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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 24, 1998)
Sports riday • April 24,1 Watkins m m m siMSMsamga - m mmmgmm Continued from Page 6 “Melvin’s voice started break ing,” she said. “Tears started run ning down my face. Now, Melvin had to deal with this in his life. He told me how hard it was to tell the team he (Hayward) might not live. He said it really put the game of basketball into perspective.” “It threw us all off balance and caught us completely off-guard,” Watkins said. “It was like we lost a loved one when it first hit. Then it was an education process to find out what was next.” Included in the “parenting du ties” of Watkins is the disciplining of players. UNCC guard Sean Col son was suspended for violating team rules during Watkins’ tenure with the school, and Watkins has proved himself un afraid of pulling the trigger on undisciplined players. “I talk about life skills,” Watkins said. “If I see something that will hinder a young man’s growth and I have to take basketball away from him to get my point across, then that is what I will do. It's more to me than winning basketball games. You have to win at life.” That family philosophy helped his first UNCC team get past a rough beginning that saw the team lose three of their first five games. Watkins was in his first year as the head coach and had no previ ous experience to be judged by ex cept for his tenure as assistant coach to Mullins. The faith of many supporters waned in the beginning, but the outcome was more than expected. “They probably did (lose faith) a little bit, but they understood what I was about,” Watkins said. “I was a new coach, and, quite honestly, I didn’t have a track record. “I knew time would be on my side, and in time, I could stay fo cused and stay on track. I stayed with those fundamentals that God entrusted in me.” Watkins is a man who rarely goes to bed before 2 a.m. (“I need a lot of time to find some quiet time,” Watkins said.) and usually rises around dawn. Every morning when he wakes in his new surroundings, Watkins admits he will be thinking of one thing — winning a National Championship at Texas A&M and winning it all in the game of life. *3.95 mi pager airtime Discount Paging System Free Activation 'Accessories 'Calling Cards Aerial phones sold here Interested in the environment? Why not consider Geosciences 41 0 (Global Change)? Fall, 1998 MWF 9:10-10:00 For further information try our website or contact Prof. Harriss (harriss@tamu.edu) or Prof. Crowley (tom@ocean.tamu.edu) John Collins '97 invites you to... SMITH FIREARMS/ WICKSON CREEK GUN RANGE 409-764-9230 409-589-1093 (Range) Located 4.1 Miles East of Hwy 6 on Hwy 21 MON - FRI Noon - Dark SAT & SUN 10 a.m. - Dark Rifle & Pistol Range Skeet Practice *NEW* ELECTRIC SKEET MACHINES SKEET $4 FOR 25 BIRDS MasterCard treenouse apartments You Can Afford to Have It All! • Great Location, Walk to Campus • Computer Lab, Clubroom • Covered Parking • 2 Pools • Sand Volleyball NOW Pre-Leasing Starting as low as $390 (409) 696-5707 Marion Pugh @ George Bush www.startel.net/treehouse/ ^ The Battalion Classified Advertising • Easy • Affordable • Effective For information, call Join ‘Club Victory’ Men’s Volleyball Club Team overcomes adversity for high finish, women cheated out ITH BRANDON BOLLOM/The Battalion Women’s All-Americans (from left to right) Jesilyn Hatch, Melissa Mizell, Tra cy Bell and Andrea Holland achieved their third consecutive third-place finish. Jeff Webb Sports editor T he Women’s Volleyball Club Team faced Colorado in a semifinal match in the nation- al tournament and senior Amy Wil son came through in the clutch. Wil son served up two points for Texas A&M and was preparing for her third serve when something went wrong. The electronic scoreboard was malfunctioning and the flip-cards at the scorer’s table kept the incor rect score. Wilson’s ace went unno ticed by referees and Colorado stormed back to win the match 17- 15. CU went to the finals, and A&M went home with their hearts shat tered with the knowledge of how close they came to winning it all. “The stats showed she served four times for only two points,” senior Tra cy Bell said. “After they played their fi nal match, the Colorado coach came up to our coach and said we should have won. The referees were apolo getic, but more of our players made the all-tournament team. That was a sweet victory.” That victory was the only one the Aggies were able to enjoy after Col orado won the title. No one from the team was eligible for tourna ment Most Valuable Player honors because the team failed to reach the finals. The women’s team placed third each of the last three years and four A&M players made first- or sec ond-team All-America. The women are looking like a con tender going into next season as well. Six seniors, like Jenna Steinkoenig, played on the team this past season and all the rest were freshmen or sophomores. The contributions from the team’s bench were important for the team this year, but also served to build talent for next season. “It was the most support from our bench,” senior Melissa Mizell said. “The depth of our team was the best ever and people came off the bench and did well. We were a really young team this past year. Re ally, our team dominated the tour nament and we felt we were the best team out there.” The Men’s Volleyball Club Team finished in ninth place out of 48 teams in their tournament, which ranks as the team’s best finish ever. The team had a disappointing finish in the Southern Intercollegiate Vol leyball Association Tournament this year after setter Scott Simonds came down with food poisoning and an other team member fell to illness. However, the team bounced back from the adversity that plagued the team all year and per formed well at the national tourna ment, especially against the Uni versity of California-Poly-Slo who lor tnt Ions lose they beat to get intollif “Throughouttheya players from the fra moods said. “Twoguy in December, twogir team and two guysu grades. We had a real) compared to Cal-Poh; line was huge and a 1 inches taller than us." The men’s benchhac loss of so many! I lowever, the® ,‘d their play ml * for the team ss lie tournament!: ) the No. 9 finisli “They (the bench) tali t up, Steven Raeszs votildn’t have madeitasil lid unless the secondtt eally well.” If the future of the wo noks excellent, the men :>ok to an even betteroi "We’re only losing tv utc over last year, hej Next war. were going!- | <>.' The future isbrieht.' a\ in Aggie Sports Briefs Rec Center hosts fencing qualifier The Texas A&M Fencing Club will host the Sectional Champi onships of USAA National Qualifi er on Saturday and Sunday at the Student Rec Center. Ags beat Tigers; honors awarded The No. 5-seeded Texas A&M Women’s Tennis Team (17-9) defeated Missouri 7-0 at the Big 12 Tournament and advanced to the second round to face No. 4 Baylor today at 1:30 p.m. The Aggies were defeated by the Bears 5-4 earlier in the season. In other tennis news, seven mem- from staff and wire reports bers of the men’s and women’s teams earned individual honors at the Big 12 Conference banquet Thursday. In women’s, senior Monica Re- bolledo, sophomore Kathryn Scott and freshman Eva Marcial took home the No. 4, 5 and 6 singles ti tles. Marcial and Scott also won run ner-up honors as the No. 2 doubles. On the men's side, senior Carlos Tori won the No. 2 singles title, and freshmen Rafael de Mesa and Cody Hubbell earned the Big 12 title for No. 3 doubles. A&M names Hill to Watkins’ staff A&M Basketball Coach Melvin Watkins filled the final spot on his staff Thursday, as Watkins named Charlotte breaks to Atlanta with big losing stil st | 97-87 M Lew Hill as an assistant coach. Hill started at point guard on the 1984 San Jacinto Junior College team, which won the National Championship. He went on to Wichita State, where he earned all-conference honors. Hill joins Steve McClain and Bob by Kummer, who were named last week, as Watkins’ assistants. No. 11 Golf Team goes to Big 12’s Texas A&M plays in the second Big 12 tournament starting Friday at the Jimmie Austin University of Oklahoma Golf Course. The Aggies return four members from last year’s team, which lost by two strokes to Texas. A&M is ranked 11th in the latest rankings. The team will play 18 holes all three days. CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Glen Rice outdueled Steve Smith to help the Chariotte Hornets end a pair of droughts and open their first-round playoff series with a 97-87 victory' over tlie Atlanta Hawks onThursday night. Rice made 13 consecutive field- goal attempts during one stretch and wound up with 34 points on 15-for-19 shooting as Charlotte de feated Atlanta for the first time in five games this season. The Hornets, who shot 59 per cent — their second-highest per centage of the season — also broke a five-game postseason losing streak dating back nearly three years. Smith scored 16 of his 35 in the first quarter for Atlanta, which had capitalized on superior speed from its guards to defeat Charlotte by an ?eof T ?ason. points again in the first halflla night, scoring 20 pointso dunks and tip-ins,biiifla rut that figure to eighth ond half by using morepia on the perimeter. The Hornets, who shaw heads in an attempt tote their fortunes againstAttei got 12 points and sevens from Vlade Divac, 10 pots seven boards from Anta son and 12 points andlit from David Wesley. 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