Published since 1915 by the students
of Xavier University
Published since 1915 by the students
of Xavier University
Muskies record major win over Dukes, fall to Billikens
Katie Zak
Contributing Sportswriter
The volleyball team notched a big win over Duquesne before falling to Saint Louis as they competed in two big A-10 games over the weekend.
On Friday night, the ladies took on Duquesne in Pittsburgh and shut out the Dukes 30-25, 30-15 and 30-21. Junior Jenni Horvath had a career-high 22 digs as she led the Xavier defense, and added five kills and five assists on the offensive.
Freshman Kelly Ruth recorded her sixth career double-double with 16 digs and 10 kills, while senior Danielle Skrajewski had her career 48th with 12 digs and 11 kills.
Junior Jill Quayle drove home 13 kills for XU with a match-high .684 hitting percentage.
Senior Astyn Bjorklund had 11 kills, and freshman Lauren Kaminsky and sophomore Megan Hellmann had 11 digs each. Sophomore Jenn Welsh ended the match with 47 assists, three kills, five digs and an ace.
On Sunday, the Muskies traveled to St. Louis to take on the Billikens in an afternoon match.
Despite winning the opening game, the ladies couldn’t repeat Friday night’s performance as they fell to SLU 30-25, 26-30, 26-30 and 21-30.
Skrajewski led the Musketeer offense with 21 kills in the match along with six digs.
Quayle doled out 15 kills and recorded a .400 hitting percentage, and Bjorklund had 12 kills on the match.
Ruth and Kaminsky had 13 and 12 digs, respectively, and Welsh dished out 56 assists, four kills and 11 digs.
The win and the loss brought the Musketeers to 14-10 on the season and 7-2 in conference play.
The ladies will host rival Dayton in a huge A-10 match at 7 p.m. this Thursday night in Cintas Center in their first annual “Dig for the Cure” event to support breast cancer research.
Pledges can be made “per dig,” and flat donations are also welcome. Contact any volleyball player or call the Xavier volleyball office at 513-745-3414 (that’s extension 3414 for those of you still paying way too much to live on campus and eat quality caf food).
If you can’t make it Thursday or simply can’t get enough of the volleyball girls (can you ever?), head to Coldstone Creamery from 6-9 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 25 at Newport on the Levee, as the ladies will be serving ice cream behind the counter to raise money for breast cancer research.
Come ready to pony up some cash for a great cause and get some delicious ice cream to boot. Then at 7 p.m., head over to Cintas Center to cheer on the Muskies in the match against Dayton.
Festivities ring in new season, first games two weeks away
Brian Bowsher
Editor-in-Chief
Xavier fans got their first glimpse of the 2006-07 editions of the men’s and women’s basketball teams Saturday, as Musketeer Madness kicked off the new year with open scrimmages and contests.
Redshirt freshman Derrick Brown highlighted the evening in the slam dunk contest with help from Sister Rose Ann Flemming, who registered an assist on the swingman’s crown-winning dunk. Brown positioned Flemming under the basket with her arm extended, holding the ball upward for the forward’s slam.
Brown edged out sophomore B.J. Raymond for the title, his second in as many tries.
Despite cheers from the students and team alike, number one overall women’s recruit freshman Amber Harris declined to participate. The 6-foot-5 Harris, who has dunked in high school games, respectfully resisted the pleadings of the crowd.
In the scrimmages, the women’s team trampled the male practice players by a score of 23-7 in their 12 minutes of play. Senior guard Michelle Miller posted seven points on the night on 3-of-3 shooting. Sophomore guard Jerri Taylor pulled down a team-high three rebounds.
The men’s team, split into blue and white squads, featured 14 points from junior guard Stanley Burrell on 5-of-6 shooting, including a perfect 3-for-3 from downtown. Senior forward Justin Doellman scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, and Raymond connected on all three of his long-range attempts for nine points.
The event also featured the official unveiling of the new “X Shirt,” an initiative to unite Xavier Nation with a single basketball shirt while raising money for charity as well. This year, proceeds from sales will benefit Matthew 25 Ministries.
The men’s team kicks off the exhibition season on Nov. 1 against Tusculum. Tickets can be picked up starting at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 30 at the Cintas Center ticket office.
The women’s team will play host to Ashland on Nov. 7 as their sole tune-up exhibition. Their regular season-opener is scheduled for Nov. 12 against SEC power Florida. Tickets for women’s games can be picked up at Cintas Center when gates open an hour prior to tipoff.
John LaFollette
Sports Editor
The Xavier men’s basketball team is the overwhelming favorite to win the Atlantic 10 championship this season, according to the annual preseason A-10 coaches and media poll released on Monday.
The Musketeers received 59 of the possible 64 first place votes cast by the panel of head coaches and media. Massachusetts was picked to finish second, and received four first place votes.
St. Louis was picked to come in third, and Charlotte was chosen fourth despite receiving the remaining first place vote.
Defending regular season Atlantic 10 champion George Washington, who had the highest winning percentage in the country at .900, was picked to finish fifth.
Xavier had four players named to the preseason All-Conference teams. Junior guard Stanley Burrell was named to the first team squad after leading Xavier in scoring last year with 14.4 points per game.
Senior forward Justin Cage was named to the second team, and senior forward Justin Doellman and junior guard Drew Lavender were both named to the third team squad.
Cage was also named to the preseason All-Defensive team.
Look for more details about the upcoming men’s and women’s basketball seasons in the Basketball Preview Issue, slated to hit newsstands on November 8.
Jimmy Byrnes
Asst. Sports Editor
On Friday, Nov. 10 the P. Douglas O’Keefe Xavier University Athletic Hall of Fame will honor three new inductees.
The inductees include former basketball standout and class of 1979 graduate Joe Sunderman, Pete Spoerl from the class of 1982, a versatile baseball player with the second highest career batting average in team history at .377 and Jennifer Phillips who graduated in 2001 and is the only women’s basketball player in school history to be named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year.
The inductees will be honored on the 10th of November at a ceremony that will be held in the James Duff Banquet Center in Cintas Center. In addition to being honored at the dinner ceremony, the group will also be recognized at halftime of the men’s basketball season opener against Coastal Carolina on November 11.
Sunderman, Spoerl and Phillips will be the 94th, 95th and 96th members inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame, which was constructed in 2005 on the concourse of Cintas Center.
Phillips is the sixth all-time leading scorer for the Musketeer women, with 1,633 points for her career. She is also fourth all time for rebounds with 742 boards. In her senior season, Phillips led the team to a 31-3 record, the best mark in team history. She also finished fifth in the nation in shooting percentage.
The team won the Atlantic 10 championship and made a run at the national title with a trip to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament. The tournament victories included a spectacular 80-65 win over No. 3 ranked University of Tennessee.
Spoerl was a utility player who started at first base, second base and shortstop in four years with the Musketeers. His ability to play anywhere on the diamond was what earned him a spot on the 1987 U.S. Pan Am Softball Team.
Spoerl was known as a clutch hitter and a steady fielder. His batting steadily increased as he hit .348, .336, .396 and .412 his senior year. While playing shortstop his senior year, Spoerl enjoyed the most success he had during a single season, playing in 49 games with 170 at-bats, 70 hits, 46 runs-scored, 13 doubles and four game-winning RBIs. In 1982, Spoerl was named the MCC Northern Division Player of the Year.
Sunderman, in his four year playing career for the Musketeers, started in 74 games and played in 92. As a senior, he averaged nearly 10 points and nine boards per game, while shooting over 52 percent from the field.
Before being injured and missing the final seven games of the season, Sunderman played a major role in the Musketeers win at the Volunteer Classic where the Muskies beat a nationally-ranked Southern Cal and host University of Tennessee. Sunderman had 19 points and 15 rebounds in the win against the Trojans.
After graduation, Sunderman went into broadcasting and has been the voice of the Musketeers as a radio sportscaster for the past 26 seasons.
Student tickets for men’s basketball games will again be distributed in advance of game days. For the first hour of the pickup time, students can come to the Cintas Center Event Ticket Office, located on the south side of the building, during the specified pickup times, to claim their ticket. After the first hour, students should come to the Main Ticket Office, located on the east side of the building by the Cohen Center. Students may also present one (1) fellow student’s All Card to pick up a ticket for that person.
Tickets are available during the specified pickup times. At the end of the designated pickup times, any unclaimed student tickets will be opened for sale to the public. Students will still be eligible for free tickets after the end of the pickup time, as long as the game has not sold out.
Only Xavier full-time undergraduate students may use student tickets to attend a game. All Cards will be checked and validated.
Tickets will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, with the best seats being distributed first.
John LaFollette
Sports Editor
Welcome to cyberspace, devoted fans of the Spectator. Apologies for this departure from the print pages of the Newswire, but major events beyond the Spectator’s realm of influence (which means they must be major!), required print space and forced this temporary vacation. It’s a working vacation though, and there’s a lot of sports ground to cover.
We begin on the mean streets of New York City, outside Justin’s, a night club owned by hip-hop mogul Sean “Pappa Diddy Pop” Combs. In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, rapper Skylar John Jackson, aka Fabolous, was shot in the thigh in what at the time seemed like just the latest episode of hip-hop-related gun fights.
Aside from trying to tune out the angry rants coming from his unpaid intern (and avid Fabolous fan) Jason, the Spectator had little interest in this story. The story got a lot more interesting last Friday though, when reports emerged that there appeared to be a connection between the theft of a $50,000 chain from the neck of Boston Celtics star Sebastian Telfair and the shooting of Fab.
Surveillance tapes showed two member’s of the rapper’s crew stealing Telfair’s chain, then fleeing back into the club. Telfair reportedly followed them inside and saw them laughing with Fab. He was then seen making a call from his cell phone, and Fabolous was shot 23 minutes later by a mysterious assailant who fled the seen in a grey sedan caught on video.
Fabolous and his posse gave chase in an SUV, and were later pulled over and arrested on weapons charges after police found two unregistered, loaded guns in the car.
Police have said that Fabolous likely wasn’t the intended target, and many have speculated that Telfair called in a revenge hit. ‘Bassy doesn’t have a history of violence, but was fined $2,000 by the NBA last year after a handgun was found in a pillowcase belonging to Telfair.
Telfair has denied any role in the shooting, saying that he is only guilty of “going out to dinner with my fiancée.” He has turned over his cell phone records to police, saying the only call he placed was to a family member. Since Telfair grew up in Brooklyn, and went to high school about 28 driving minutes (probably closer to 23 minutes at a high speed) from Justin’s location in Manhattan, the Spectator doesn’t think the fact that Telfair called a family member matters too much.
Given the tendency of high-profile rap shootings to go unsolved for long periods of time, the Spectator isn’t holding his breath for this case’s speedy resolution.
In other shady news, did anyone see Kenny Rogers’ pitching hand in Game Two of the World Series last weekend? It looked to the Spectator like there might have been some kind of foreign substance present that could possibly affect the velocity of his pitches, possibly causing much consternation among opposing batters and possibly leading to a scoreless October for the Detroit Tigers’ pitcher.
Rogers said it could have possibly been anything, but said it was most likely a combination of dirt, resin, and spit. Whatever it was, the St. Louis Cardinals still couldn’t hit Rogers, even after he washed off the dark brown mystery goop midway through the second inning, as Rogers gave up just two hits in eight scoreless innings.
What’s puzzling for the Spectator is the seeming presence of the same stuff on Rogers’ left hand during the Tigers’ two previous postseason series’ against New York and Oakland. Rogers is 3-0 this postseason and has a 0.00 ERA in 24 innings with the brown smudge on his hand, and a 0.00 ERA in 7 innings without the brown smudge on his hand. Depending on how he pitches in Game Six (and the way the Tigers have been hitting, the Spectator wonders if there will be a Game Six), the sporting world could (possibly) have an explanation for the almost unbelievable turnaround Rogers has undergone since going 0-3 with a 8.85 ERA in all prior postseason appearances.
On to college football, where the usually loss-tolerant Spectator has compiled a list of coaches who have earned a pink slip.
Larry Coker (Miami)- As if it wasn’t clear from last week’s edition of the Spectator, the embattled University of Miami coach needs to go. He’s somehow managed a 5-2 record, after starting the year 1-2 with two embarrassing losses to Florida State and Louisville. Coker is currently riding a four-game winning streak that is more evidence of cupcake scheduling (Houston, Florida International, North Carolina, and Duke) than of impressive play. Add to that his team’s deserved thug reputation (a symptom of his softness when it comes to discipline), and Coker finds himself suddenly off the hot seat and out of a job.
Mike Shula (Alabama)- In four years at Alabama, Shula is 5-10 on the road in SEC games. For fans used to competing with Arkansas, LSU, Tennessee, and Auburn, Shula simply isn’t cutting it. Alabama is as much of an insider organization as Indiana, Kansas, and North Carolina, and they like Shula’s pedigree. But he’s gone 0-7 at Bama’s SEC rivals, including 1-9 against the last three. He has lost too many close games, and the Spectator thinks Shula’s Tide is retreating.
Bobby Bowden (Florida State)- Bowden has earned the axe, but the old guard that runs the administrative offices at FSU doesn’t have the heart to fire him. This is one of the trickiest things in sports: finding a respectful way to ask a coaching legend to retire. The Spectator suggests that Bowden take a lesson from former Louisville Cardinals head basketball coach Denny Crum. After going 61-61 in his last four years at Louisville, Crum nobly stepped down. His scenario then (regrettably) was much like Bowden’s is now: a loyal front office who sees the legend, and a disgruntled fan base who sees the reality. Bowden’s time has come, and he should go.
John LaFollette 
Sports Editor
The Xavier University swimming teams swam against Cincinnati and Bowling Green last Saturday at UC’s Keating Aquatics Center Grand Opening Relays.
There was no team scoring in the all-relay event, but Xavier had strong showings from both the women and the men.
On the men’s side, freshman Mark Febus was on three relay teams that posted second place finishes.
He teamed with fellow freshman Michael Hafertepe and sophomores Jake Burke and Patrick McGrath to take second in the 100 Free Relay in a time of 00:40.98.
In the 500 Free Relay, Febus swam with Hafertepe, redshirt senior Dave Janszen and junior Matt Krouse to finish in 4:19.59.
In the 200 Free Relay, Febus, Krouse, Janszen and McGrath took the silver in 1:24.77.
Another silver on the men’s side came from the trio of Hafertepe, Burke and Krouse, who finished the 150 Back Relay in 1:16.88. Junior Shane Jenkins, sophomore Matt Marcus, senior Neil Reierson and Krouse teamed up to take silver in the 200 Medley Relay in a time of 1:40.01.
For the women, the trio made up of sophomores Jill Winhusen, Amber Thompson and freshman Annelise Hoyland took third in the 150 Fly Relay in a time of 1:24.40.
Senior Krystel Kooyman, along with freshmen Martha Cutter-Wilson and Kelsey Burns took third in the 150 Breast Relay in 1:37.18.
In more conventional relays, the team of junior Lindsay Jackson, senior Dana Hunter and freshman Elaina Suba, along with Hoyland, took third in the 500 Free Relay.
Suba, Kooyman, Jackson and Winhusen took third in the 200 Medley Relay.
In the 200 Free Relay, a third-place finish was also captured by Suba, Hoyland, Jackson and freshman Alison Johnson.
The women’s team returns to action on Friday, Nov. 3 to host Western Kentucky in the team’s home-opener at 5 p.m. at the O’Connor Sports Center.
Both the men and women host Saint Louis the following day at 3 p.m.
