Published since 1915 by the students
of Xavier University
Published since 1915 by the students
of Xavier University
“Dig for Cure” raises money to fight breast cancer
Katie Zak
Contributing Sportswriter
The women’s volleyball team dethroned the top-ranked Dayton Flyers last Thursday night in the inaugural “Dig for the Cure” match as they recorded 102 digs on the match to help raise money for breast cancer research.
Dayton came into the match in first place in the A-10 and undefeated in the conference since last season.
The Musketeers took the Flyers to five games to secure the victory in front of an anxious crowd at Cintas Center.
Xavier came out strong and took game one 30-24. Game two was a nail-biter as the teams battled it out with Xavier emerging on top, 32-30.
Dayton won games three and four by scores of 23-30 and 27-30.
The Muskies dominated in game five and quickly ended it 15-7. Freshman Hillary Otte notched a career-high 19 kills on the match to accompany six digs and three aces.
Senior Danielle Skrajewski recorded her 49th career double-double with 22 kills and 20 digs, while fellow senior Astyn Bjorklund had her first with 14 kills and 10 digs.
Junior Jill Quayle had a career-high 20 kills on the night while classmate Jenni Horvath had eight kills and a .308 hitting percentage.
Sophomore Jenn Welsh doled out a career-high 71 assists, and freshman Lauren Kaminsky ended the match with a team-high 22 digs.
The ladies hit the road over the weekend to face off against Rhode Island on Saturday afternoon. The Muskies swept the Rams with scores of 30-27, 20-21 and 30-24.
Xavier’s offense was led by Skrajewski with 16 kills and a .560 hitting percentage, and was helped by the efforts of Bjorklund with 13 kills and a .500 hitting percentage.
Welsh had 40 assists and eight digs on the match, while Kaminsky recorded a team-high 10 digs and freshman Kelly Ruth had nine.
Horvath and Quayle finished with six kills each on the match, and Quayle added four block assists to the defensive effort.
The Muskies had a .360 hitting percentage as a team for the match.
The wins brought XU to 16-10 for the season and 9-2 in conference play, and led to two ladies receiving A-10 honors. Skrajewski was named A-10 Player of the Week, while Kaminski was named Rookie of the Week; this was the second award for each in their respective categories.
The ladies have two weeks off before finishing regular season play with home games against Saint Louis, where they will battle for second place in the conference, and against Duquesne on Senior Night on Nov. 11.
They will head to the Atlantic 10 tournament in mid-November to compete in the Conference Championship at the Frericks Center at the University of Dayton.
Jimmy Byrnes
Asst. Sports Editor
For the second consecutive tournament, the Xavier women’s golf team finished their final round much improved upon their performances from the day before.
Coach Tom Elfers was pleased with his team’s play at the Ross Resorts Invitational as the Musketeers shot the best final round of 13-team field, climbing four places in the standings to finish tied for third at 922 (+58).
XU’s 297 (+8) in the final round was the second best round of the tournament. Steadily improving each round (318-307-297), the Musketeers end their fall schedule on a high note at the 6,114 yard, par-72 Mid Pines Golf Club.
Host team Rollins College maintained their first place lead with a 302 (+14) to finish at 902 (+38), five shots ahead of second place team Princeton University (907, +43).
Xavier made up 10 strokes on Harvard, 17 on Yale, 20 on Middle Tennessee State and 21 on the University of Cincinnati to finished tied for third with Harvard.
Freshman Mary Beth McKenna was a microcosm of XU’s team effort, steadily improving as the tournament went on.
McKenna shot a 73 (+1) to jump into a tie for ninth at 230 strokes (+14). One shot behind her for the final round were sophomore Lindsay Cornell and senior Kara Manis with a 74 (+2).
Cornell improved to a tie for 35th with 239 strokes (+23) while Manis fisnished at 231 (+15) which was good for 13th.
Freshman Tracey Clarke was a model of consistency as she finished tied for 16th with 232 strokes (+16).
Not far behind, tied at 31st, was junior Diana Torry with 237 strokes (+21). Junior Erin Gore participated as an individual, tying for 57th place with a 247 (+31).
The tournament marks the last tournament of the fall season for the Musketeers.
Xavier will continue the 2006-07 golf season with a series of spring events, beginning with the Papa John’s Collegiate on Feb. 18-20 in Miami, Fla.
John LaFollette
Sports Editor
The Xavier men’s basketball team will begin pre-season play at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 1 against the Pioneers of Tusculum College.
This is the second consecutive season in which Xavier has met Tusculum in an exhibition game; Xavier handily won last year’s contest 76-57.
The Pioneers are coming off a 14-15 record from last season, and will look to avoid fulfilling their typical exhibition role as perennial whipping boy for more powerful teams like Xavier and Tennessee.
Here’s a look at Tusculum’s likely starters, and how they match up against the Musketeers in the tale of the tape:
John LaFollette
Sports Editor
The Spectator returned on Halloween night from the cold doldrums of cyberspace to find that (gasp!) his unpaid intern Jason had been replaced by some stranger named Brad! This new intern had an immaculate transcript and three well-written letters of recommendation from past supervisors, and even expected pay!
The Spectator gathered his wits and assigned Brad some perfunctory sports research while he ran a cost analysis on the new intern’s expected pay. Luckily for the Newswire’s budget, the Spectator quickly noticed that Brad’s research was just as sloppy and unacceptable as Jason’s.
Then it hit him: this new, qualified intern was nothing more than Jason in disguise! This startling revelation posited some new questions for the Spectator. Could there be other imposters in his midst? In doing some research of his own, the Spectator came up with a few others who appear to be in costume this Halloween.
The Chicago Bears are dressed up like Super Bowl contenders. Under the guise of a 7-0 record, the Bears are fooling more than a few. One of two unbeaten teams in the NFL, the Bears cruised to their third 30-point win of the year last Sunday against the 49ers.
While they have been winning big, the Bears have been doing so against a bunny schedule. Their opponents are a combined 17-33, and they have yet to play a division leader. In fact, the Bears have only two games scheduled against leaders the entire rest of the season.
Meanwhile, the Colts already have two wins against division leaders, both coming on the road. Look for the Bears to be unmasked in the playoffs, if not in their three game tour of New England with consecutive matchups against the Giants, the Jets and the Patriots.
Charlie Weis and his Notre Dame Fighting Irish have also been passing for something they’re not: a team of gleaming golden boys cast straight from the mold of those noble Irish of yesteryear.
In truth, the Irish are just as crude, crass and vulgar as the next college football team. The recent, profanity-laced “60 Minutes” piece on the Golden Domers’ head coach made that clear enough.
The Spectator doesn’t care that Weis talks more like a sailor than a saint, but Notre Dame shouldn’t continue to present an image of itself that looks as immaculate as Jason’s forged transcripts. It’s a bit like programs in South Florida giving scholarships to street thugs and calling them angels.
Big Ben Roethlisberger’s costume is a little less obvious because he doesn’t pull it off as well. Word from the Steelers’ camp is that Roethlisberger is “just fine,” while it seems clear that he is anything but. Roethlisberger has thrown 11 interceptions this year compared to just six touchdowns. His Steelers did the unthinkable last Sunday: lost to the Oakland Raiders. Big Ben did his part in the loss, throwing four picks, two of which were returned for touchdowns.
After suffering injuries in a frightful motorcycle accident, undergoing an emergency appendectomy and sustaining a concussion two weeks ago against Atlanta, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Roethlisberger isn’t playing his best.
The Spectator recommends that he take a week off to recouperate. While Steelers’ head coach Bill Cowher says that blame rests on his shoulders alone, Cowher isn’t the one taking the snaps.
John LaFollette 
Sports Editor
The Xavier University women’s soccer team ended the 2006 season with a 3-0 loss at the University of Richmond on Sunday afternoon. The loss gave XU a final record of 2-5-2 in the Atlantic 10 Conference and 7-10-2 overall.
After 30 minutes of a scoreless battle, Richmond finally broke the deadlock in the match’s 31st minute. The Spiders took the 1-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Richmond got an insurance goal in the 69th minute when a shot fired by the Spiders got past freshman goalkeeper Kelly Farrell. The Spiders put the game away for good when they scored again in the 80th minute.
Today’s match followed the script of the entire 2006 season for the young Musketeer squad, which finished the home season with a perfect 7-0-2 record but was 0-10 on the road.
At the 2006 Atlantic 10 cross country championships, the Xavier men’s and women’s cross country teams turned in terrific performances. Despite the poor weather, the women’s team turned in the program’s best finish, earning fourth place, while the men’s team finished in ninth place. Sophomore Becky Clark turned in the top time for the women’s team with a time of 18:32.75, which placed her 14th overall. The men’s top performer was sophomore Luke Beuerlein who finished in 34th place with a time of 26:32.20.
Clark was named to the A-10 All-Conference team for her 14th place finish. Senior Kelly Sraj took 16th place and crossed the finish line with a time of 18:38. Amanda Brown finished 19th at 18:49.
Beuerlein led the way for the XU men with his 34th place finish. Following the sophomore were junior Ben Milroy and sophomore Clint Womack. Milroy turned in a time of 26:36 to earn 37th place. Womack crossed in a time of 26:45 to take 41st place.
The women’s team continued to improve, as the team has placed 10th, 7th, 5th and 4th over the last four respective championships. This year’s team shaved 33 seconds off their average team time from last season.
On the men’s side, an improved time from the previous season did not reflect on the overall results as the conference has improved. However, the men’s side will return every runner next season and the top seven runners will compete in two weeks at the NCAA Regionals.
The two teams will have two weeks to prepare for the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship in Bowling Green, Ohio. The men and women hope to improve on last year’s finishes of 18th and 20th respectively.
