WVU Sports Thriving So Far in '14
November 04, 2014 06:36 PM | General
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| Josh Lambert's field goal on the final play of the game helped West Virginia defeat Texas Tech earlier this year in Lubbock. |
| All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
It’s been a pretty good year so far for the Mountaineers. The football team is ranked 24th in this week’s Associated Press poll and 25th in the USA Today Coaches’ poll with a 6-3 record heading into Saturday’s game at Texas.
West Virginia is already bowl eligible with regular season games remaining at Texas, against No. 9 Kansas State at Milan Puskar Stadium on Thursday, Nov. 20, and at Iowa State on Saturday, Nov. 29.
If the Wildcats can remain in the top 10 following this Saturday’s game against No. 6 TCU, it will be the fifth top 10-ranked foe the Mountaineers have faced this season.
The West Virginia women’s soccer team recently wrapped up its third consecutive Big 12 regular season title and the Mountaineers, ranked in the top 10 in every women’s soccer poll this week, are taking a 15-match unbeaten streak into postseason play on Wednesday afternoon. Later this month, West Virginia will be making its 15th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance under veteran coach Nikki Izzo-Brown.
The WVU cross country team is also looking to make a national run later this month after recently finishing second at the Big 12 championships held in Lawrence, Kansas. A couple of weeks ago, the Mountaineers placed ahead of 17 ranked teams at the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational and is now No. 7 in the most recent NCAA women’s cross country rankings.
West Virginia, ranked No. 2 in the Mid-Atlantic Region this week, has a great shot of returning to NCAA cross country nationals in Terre Haute, Indiana, on Thursday, Nov. 20. The Mountaineers have made eight trips to NCAA nationals under veteran coach Sean Cleary.
Men’s soccer has one of the best players in the country in senior forward Andy Bevin, and the Mountaineers are getting hot at the right time with a four-match win streak heading into Saturday’s regular season finale at Western Michigan.
West Virginia, at 10-6-1, has an NCAA tournament résumé-enhancing win over Penn State earlier this season and boasts an RPI of 36 heading into the final weekend of regular season play. Veteran coach Marlon LeBlanc has made four trips to the NCAA tournament, including the Sweet 16 in 2007.
The WVU rifle team is once again at the top of the rankings with early season wins over TCU, Akron and Ohio State. West Virginia has won the last two NCAA titles and three so far under eighth-year coach Jon Hammond, who has put WVU rifle back in its rightful position as the nation’s preeminent shooting program.
The WVU women’s basketball team, on the strength of last year’s Big 12 regular season championship and returning Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year Bria Holmes, begins the season ranked 17th in the USA Today preseason women’s basketball poll. The Mountaineers will also begin the season ranked 17th in the AP poll, released last week.
Men’s basketball got one vote in this year’s AP preseason poll and returns the Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year in guard Juwan Staten. Veteran coach Bob Huggins says he likes this year’s team and some close to the WVU program believe this might be Huggins’ most athletic squad in his eight years at West Virginia.
The Mountaineers once again have a challenging pre-conference schedule playing in the Puerto Rico Tip-off as well as games against LSU, NC State and Virginia Tech before league action begins on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2015 on the road at TCU.
Volleyball is hanging tough in one of the most difficult conferences in the country with a 13-11 overall record with three weeks of regular season play still remaining. Last year, WVU snapped its four-year streak of .500 or below seasons with a 20-13 record under fourth-year coach Jill Kramer.
The Mountaineers still have some work left to do to remain above .500 this year, however, with regular season matches remaining against No. 3 Texas, No. 15 Kansas State, No. 23 Iowa State, No. 27 Kansas and No. 51 Baylor, according to the most recent NCAA volleyball RPI rankings.
The fall season has concluded for women’s tennis, and rowing will wrap up its fall season this weekend with Saturday’s race against Duquesne in Morgantown, while swimming and diving and wrestling are just getting underway, with gymnastics opening its regular season on Dec. 20 against Central Michigan in the Bahamas.
First-year wrestling coach Sammie Henson has a difficult early match coming up at the WVU Coliseum on Thursday, Nov. 13 against Arizona State along with trips to wrestle in the Northeast Duals and the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.
Veteran coach Vic Riggs has assembled another difficult schedule for his swimmers in preparation for this year’s Big 12 championships in Austin, Texas in late February and then the NCAA championships in Iowa City, Iowa, in mid-March for the men, and in Greensboro, North Carolina, in late March for the women.
Baseball and women’s track begin play in 2015, while men’s golf will make its return to the Mountaineer athletic slate after a 32-year absence in the fall of 2015. Baseball will be christening its new ballpark, currently under construction up at the University Town Centre.
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