No. 2 Scorpions open NAIA tournament against St. Ambrose

And so it begins.

The No. 2 seeded University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College Scorpions will face St. Ambrose at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday in Sioux City, Iowa to open the NAIA women's volleyball national championship tournament.

The Scorpions, who are in Pool B, will face Doane College on Wednesday and Concordia University on Thursday. There are six pools overall in the tournament, with the top two teams from those six pools advancing to the single elimination bracket Friday.

The Scorpions have only played Concordia this season, winning that match 3-2.

“I think everybody’s excited more than nervous,” UTB-TSC coach Todd Lowery said. “That was part of our plan when we scheduled this year was to see the big teams early on in the season and that way when we get to nationals … they’re not surprised by anybody.”

With the schedule that they had this season and the surprising run they had last year — a trip to the quarterfinals before falling to Fresno Pacific University — nobody is going to be blindsided by the 34-1 Scorpions this time around.

“We’ve seen a good handful of the teams we’re going to face at the national tournament, so I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of surprises,” Lowery said. “Last year, a lot of people didn’t know about us. But this year, with the trip to California, the trip out to the east coast … I think a lot more teams are seeing us and a lot of video is being passed around by everybody before they go into the national tournament.”

With everyone knowing who the Scorpions are and the Scorpions knowing who everyone else is, it will simply come down to executing what they set out to do.

“Team defense and minimizing our errors are going to be the keys to being successful at nationals,” Lowery said “If we do these two things, if we play together and minimize our errors, someone’s going to have to play really well to beat us.”

Even with the international flare the team has — 10 of the 14 players on the team are foreign-born — and the style of play that comes with that, the Scorpions won’t be doing anything too unusual or abnormal.

“We do a few things different than most of the teams, but nothing drastic,” Lowery said. “It’s still volleyball at the end of the day.”

With that, the leadership from players that were there last year, like Talita Milasauskas and Rivera grad Jacque Touchet, will play an essential role.

“Some of our kids that have been there have been pushing the team, telling them what it takes,” Lowery said. “We know that really the top eight this year, top six, are close. So it’s anybody’s game at nationals. It’s going to be who shows up and plays well.”

Todd Orodenker covers sports for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via e-mail at torodenker@brownsvilleherald.com.

UTB-TSC Releases

Scorpions begin play in NAIAs

More than two weeks after its last competition, No. 2 University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College takes the floor again at the NAIA national championships in Sioux City, Iowa, when the Scorpions meet St. Ambrose (Iowa) at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday in Pool B play.

The Scorpions, 34-1, are the second seed in the tournament. There are six pools with four teams each in the 24-team field. UTB-TSC last played Nov. 13 in Fort Worth, capturing the Red River Athletic Conference tournament championship.

UTB-TSC is making a return trip to the tournament under second-year coach Todd Lowery. The Scorpions were eliminated in the quarterfinals last year, the same level they reached in 2007. In both occasions, UTB-TSC was eliminated by three-time national champion Fresno Pacific (Calif.).

Qualifying for the national tournament is always a goal of ours," Lowery said. "The national tournament is the highlight of every season. We do set team goals every year and one of our goals is to be playing on the last day of the season. Our goals have stayed the same throughout the year."

This year, the Scorpions have already proven they belong among the nation's elite teams. UTB-TSC is 5-1 against teams that were ranked in the NAIA top 20 when they played them. The Scorpions have given fifth-ranked Columbia College (Mo.) its only two losses of the year in a 38-2 regular season and ended a three-year regular season unbeaten streak.

The Scorpions' schedule at the national tournament gets progressively tougher each day.

St. Ambrose, the Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference champion, is the second-lowest seeded team in the tournament. The Queen Bees are 27-12 and were upset winners in the MCAC Tournament after a third-place finish in the regular season. St. Ambrose pulled another upset in the opening round Nov. 20, surprising 17th-ranked Dordt College (Iowa), 3-1.

At 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, the Scorpions meet Doane College (Neb.), which received an at-large bid to the tournament. Doane, ranked No. 15 in the coaches poll, finished second in the Great Plains Athletic Conference Tournament. The Tigers blanked Trinity Christian College (Ill.) in the opening round, 3-0.

At 8 p.m., Thursday, UTB-TSC takes on No. 11 seed Concordia (Calif.) for the second time this year. Concordia will be anxious to atone for its only non-conference setback of the 2010 season against the Scorpions.

When Concordia and UTB-TSC met Oct. 29 in Irvine, Calif., the Scorpions had beaten previously undefeated FPU six hours earlier. UTB-TSC won both matches on the same day by 3-2 scores.

Concordia and UTB-TSC also met in pool play at last year's national championship, with Concordia winning, 3-0.

If the Scorpions go 3-0 in pool play, they will advance to the quarterfinals at either 5:45 or 8 p.m. Friday. Going 2-1 in pool play would send the Scorpions into an elimination Game Friday morning. Teams who go 1-2 or 0-3 are likely to finish their seasons.

The semifinals are scheduled for Saturday morning, with the championship match scheduled at 8 p.m. Saturday. The last team to win a national tournament before FPU's three-year reign from 2007-09 was National American University (S.D.), which was coached by Lowery.

The Scorpions' coach is making his eighth straight trip to the national tournament in eight seasons as a head coach. Lowery took six NAU teams to the national tournament, winning championships in 2002 and 2006.

-- UTB-TSC Services

NAIA national tournament teams gather at banquet

SIOUX CITY, Iowa - The 24 teams participating in the NAIA Women's Volleyball Tournament gathered Monday night at the Sioux City Convention Center for the traditional banquet.

Thirteen Scorpions dressed in Sunday best for the occasion, which preceded the beginning of tournament play Tuesday. UTB-TSC, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, begins tournament play at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday in Pool B against St. Ambrose University (Iowa).

Also at the banquet, Scorpions junior Belinda Carreon was named recipient of the team's Champions of Character Award, joining the 23 other Champions of Character recipients.

The NAIA's Champions of Character Initiative has become the focus of the association. Crick and Scott were honored for living out the Champions of Character theme - "Redefining the term athlete" by making great choices on effort and behavior.

Recipients were chosen by their institution as someone who embraces the NAIA Champions of Character core values of respect, responsibility, integrity, servant leadership and sportsmanship in their role as a teammate.

-- UTB-TSC Services

Where are the Scorpions? In Sioux City, Iowa - 1,289 miles from home

For the second straight year, UTB-TSC is taking part in the NAIA national championships in Sioux City, Iowa. Sioux City is located on Interstate 29 about 95 miles north of Omaha, Neb. The Scorpions flew to Omaha and rented vehicles for the drive to Sioux City.

The tournament site is located in northwestern Iowa, along the Missouri River border with Nebraska. It is also adjacent to the Big Sioux River, a tributary of the Missouri River, which divides Iowa and South Dakota. Thus, Sioux City is in Iowa but borders both Nebraska and South Dakota, just as Brownsville borders Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico.

Snow showers are expected Monday evening, with a Monday overnight low of 17 degrees. Tuesday's high temperature is 28 degrees with an overnight low of 7 degrees.

However, the weather should be cold and cleaning the rest of the week, with highs in the 30s and 40s and lows in the 10s and 20s. Only Danica Markovic from Serbia and Katharina Nobel from Germany are used to the cold weather.

Tyson Events Center featuring the Gateway Arena: The arena seats 10,000 people and is the home of the Sioux City Musketeers of the United States Hockey League and the Sioux City Bandits Indoor Football team. The venue also plays host to many concerts, family productions and sporting events throughout the year, including the NAIA women's basketball tournament in March 2011.

Tyson Foods Inc. is the namesake of the events center. The Gateway Arena is named after the computer company that had cow-spotted boxes, a tribute to the farm heritage of Iowa. Sioux City is the original home for Gateway.

1989 United Air Lines Crash: On July 19, 1989, United Flight 232 aircraft broke up during an emergency landing on a runway at Sioux City, killing 110 of its 285 passengers and one of the 11 crew members. A memorial in the city commemorates the heroic rescue efforts. A Movie "Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232" was made in 1992 to honor the rescuers.

War Eagle Monument: War Eagle was said to have been Mdewakanton or Isanti Dakota Indian. A friend to the white people, he died in 1851. A monument to honor War Eagle was erected on a bluff, providing a breathtaking view of the tri-state area.

-- UTB-TSC Services

Baseball

Gidora outduels Garcia in Orange's 4-3 win in Game 1 of the Scorpions' World Series

Pitchers Danny Gidora and Henry Garcia both pitched strong games, but Gidora's Orange team took a 4-3 victory in Game 1 of the Scorpions' World Series on Monday at Scorpion Field.

Game 2 will be played at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday. The third and fourth games will be played in a doubleheader at 3 p.m. Friday, and the fifth game will be played at 11 a.m. Saturday. Admission is free to all games.

Gidora threw six innings for Navy to pick up the win, striking out nine and walking one. The senior from Harlingen, playing his third season with the Scorpions, allowed three earned runs and seven hits.

Garcia threw eight innings, striking out nine and walking two. The junior from Brownsville, who transferred to UTB-TSC from Northeast Texas Community College, allowed one earned run and eight hits.

Three Navy errors were key to the Orange victory. Navy scored twice in the first but Orange came back in the third inning with three runs to take a 3-2 lead. Navy added a single run in the fifth to tie the game at3, but Orange added a run in the bottom of the fifth to take a 4-3 lead that would stand. Adam Vera pitched the final inning for Orange to record the save. 

Gus Henggeler led the Orange offense, going 2 for 3 with two RBI. Ronnie Flores went 2 for 4 and Brad Regehr scored twice.

For Navy, senior Jorge Camorlinga went 3 for 5 with two runs scored. Felix Fanaselle went 2 for 4, scoring one run and driving home another.

In the first inning, Camorlinga led the game with a single, advanced to second on a ball in the dirt and later scored on a one-out single by Fanaselle for Navy. Fanaselle then scored on a two-out single by Matt Ginn that was taken by the wind and hit the turf for a 2-0 lead

In the third inning for Orange, Jeff Allen reached on an error and Cristo Torres singled. Robert Mariscal then tried to sacrifice both runners, but the play on his bunt resulted in a wild throw, scoring Allen. Regehr's single scored Torres and Henggeler hit a sacrifice fly to give Orange a 3-2 lead.

In the fifth for Navy, Camorlinga singled and scored on a Fanaselle single to tie the game at3.

Orange scored the game-winning run when Regehr walked, stole second and scored on Henggeler's single. Gilbert Hinojosa pitched two scoreless innings for Navy in relief.

-- UTB-TSC Services