One game separates baseball from home opener

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On Tuesday, March 12, Temple (3-8) will face off against Longwood (6-8) in Farmville, Va. in a single game beginning at 4:00 p.m.

Coming off of a two-loss weekend to UNC Asheville, the Owls will look to earn their fourth win of the season with redshirt-senior pitcher Dan Moller on the mound against the Lancers, coach Ryan Wheeler said.

In three starts this season, Moller has compiled a 0-2 record with a 10.29 ERA. The senior southpaw has allowed 20 hits and 16 runs while recording nine walks and five strikeouts in 14.0 innings pitched.

In a three-game series last year at Longwood, Temple lost the first two games of the series each by one run until defeating the Lancers 11-1 in the final meeting.

One Owl who is familiar with the Longwood pitching staff is sophomore shortstop Nick Lustrino, who went 8-for-13 last season against the Lancers. Lustrino added four runs and two RBI in the 2012 series.

“I am familiar with [Longwood] from my time coaching in Virginia,” Wheeler said, who spent 15 years of his 17-year coaching career in VA. “They are going to be tough; they are a well-coached team and they will have some strong players.”

Following Tuesday’s game, the Owls will be back in action on Wednesday, March 13 at 3:00 p.m. in their home opener at Skip Wilson Field against Lafayette.

John Murrow can be reached at john.murrow@temple.edu or Twitter @JohnMurrow12.

Women’s basketball to face No. 3 Fordham in A-10 semis

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Heading into tomorrow’s semifinal round match-up, No. 3 seed Fordham will look to avoid becoming Temple’s latest upset in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament.

The Rams (23-7, 12-2 A-10) advanced following a blowout 65-48 win against No. 11 Saint Louis, just a couple hours after the Owls (13-17, 5-9 A-10) upset No. 2 Charlotte, 48-47.

“I’m trying to not get too excited [over the Saint Louis win] because we have to play a really good Temple team,” Fordham coach Stephanie Gaitley said. “We have a very difficult 40 minutes ahead of us against a well-coached and a really strong Temple team.”

Ironically, these teams met just last Sunday, March 3 in what was the regular season finale for both sides. Fordham came out on top at McGonigle Hall, 58-44.

Fordham presented a balanced scoring attack with four players finishing in double figures. Redshirt-junior guard Erin Rooney led the way with 15 points, followed by grad student forward Marah Strickland with 14, freshman forward Samantha Clark with 11, and junior guard Abigail Corning with 10.

“We played very well to beat Temple on their court,” Gaitley said. “But again, they beat a really good Charlotte team.”

Temple senior center Victoria Macaulay and freshman forward Sally Kabengano combined for 28 of the Owls’ 44 points in last week’s loss to the Rams.

Things have perked up for the Owls since then, however. Coach Tonya Cardoza’s squad has proved itself worthy of Gaitley’s praise, as Temple has knocked off No. 7 seed Xavier and a Charlotte (24-5, 13-1 A-10) team that breezed through the A-10 during the regular season.

Gaitley said Fordham tries to not put too much thought into who it’s opposing, a strategy that has worked just fine thus far into the season.

“We made a point all year to have a blank uniform in front of us,” Gaitley said. “Right now the focus is just getting some rest, breaking down film, getting comfortable with things, and getting ready for a tough 40 minutes.”

Owls try to end losing streak at home

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The men’s tennis team will take on Binghamton Saturday evening at 6 p.m. at Legacy Tennis Center.

The Owls (2-6, 1-1 Atlantic 10 Conference) are on a six-match losing streak, and have only won one total point in their last three matches.

That point was won by freshman Nicolas Paulus, who is 5-3 this spring. He and freshman Santiago Canete (4-4) are the only Temple players who have won more than one singles match this season.

Temple’s most consistent success has been from their third flight doubles team of sophomore Kristian Marquart and freshman Sam Rundle. They are 3-1 this spring, 2-1 in the third flight and 1-0 in the second flight.

The Bearcats (4-5, 0-0 America East Conference) are coming off two losses at Ivy League schools: a 6-1 loss to #46 Columbia, and a 7-0 sweep at the hands of #24 Cornell.

They will be led by sophomore Robin Lesage, who is 5-4 in the top singles flight. Binghamton’s top doubles team is senior Bastian Bomkessel and sophomore Ismael Dinia, who are 2-5 together in the top doubles flight.

Women need to sweep tournament to make postseason

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Barring a miracle, the Owls season will end whenever they are knocked out of the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament.

With a 12-17 record (5-9 in the A-10) Temple cannot earn a Women’s National Invitation Tournament berth. Teams are only offered a bid in the tournament if they have a record above .500.

Temple’s only hope of playing after the conference tournament is to sweep through it and win the championship. Their record alone keeps them out of the NCAA Tournament unless they earn an automatic berth by winning the conference.

The task in itself will be daunting. If Temple were to advance past their opening round match against seventh-seeded Xavier (13-15, 7-7 in the A-10) they will face Charlotte (22-7, 12-2 in the A-10). They knocked off the Owls in the season finale already, 58-44.

After that Temple would face the winner of the Fordham and Butler/Saint Louis game in the semifinals. Temple wouldn’t face regular season champion Dayton (27-1, 14-0 in the A-10) until the championship round, if they get that far.

Regardless, the Owls’ chance of making the NCAA Tournament is a long shot.

Gymnastics squads prepare for meets

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Coming off of last week’s season high team score of 191.625, women’s gymnastics (4-18) will look to keep their momentum going forward this Saturday, as they head to Penn State University for a quad-meet with New Hampshire, University of Pennsylvania, and host Penn State for a 4 p.m. competition. Meanwhile, men’s gymnastics (10-3) will begin its spring trip this weekend. The No. 12 Owls will start their spring trip, flying to California for a Sunday meet with the Golden Bears starting at 5 p.m. before heading to Air Force next Thursday, and University of Illinois-Chicago next Sunday.

Coming off of a career day last week, senior Jean Alban will aim to keep her good form and help lead the Owls to victory this Saturday at Penn State. At last week’s quad-meet at West Virginia University, the Springfield, Mass. native posted career highs in vault, uneven bars, and in the all-around.

Women’s coach Aaron Murphy said his team is excited for this weekend’s competition.

“Our team is really looking forward to the Penn State meet with New Hampshire and

Penn,” Murphy said. “Coming off our season high at West Virginia with a 191.625, we hope to top that score on Saturday.”

Murphy has been very pleased with his team’s performance of late.

“The past couple of weeks have been a blast to watch the team grow more and more confident with their gymnastics and I feel the team is peaking at the right time,” Murphy said.

After defeating State University of New York at Brockport last week, men’s gymnastics will also look to keep their momentum going forward heading into their spring trip.

In an injury plagued season, senior Brett Statman will look to keep progressing. Statman performed well winning event titles in vault and floor exercise at SUNY Brockport, in only his second appearance for the Owls this season. Nagging back pains have kept Statman out the majority of the year.

Men’s coach Fred Turoff said his team is eager to begin their spring trip.

“We’re looking forward to our Spring Break trip,” Turoff said. “We’ll meet California-Berkeley on Sunday, so we expect good competition.”

Along with competing, Turoff said he plans to do a little sight-seeing with his team during their spring trip.

“We’ll visit San Francisco and Muir Woods in California, Garden of the Gods and Pike’s Peak in Colorado, and probably go up the Sears Tower in Chicago,” Turoff said. “It’s important to see more than a hotel room and a gym on trips when we can.”

Baseball heads to UNC Asheville

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Coming off of a three-loss weekend in Norfolk, Va. against Old Dominion, the baseball team will look to improve its record against UNC Asheville this weekend.

Beginning on Friday, March 8, UNC Asheville (4-9) will host Temple (2-6) in the first of a three-game series at 3:00 p.m. The two teams will also face off on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

“We were let down from last weekend and we are now putting that behind us now,” sophomore shortstop Nick Lustrino said. “Right now, everybody has their head on correctly, more than usual actually.”

In three games last weekend, the Owls were outscored 23-6 by Old Dominion. During the three-game series against the Monarchs, the Owls used 12 different pitchers who as a staff combined for a 7.66 ERA.

“We are heading down to North Carolina to play better baseball this weekend,” coach Ryan Wheeler said. “We need to get into a little more of a routine.”

For the first time in 2013, Temple was able to practice outside on a grass field at the Ambler campus this past Tuesday. This practice was exactly what the Owls needed in order to catch up to those teams that have had the ability to practice outside all season, Wheeler said.

“The early season stuff is kind of over,” Wheeler said. “We have had enough reps and have played enough games. We have just got to play better.”

Entering Friday’s matchup, both the Bulldogs and the Owls will be looking to snap a four game losing streak. For Temple, the team has not won a game since Feb. 24 against Holy Cross in a 13-12 offensive battle, while UNC Asheville last won a game on March 2 against Pittsburgh in a 5-4 extra innings win.

In Friday’s 1:00 p.m. matchup, Wheeler said he expects sophomore pitcher Patrick Peterson to start for the Owls. In Patrick Peterson’s last start on March 3, the right-handed pitcher left the game after 6.0 innings pitched while allowing four hits, two runs, one walk and four strikeouts before being replaced by sophomore pitcher Eric Peterson.

“If we play as well as we did against No. 24 Virginia Tech, we expect that we can beat anybody, and that’s the attitude we are going to take heading into this weekend,” Wheeler said.

John Murrow can be reached at john.murrow@temple.edu or Twitter @JohnMurrow12.

 

Alban ECAC Gymnast of Week

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The awards continue to keep falling Temple’s way. In six weeks of competition, Temple has had at least one gymnast recognized on the Eastern Collegiate Athletics Conference weekly honor. Senior Jean Alban is the most recent recipient of an ECAC weekly honor. The Springfield, Mass native has been named the ECAC Gymnast of the Week
for the second time this season.

At the Owls most recent meet last Sunday at West Virginia University, Alban was the main contributor to Temple’s season-high team score of 191.175. In the best performance of her collegiate career, Alban posted career high scores on vault (9.575) and uneven bars (9.675), and had her highest score of the day on balance beam (9.750). All en route to setting a career best all-around score of 38.650.

Alban and the rest of the Owls will compete this Saturday at Penn State at 4 p.m.

Men’s gymnastics defeats State University of New York

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Both men’s and women’s gymnastics were in action on Sunday, March 3. The No. 12 men’s gymnastics (10-3) easily defeated State University of New York at Brockport with a final score of 394.150-258.100, taking all six event titles in the process. While women’s gymnastics (4-18) posted a season-high team score of 191.175, placing fourth behind Denver (196.800), host West Virginia (196.375) and George Washington (195.300).

Senior Brett Statman announced his presence back into the line-up. The Rye Brook N.Y. native has missed the majority of the season due to back problems but proved to still be in good form, winning the event title on both vault and floor exercise.

The freshman duo of Jon Rydzefski and Evan Eigner also had performed very well. Like Statman, Rydzefski also won multiple event titles, beating all competitors in both high bar and parallel bars, while classmate Eigner claimed the event title on rings. Senior Alex Tighe completed the sweep for the Owls, taking home the event title on pommel horse.

This was the men’s last meet before their spring trip, where the Owls will be competing across the country three times in a span of one week. They will first head to California for a 2 p.m. meet Sunday, before heading to Air Force next Thursday and then closing out their trip the following Sunday at University of Illinois-Chigaco.

Even though women’s gymnastics did finish last at West Virginia, they did set a new season high team score of 191.175 in the process.

Senior Jean Alban was the main contributor to that score for Temple. Alban posted career-highs in vault and bars, leading to her career high in the all-around as well with a score of 38.650.

Alban also tied teammate and junior team captain Heather Zaniewski for the team high score on balance beam as well. The pair both scored a 9.750 leading to the team’s overall score of 48.500 on the apparatus, which was once again the team’s highest overall event score. Zaniewski followed beam up with a new personal best on vault as well scoring a 9.675.

Next, the Owls will look to notch a couple of wins when they will head to State College, Pa. to compete in another quad-meet with host Penn State, New Hampshire and ECAC and city-rival Penn. Competition begins Saturday at 4 p.m.

Bray resigns to take job at Pittsburgh

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Adam Bray has resigned from his positions as head coach of the cross country team and assistant coach to the men’s and women’s track & field teams, coach Eric Mobley said Sunday.

Formerly the Owls’ distance coach, Bray left Temple after accepting a full-time distance coaching position with the University of Pittsburgh in January.

The position will remain vacated for the remainder of the spring season.

“He was only part-time here,” Mobley said. “I’m coaching them right now, and we’ll open the search up for the fall at the end of outdoor season.”

Bray’s departure marked the second distance coaching change in roughly four months for Mobley’s Owls after former distance coach Matt Jelley also left Temple for greener pastures in August, accepting a full-time distance coaching position with the University of Maryland.

“[The distance team] has undergone the most changes with losing their coach in the fall and losing another coach in the middle of the indoor season,” Mobley said. “They’ve done very well with the coaching changes. They’ve really gotten together and focused on the running and not worrying about the stuff that was outside of their control. “

-Andrew Parent

Men’s and women’s tennis teams travel Lehigh

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The men’s tennis team will travel to Lehigh Sunday to face the Mountain Hawks at 10 a.m.

The Owls (2-5, 1-1 Atlantic 10 Conference) are on a five-match slide. The Mountain Hawks (7-1, 0-0 Patriot League) are on a six-match winning streak.

Lehigh’s player to watch is sophomore Ben Gilman. He is 6-2 on the season, with a 5-1 record in the top flight. He will be a tough matchup for the injured Kacper Rams, who hasn’t won a singles match this spring.

Lehigh’s top doubles team, junior Mark Goldberg and sophomore Mitchell Petersen, is 4-4 this year. They will likely face Rams and freshman Santiago Canete, who have lost their last two matches.

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The women’s tennis team will also travel to Lehigh Sunday to face the Mountain Hawks. That match will commence at 2 p.m.

The Owls (2-7, 1-2 Atlantic 10 Conference) are looking to build a winning streak after defeating St. Bonaventure last weekend. The Mountain Hawks (2-6, 0-0 Patriot League) are coming off a 6-1 loss to Towson on Saturday.

Lehigh has been swept in four of its losses (at Penn, Rutgers, Delaware and Stony Brook).

The Lehigh doubles team of junior Jenai Bilimoria and sophomore Abby Farrell is 4-4 on the season. They are currently on a three-match win streak. They will likely face one of two Temple duos: juniors Jordan Batey and Alicia Doms (3-1), or junior Yana Mavrina and sophomore Rebecca Breland (3-1).