RGV Capsules: Lowery nets 100th victory as UTB-TSC coach
SIOUX CITY, Iowa - Todd Lowery earned his 100th victory as the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College volleyball coach in the Scorpions' 3-0 win over Missouri Baptist University on Tuesday in Pool B play at the 32nd annual NAIA volleyball national championships at the Tyson Events Center.
UTB-TSC is 2-0 in Pool B. The Scorpions blanked Mid-America Nazarene University (Kan.) 3-0 in their tournament opener. With the 25-17, 25-18, 27-25 victory, the second-seeded Scorpions are 28-2 for the season.
UTB-TSC will play No. 11 seed Fresno Pacific University at 5:45 p.m. Thursday in its next pool play match. FPU is the four-time defending national champion. The Sunbirds have eliminated the Scorpions from NAIA tournament play in the quarterfinals in 2007 and 2009, and in the semifinals in 2010.
Lowery came to UTB-TSC in 2009 after six successful seasons at National American University (S.D.) from 2002 through 2007, in which he took all six teams to the national tournament and won two national titles. He came to UTB-TSC in 2009.
The 2009 team finished 34-3 and 2010 team finished 38-2, for a 72-5 record after two seasons. Wednesday's victory was the 28th of the season for the Scorpions against two losses, giving Lowery a record of 100-7 at UTB-TSC in less than three full seasons. The winning percentage as a Scorpions coach is .935.
Overall, Lowery earned his 300th career victory as a head coach during the 2011 season. His career record is now 311-29 (.915). He has the highest winning percentage of all NAIA volleyball coaches in the nation.
Wednesday's victory over MBU was the second of the year for the Scorpions, who handed the Spartans one of their four regular-season losses.
The Scorpions had an impressive hitting performance, posting a .330 attack percentage. Danica Markovic had 10 kills, Vanja Joksic had nine kills on only 13 swings with one error for a .615 attack percentage, Yenifer Calcano had nine kills, and Ana Guerra had eight kills on 13 attacks with three errors for a .385 percentage.
Guerra was big on the block again, getting two solo and four assisted blocks. Calcano added three solo blocks as the Scorpions had seven team blocks.
Setter Amber Brooks posted 32 assists, and libero Paula Barros had 15 digs.
The top two teams from each of six pools will advance to a single-elimination bracket starting Friday, Dec. 2. Single-elimination matches are scheduled Friday morning, the quarterfinals Friday night, and the semifinals Saturday morning and midday. The national championship match is scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday.
UTB-TSC went 26-2 in the regular season and was ranked No. 1 for eight straight weeks, including seven in a row as a unanimous selection.
About Fresno Pacific University (Calif.)
Match Time: 5:45 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1, Court 3
Live Stats: Link
City: Fresno, Calif.
Mascot: Sunbirds
Enrollment: 2,323
School Founded: 1941
Conference: Golden State Athletic Conference
Previous National Tournament Appearances: 21, most recently 201
Season Record: 17-11
Conference Record/Finish: 11-7/3rd Place
Coach: Kelly Winter
Opening Round Result: None
Season Recap: The four-time defending national champions got off to a slow start under a new coach, losing their first three matches of the season. They won their next nine in a row to move to 9-3, before hitting a rough stretch of games in the tough GSAC. The Sunbirds went 6-8 for the rest of GSAC play, and dropped a 3-0 non-conference decision to UTB/TSC on Oct. 28 in California. That started a five-match losing streak before a single win at the end of the regular season.
Team National Top 20 Rankings: No.13 assists per set (12.640), No. 15 kills per set (13.590)
Individual National Top 20 Rankings: None.
Team Leaders: Kills, Jessie Alcorn 3.77 per set; Assists, Emily Carroll 7.16 assists per set.
Note: MBU went 37-8 in the 2006 season, led by former Scorpions player Ana Mercado, who earned NAIA all-america honors. Mercado was earned NJCAA all-america honors with the Scorpions in the 2004 season, leading UTB-TSC to its final appearance in the NJCAA national tournament.
Basketball
Vipers pull away in win over Energy
HIDALGO – It was a simple question that had no easy solution.
That’s the kind of challenge Rio Grande Valley Vipers guard, Terrel Harris, loves and he delivered in a big way after coach Nick Nurse asked him:
“You want to take him?”
The subject in question was Iowa Energy’s Moses Ehambe, who helped engineer a comeback after his team had fallen behind by 16 points in the first half. Ehambe had 17 points on 7 of 15 shooting and the Vipers didn’t have an answer for him at the time.
Harris began locking down on Ehambe with about two minutes left in the first half. Ehambe finished with 18 points and missed all three of his shots in the second half, and that was one of the reasons why the Vipers were able to run away with a 134-108 victory over Iowa on Wednesday at State Farm Arena.
“It was a personal challenge,” Harris said. “(Nurse) challenged everybody on the team to step up on him. He was scoring at will. It was a personal-slash-team challenge for us.”
Ehambe, along with the Energy’s Jarrid Famous, teamed for Iowa’s big comeback.
The Vipers (3-0) led 32-16 at the 2:59 mark of the first quarter. Ehambe and Famous combined for 25 points over the next 13 minutes that helped the Energy (1-2) take a 56-55 lead with 1:50 left in the second quarter. Famous scored 13 points and had several big rebounds during that span.
“I challenged our big guys to keep Famous off the glass because he was killing us, and four of our wing guys on (Ehambe) to say, you guys have to take this personally because they are killing us. They good a good job, led by Terrel.”
Ehambe hit a 3-pointer with 2:23 left in the second quarter that pulled the Energy to 55-54. Shortly after, Nurse issued his request to Harris.
“No space,” Harris said of how he defended Ehambe. “Focus a little more on him instead of help-side defense. Whenever he catches it, don’t let him shoot it. Make him drive. He was feeling comfortable. He’s a shooter. I’m a shooter, so I know you have to get him out of his comfort zone.”
Nurse, who coached at Iowa the previous four seasons before coming to the Valley, was certainly familiar with Ehambe. It was no mystery that he was hurting the Vipers in the first half.
“I went into the game hoping he wouldn’t get any shots, and then he had 15 shots in the first half,” Nurse said of Ehambe. “He’s as good a shooter in this league as there is because of all the different dimensions that he brings.”
The game remained tight until the middle of the third quarter. The Vipers went on a 20-7 run in the final 6:30 of the third quarter to take a 96-82 lead heading into the final quarter. The Energy never got closer than 12 after that.
Harris and Kelvin Lewis led the Vipers with 21 points apiece. Tyren Johnson, the Vipers first-round pick had 20 points. It was the second solid outing for Johnson, who was the target of some criticism by Nurse in the preseason for getting off to a slow start. With his 20 points Wednesday and 18 against Erie on Saturday, he seems be catching up.
“I was feeling good,” Johnson said. “I’m getting comfortable, and I’m still getting adjusted after playing European basketball. I’m taking it step by step. I just want to let the game come to me and not force stuff.”
Famous had game high’s 33 points and 15 rebounds for the Energy. Nick Murphy had 18 points.
The Vipers and Energy play at 7 o’clock tonight. The Vipers begin a three-game road trip beginning Sunday at Bakersfield.
David Hinojosa covers the Rio Grande Valley Vipers for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4442 or via email at dhinojosa@themonitor.com.
