Sports
The Battalion
Page 4 • Friday, November 21,1
Aggies hosting national Soccer team Sweet 16-bound, again
powers at Ag Invitational ~
By Troy Miller
THE BATTALION
To Pla
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By Pete Burks
THE BATTALION
The early part of the swimming
season is usually reserved for work
ing out the kinks and shaking off the
rust of a long offseason. However,
the Aggie men’s and women’s swim
ming teams have been the equivalent
of Rustoleum in the pool of late.
Both teams have come off the
blocks in impressive fashion as each
team has gone undefeated in dual
meets while both placed second in
the Big 12 relays.
This weekend, the men’s and
women’s teams will need to put into
practice everything they’ve learned
during the early part of the season as
they host the Texas A&M Fall
Invitational, starting today at 10
a.m. and extending through Sunday.
It may as well be called the
“Swimming Top 30” invitational, as
the Aggies will be hosting eight
ranked teams out of the top 30 swim
teams in the country.
The No. 17 Aggie women’s team
(4-0, 2-0 Big 12) will host national
powers No. 8 SMU, No. 1 1 UCLA,
No. 17 Virginia, No. 19 Notre
Dame, No. 20 Florida State and
Purdue. Without question, this will
be the toughest set of opponents the
Aggie women have faced so far this
year. But to Aggie women’s coach
Steve Bultman, words like “appre
hensive” do not apply.
“We’re very excited about this
weekend because we know we’ve
got good competition coming in,”
Bultman said. “I’m looking forward
to see how the girls will swim this
weekend because it’s a different for
mat, more like the NCAA champi
onships. It will be good to see more
people get to swim against good
competition because this will really
let us see what the girls can do.”
Meanwhile, the No. 13 Aggie
men’s team (3-0, 1-0 Big 12) will
get to see its first action in the A&M
natatorium this year. Like their
female counterparts, the men have
been nearly flawless this season, and
are fresh off dominating rivals Penn
State and Pittsburgh on the road.
“What I think we got out of the
Pitt and Penn State duals is a sense
of how balanced we are,” said A&M
men’s coach Mel Nash. “Across the
board, we’re two or three deep, and
we have people performing well in
all areas.”
Needless to say, good competi
tion tends to bring out the best in
Nash’s team.
“The big thing that we’re looking
forward to is racing,” Nash said.
“We will be facing three well-
respected, ranked programs (in No.
11 Virginia, No. 23 Florida State and
No. 29 SMU). There is going to be
really good competition in every
See Swimming on page 8
While the football team is causing
moans and groans at Kyle Field, the other
Texas A&M “football” team is causing
excitement across Wellborn Road at the
Aggie Soccer Complex.
The Aggies are milking their Fifth
straight trip to the NCAA Tournament’s
Sweet 16, traveling to Penn State’s host
site in State College, Penn.
“It’s become an expectation of the peo
ple who know our program not to just get
a season that’s great enough to get you
into the NCAA Tournament, but you’re
going to get in the Sweet 16,” said A&M
coach G. Guerrieri.
While most will casually gaze upon
the Aggies’ Sweet 16 birth as an expecta
tion, this season wasn’t anywhere close to
a sure thing.
Losers of four of their last five games,
the No. 16 Aggies were in danger of not
even making the tournament for the first
time in nine years. After receiving word
that they were in, and hosting as well, the
players made a deal with each other to put
the past behind them and play their best.
“We had a little meeting with just the
players,” said senior midfielder Kristen
Strutz. “We talked about how your record
doesn’t really matter when you’re done
with the season. What you’re going to
remember is the Sweet 16 and the Elite
Eight."
For the Aggies to get to the Elite Eight
for the third straight season, they will have
to go through a tough Penn State team that
made the NCAA Final Four a season ago.
The No. 5 Nittany Lions have three
|P Beato III • THE BAR:
Sophomore Aggie midfielder Carrie Berend tries to gain possession of the ball against akt:|
er from Duke earlier this year. The Aggies play Penn State this weekend in the Sweet 16.
mouthful.”
BED /
players who all have more goals than any
one on the Aggie roster. Penn State’s top
scorer Tiffany Weimer has 20 goals on the
season, equaling A&M’s top two scorers
combined.
“The two forwards and (Penn State
midfielder) Joanna Lohman in behind
them are as good of an attacking triangle
as there is in the country,” Guerrieri said.
“The scouting reports that we’re getting is
that these two forwards are better than
(North) Carolina’s three-front. That’s a
The pressure will be on the tel
defense that has recorded nine shie
this season. A large part of that state
due to the play of sophomore goalee:
Kati Jo Spisak. arguably the best k
keeper in the country.
A season ago in the Sweet 16,3
Aggies were outshot 20-0 by UCLA,i«
advanced to the Elite Eight inai
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Volleyball team hopes to finish strong on the road against Kansas in
Bv Michael ( row t ^ ie can match the win setting a school record for a terms of kills. Now, the Aggies are hoping
total of their 2002 campaign, in four-game match. Laura Jones “I was impressed with our to finish strong in conference
THE BATTALION
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On Wednesday, the Texas
A&M women’s volleyball team
earned its 20th win of the sea
son, knocking off Baylor 3-1.
With a victory against confer
ence foe Kansas this Saturday,
the Aggies can match the win
total of their 2002 campaign, in
which they finished 21-10 over
all. No. 21 A&M (20-7, 12-5
Big 12) has won consecutive
contests since falling to
Colorado in Boulder a little
more than a week ago.
Against Baylor, the Aggies
had a .396 hitting percentage.
setting a school record for a
four-game match. Laura Jones
had a team-high 18 kills and tied
for the team lead with 12 digs.
Senior outside hitter Carol Price
added 17 kills and posted a blis
tering .571 hitting percentage.
While facing a few defen
sive struggles, A&M had four
players reach double-digits in
terms of kills.
“1 was impressed with our
balance, and we played with
confidence,” said A&M coach
Laurie Corbelli. “Our attack
intensity picked up in games
three and four, but our serving
and blocking were not aggres
sive enough and that made it dif
ficult for us.”
Now, the Aggies are hoping
to finish strong in conference
play to make a competitive run
into the postseason.
“I think we just need to stay
really focused and work on
cleaning up and polishing a few
things,” Corbelli said.
With Big 12 leader Kansas
State only a match away, it is
important for A&M to
focused on a Jayhawk teamit
lias scon some recent suffi:
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