’s another story).
The point is that Xavier doesn’t play like your 10-year-old cousin’s pee wee team. The guys have been wearing full gear for two weeks, and the hitting and intensity have been sky high.
The coaching staff has prepared the young men (either by age or at heart – remember there are some graduate students on the team) to play Marquette on Saturday.
Bringing 53 guys who have never played a down of organized football together in such a short amount of time, and getting those guys to look and, more importantly, feel like a team, is no easy task. Kudos to Coach Powers and his staff for an excellent job so far.
In terms of a preview, don’t doubt that Musketeers will be ready to play. They will be fired up and ready to go, and maybe a little nervous, but ready to play despite the butterflies. Marquette will be playing their sixth game of the season. The Golden Eagles have an 0-5 record and have been shut out in three of those five losses. However–and this can’t be understated–the Eagles are game-tested.
That is something that the Muskie clubber and the Muskie fans might want to remember on game day. This is not to say that the Muskies don’t have a chance, but the team needs to remember that the less-than-spectacular record of the Golden Eagles is just that: a record, something that the Xavier team doesn’t have. Yet.
The team hopes to have a lot of support on Saturday at Shea Stadium. The game begins at 11 a.m. and there will be transportation from campus to the stadium Also, it’s Family Weekend, so why not go to a football game with Mom? Sounds like a great time to me!
John LaFollette
Sports Editor
The Xavier women’s soccer team battled to a 1-1 tie in a double overtime match against the visiting Duquesne Dukes on Sunday at the Xavier University Soccer Complex.
Xavier’s record goes to 1-3-1 in the Atlantic 10 Conference and 6-8-1 overall, while Duquesne goes to 2-2-1 in the Atlantic 10 and 3-7-2 overall. Xavier is now 7-0-1 at home this season.
Xavier had two chances early in the first overtime as sophomore Melissa Zimmerman drilled a shot that missed just left of the goal. A short time later, senior Amber Silvis drilled a shot off the center of the crossbar.
The Musketeers outshot the Dukes 31-16, including 7-2 in overtime.
Xavier will host La Salle at 7 p.m. on Friday and George Washington at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
John LaFollette
Sports Editor
This week, the Spectator decided to take a break from his tireless (and often thankless) work of reporting local, national and global sporting news in a manner both informative and entertaining to the reader. Instead, he had his unpaid intern Jason do some digging and find out what a visit to the University of Miami (Florida) is like for a promising football recruit. Here’s what he came up with, translated by the Spectator into clear English from Jason’s native incoherent-intern-babble: Welcome to the University of Miami, [star recruit], the U; where the sun is hot, the women only slightly less hot, the beer cold and the ocean clear.
Welcome to the U, where, in the words of famed Miami Hurricane Kellen Winslow, “It’s war.” Where it’s us against them. Where “they will kill you, so I’m going to kill them.” Where you’re a “soldier.”
Welcome to the U, where you’d better carry a gun if you’re a track star on the football team’s bad side. Where a suspension, as opposed to expulsion, is punishment enough for the 3 against 1 mugging and robbery of fellow student-athlete Maxwell Voce. Where you’d better carry a gun if you don’t want to get robbed, because the football players carry them.
Welcome to the U, where it’s all about pride. Where former players-turned-television-analysts like Lamar Thomas feel so proud of the Orange Bowl that they’ll endorse senseless, ugly, on-field gang violence as it’s happening on live TV. Where they defend a good brawl because “you can’t come over to our place talking noise like that, you’ll get your butt beat.” Where they’re “about to go down the elevator to get in that thing.”
Welcome to the U, where you’re so loyal to your teammates, who have built a 14-0 lead against an obviously weaker Florida International team, that you come charging into the fray wielding a football helmet as your weapon, swinging it wildly around like a club like Anthony Reddick did in Saturday night’s horrendous debacle. Where it doesn’t matter if your sturdy, five-pound helmet hits someone else in the head and kills them, because one of “them” took a shot at one of “us.”
Welcome to the U, where no injury is so insurmountable, so painful, so immobilizing that you can’t hobble over to a bench-clearing battle to help out your teammates. Where you selflessly abandon your balance and stability to employ your own crutch as another makeshift weapon. Where you’re hurt, but still fight.
Welcome to the U, where if you need money and play football, you can call up an academic advisor like Tony Russell and get him to help you rake in some extra cash (maybe to buy a gun) by falsifying a Pell Grant application. Where, for a minor kickback to Russell, you can buy a share of the some $600,000 that the ‘Canes fraudulently secured for their players between 1989 and 1995.
Welcome to the U, where on-field frustrations spill over off the field. Where you can lose a bowl game 40-3 and redeem yourself by fighting the winning team in the tunnel leading to the locker rooms after one of their players had the audacity to disrespect your team by trying to take a game ball home with him as a memento.
Welcome to the U, where social values regarding women don’t apply to members of the football team. Where you can form a Crew with other residents of the 7th Floor of your dorm by quite explicitly rapping about apalling group sex acts, without fear of any kind of investigation or ramification.
Welcome to the U, where the punishments are as weak, hollow, perfunctory and meaningless as head coach Larry Coker. Where presidential condemnations of “disgusting” and “disgraceful” behavior are as routine in Coral Gables as a three-and-out series from the Hurricane offense. Where empty promises of reform quickly give way to inept exercises in image maintenance. Where the failure of those efforts is all too apparent every time Miami takes the field.
Welcome to the U, where administration officials balk when the “thug” label is applied to their football program, while categorically refusing to hold the thugs themselves accountable for their behavior. Where the difference between word and deed is as stark as the contrast between Coker and former head coach (and effective disciplinarian) Butch Davis.
Welcome to the U, where adherence to a culture of violent, thuggish swagger is rewarded with more playing time and more scholarships. Where a criminal record is a vote of confidence for recruits instead of a red flag.
Welcome to the U, where someone needs to reign in a bucking, renegade football program that is, after a few consecutive years of relatively good behavior, totally out of control.
Yes, welcome to the U, [star recruit]. Our staff will do its best to bury your rap sheet (far from the eyes of nosy people like reporters and NCAA compliance officers) while you’re being sized for a helmet. Do you have a face mask preference? Safeties’ helmets are a lot easier to swing. Now let’s get you a Pell Grant application…
John LaFollette 
Sports Editor
Xavier University freshman Brittany Green has been named the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week for women’s soccer. The announcement came in on Monday, Oct. 16.
Green scored two goals including the game winner in XU’s win over Saint Louis. Her aggressive play earned her 17 of XU’s 45 shots in their two games, including nine of XU’s 18 shots on goal.
Green is currently tied for second on the team with five goals.
The Musketeers are currently 6-8-1 overall and 1-3-1 in the A-10. Xavier has stayed undefeated at home, stretching its home streak to 10 matches without a loss with a recent victory over St. Louis and a tie against Duquesne University.
Green and the rest of the Musketeer women return to action at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 20 when they will host La Salle.
Volleyball has rookie of the week
For the first time this season, Xavier’s Lauren Kaminsky has been named Rookie of the Week for volleyball by the Atlantic 10 Conference.
The freshman led the Musketeers to a perfect 2-0 mark during the conference weekend, and XU finished the week 2-1.
Kaminsky continued to shine for XU, posting 16 digs twice (versus Louisville and Fordham) and added 15 against Rhode Island.
The rookie averaged a team-high 4.27 digs for the week and now leads XU with 3.07 digs per game on the season and 3.36 digs in A-10 matches.
This season Kaminsky is first on the team in digs (233), second in aces (20) and fourth in kills (166). She has now tallied 10 or more digs 12 times in her young career and 15 or more digs five times with four of them coming in the last four matches.
She also set a career high for digs last week against Temple, posting 23 against the Owls.
