Wrestling

UB Wrestlers Eliminated From NCAA Championships

Josh States Records Two Wins in Tournament

Three UB wrestlers saw their season come to an end at the NCAA Championships on Friday.

Josh States saw the first action Friday morning, and went up against Tom Ciezki of Northwestern and recorded a win by fall. States took Ciezki down straight to his back with 1:20 left in the first period. States fought off Ciezki and held him down to record the pin in 1:56.

With the win, States moved on to face Cash Edwards of Boise State and suffered a 10-4 loss. Edwards had a takedown in the first and States escaped, making it 2-1 after one period. The second period ended the same, with an Edwards takedown and an escape by States, making it 4-2 going into the third period. States took the down position to start and quickly escaped, making it a one-point match at 4-3. Edwards would come back and score two more takedowns in the period, one resulting in a near fall, giving him two additional back points in the 10-4 win.

The loss eliminated States from the NCAA Championships. He was two wins shy of placing for All-American honors and finished with a 2-2 record, including a win by fall during the championships. He finishes this season with a 28-13 record and recorded all of UB's team points in the championships with two wins, one by a fall.

Joe Downey squared off against Corey Anderson of Cornell and lost in a fall at 1:32. Downey was eliminated in the loss, and finishes his season at 26-15.

At 133 pounds, Shawn Kegel squared off against Jason Nagle of Penn in an elimination match and lost by fall in 4:56. The loss eliminated Kegel and ended his season with a 30-12 record.

Women's Tennis

UB won a pair of doubles matches to pick up the team point that proved to be the winning margin as the Bulls defeated visiting Robert Morris, 4-3, in women's tennis action at the Village Glen Tennis Club Saturday afternoon.

The number two doubles combination of Michelle Mercer and Kris VonSchoonhoven defeated RMC's Dani Tremba and Laura Roberts, 8-3. UB's Jen Wong and Shani Amarasinghe downed Amanda Chabonek and Wendi Swanson, 9-7, at No. 3 to sew up the point for the Bulls.

In singles action, VonSchoonhoven defeated Chabonek, 6-4, 6-2, at No. 4. Other singles winners for the Bulls included Nicole Sargent at number two, a 6-2, 6-2 victor over Tremba and Karen Maynard, who "double-bageled" Christine O'Connor, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 3.

"We won ugly," said Bulls coach Kathy Twist, "but we were able to pull out the win."

The Bulls improved their season record to 5-5 and now head into the Mid-American Conference portion of their schedule with nine of the next 10 against conference opposition. The Bulls travel to Eastern Michigan and Toledo next weekend.

Athletes of the Week

Rick Mariano of the baseball team was 3 for 6 in a doubleheader split at Mt. St. Mary's. The freshman designated hitter also knocked in three runs in the series, including a pair in UB's 8-4 nightcap win over the Mountaineers and a run scored in the crucial sixth inning rally of game two that gave the Bulls their margin of victory. Kris VonSchoonhoven of the women's tennis team scored a singles victory and teamed with Michelle Mercer for a key doubles win in UB's 4-3 triumph over Robert Morris. She defeated Amanda Chabonek, 6-4, 6-2, at No. 4 singles. VonSchoonhoven and Mercer defeated Dani Tremba and Laura Roberts, 8-3, in the No. 2 doubles match.

Baseball

The Bulls split a doubleheader with Mt. St. Mary's over the weekend. UB dropped the first game, 6-1, and bounced back to take the second game, 8-4.

In the opener, UB scored the first run on an RBI single by Rick Mariano. Mt. St. Mary's would come back to score solo runs in the second and third innings to take the lead and sealed the game with a run in the fifth and three in the sixth. Tom Januchowski took the loss and fell to 1-3 on the year.

The Bulls bounced back and won the nightcap, 8-4, as Anthony Puccia picked up his first win of the season. He now is 1-2 on the year. Puccia went 5.0 innings, giving up four runs on five hits and striking out five. Jeff Robertson came on to pitch the last two innings and pick up his second save of the season.

Mariano was the hitting star again, going 2-for-3 with one run and two RBIs. UB scored single runs in the first, third and fourth innings, and led 3-2 going into the sixth when the Bulls scored four runs. Kevin Brown knocked in one run and Brandon DiCesare had a sacrifice fly to score another run in the inning.

Softball

The Bulls found no southern hospitality during their weekend trip to the Winthrop Classic in Rock Hill, South Carolina. UB dropped all four of its contests during the tournament and now stands at 4-12 overall.

In the first game of the tourney, the Bulls ran into 1999 Women's World Series participant Southern Mississippi, losing to the Golden Eagles, 15-0. Southern Mississippi went on to win the tournament with seven victories, including five straight shutouts.

UB then continued pool play with losses to Dayton (20-3) and tourney host Winthrop (6-2). The Bulls then moved into the elimination round, where they dropped an 11-2 decision to Mid-American Conference rival Akron to end the tournament.

Against Dayton, the game was close over the first four innings as the Bulls trailed by a 5-3 score with RBIs by Stacee Madden, Kim Sudakow and Tina Breakell.

Facing Winthrop in the final game of the pool play, it was another close game as the Bulls trailed 1-0 through six before the Eagles scored five in the last inning. UB rallied for a pair of runs scored by Sudakow and Kim Coon in the bottom of the seventh but got no closer.

Breakell had the Bulls' two RBIs in the 10-2 loss to MAC member Akron.