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Smith Named Student-Athlete of the Week
November 09, 2015 03:02 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Junior Jacob A. Smith of the West Virginia University wrestling team has been named the WVU Student-Athlete of the Week, presented by University Apartments.
Smith went 3-0 at 197 pounds to help West Virginia go undefeated in the Mountaineer Quad to start the season. Smith, who is ranked No. 9 in the nation in his weight, earned a 10-4 decision over Joshua Murphy to lead No. 21/23 WVU to a 26-7 triumph of Drexel.
Smith then scored three takedowns and four nearfall points in picking up a 13-1 major decision over Austin MacNeil as the Mountaineers topped Campbell, 26-14.
With WVU leading Arizona State 16-12 entering the 197-pound bout, Smith won a huge match against.
With the score tied 3-3 in the third period, Dasilveira registered a takedown on Smith with 30 seconds remaining to lead 5-3. However, Smith quickly got to his feet and scored the reversal, sending Dasilveira to the mat for the pin with 22 seconds remaining in the bout.
The fall would lead the Mountaineers past the Sun Devils, 22-14, as WVU claimed its third straight win over ASU and moved to 3-1 in the series during the Sammie Henson/Zeke Jones era.
This Week in Women’s Soccer: The No. 2-ranked Mountaineers (16-2-1, 6-0-1) await their fate in the 2015 NCAA Tournament … the bracket will be announced today at 4:30 p.m. … the 2015 Big 12 Conference regular-season champions, WVU expects to earn a seed and host at least the first-round contest.
Last Week in Women’s Soccer: Top-seeded West Virginia University fell in the semifinals of the 2015 Big 12 Soccer Championship to fifth seeded, No. 18-ranked Texas Tech, 1-0, on Nov. 6, at Swope Soccer Village, in Kansas City, Missouri … WVU finished with a 17-8 edge in shots and forced Red Raider Lauren Watson into six saves, but a goal by Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year Janine Beckie in the 74th minute was too much for WVU to overcome … Hannah Steadman made one save in the loss, and WVU finished with an 8-1 edge in corner kicks … the Mountaineers advanced to the semifinal following a 2-1 win over eighth-seeded Oklahoma State on Nov. 4 … after 80 minutes of scoreless play, sophomore forward Amandine Pierre-Louis gave WVU the lead for good, scoring in the 81st minute … senior midfielder Amanda Hill added an insurance goal just 100 seconds later … OSU cut into the lead on a penalty kick from Allie Stephenson in the 84th minute, but WVU managed and held on for the win … the Mountaineers finished with a 24-11 edge in shots and a 7-6 advantage in corner kicks … Steadman made three of the team’s four saves, none bigger than her stop on Anna Beffer’s penalty kick in the 70th minute … WVU finished with nine shots on-goal.
Notes: WVU’s loss to TTU snapped a 16-match unbeaten streak and a seven-match unbeaten streak at the Big 12 Soccer Championship … prior to the championship, 20-year coach Nikki Izzo-Brown was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year for the fourth straight year, the first coach in conference history to win four consecutive honors … junior Kadeisha Buchanan was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year for the third straight season, the first athlete in Big 12 history to snag three straight honors … defender Bianca St. Georges was named the Big 12 Freshman of the Year, marking the third straight season a Mountaineer has earned the award … in total, 10 Mountaineers earned a conference- and program-best 11 All-Big 12 honors … additionally, six Mountaineers were named to the Academic All-Big 12 Team … should WVU earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament, the Mountaineers will make their 16th straight appearance.
This Week in Volleyball: West Virginia will play a pair of Big 12 matches this week … the Mountaineers host Iowa State on Wednesday, Nov. 11, in a 3 p.m. match at the WVU Coliseum … the team then travels to Lubbock, Texas, for a match on Friday, Nov. 13, at Texas Tech … first serve is set for 6 p.m. ET.
Last Week in Volleyball: WVU dropped a pair of matches in Texas last week … the Mountaineers fell 3-0 to No. 5 Texas in Austin, on Thursday, Nov. 5, despite 15 kills from Morgan Montgomery …. Dzeni Hadzisehovic notched eight kills, hitting a team-best .316 … Caleah Wells went for four kills, while Hannah Shreve had a pair of kills in addition to a block assist … on Saturday, Nov. 7, WVU dropped a 3-0 match at Baylor in Waco … Dzeni Hadzisehovic was the top offensive producer of the day for the Mountaineers, tallying nine kills while hitting for a .318 clip with a pair of digs and a block assist … Mia Swanegan hit for a team-best .333 with eight kills, while Morgan Montgomery notched seven kills.
Coach Reed Sunahara after the match at Baylor: “I thought we were good at some points and then not so good at some points. We gave up too many runs, and then we also made some very good runs. We have to work on being consistent, and we have to keep getting better every day.”
This Week in Men’s Soccer: The West Virginia University men’s soccer team earned the No. 4 seed in the Mid-American Conference Championship and will open postseason play on Friday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m. at top-seeded and No. 10 Akron … as the No. 1 seed, Akron will host the championship at FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet Field in Akron, Ohio … the semifinals will be held on Friday, while the championship game is set for Sunday, Nov. 15.
Last Week in Men’s Soccer: WVU concluded the regular season with a 3-2 win over Northern Illinois on Nov. 6 after a 3-2, double overtime loss to Penn on Nov. 3 … on senior night, three goals were scored in the final 4:06, but it was the game winner by junior midfielder Jack Elliott at 88:59 that gave WVU a dramatic 3-2 victory over Northern Illinois … the Mountaineers kept their postseason hopes alive thanks to goals in the 42nd, 78th and 89th minutes … the Huskies attempted to spoil WVU’s senior night with two goals in less than three minutes to tie the match at 2-2 before Elliott’s game winner … sophomore Joey Piatczyc scored in the 42nd minute, and the Mountaineers took a 2-0 lead in the 77th minute on a goal by junior Felix Angerer … in the 86th minute though, NIU cut the lead in half, and less than three minutes later, the Huskies evened the score at 2-2 … twenty-two seconds later, Elliott converted the game-winning goal … in a 3-2, double overtime loss to Penn on Nov. 3, junior forward Felix Angerer netted WVU’s first goal in the seventh minute, while freshman forward Rushawn Larmond scored West Virginia’s second goal in the 30th minute … NIU scored in the 38th, 60th and 106th minute.
Notes: West Virginia has advanced to the MAC Championship all four seasons it has been a member of the conference … WVU has faced Akron once before in the conference tournament, recording a 3-0 loss in the 2013 semifinals at Akron … before Friday’s match vs. NIU, WVU honored its senior class of Haydon Bennett, Ivo Cabral, Ryan Cain, Francio Henry, Griffin Libhart, Zak Leedom and Jamie Merriam … sophomore Joey Piatczyc had an assist in WVU’s win over NIU, his nation-leading 13th assist of the season, breaking the program record for assists in a season … the goal and assist also gave Piatczyc a team-high 17 points on the year.
Coach Marlon LeBlanc after Friday’s win: “This is the kind of stuff that’s been going on all year long, but we found a way to get a result, and for that we’ll take it and move on. We’ve talked about all the challenges we’ve had this year, a lot of the shortcomings that we’ve had. I was just happy we didn’t have to go to overtime. We deserved to win tonight. NIU played awfully hard. You have to give them credit. They threw the ball forward as much as they could in the last five minutes and pushed four or five guys up against our back line and just tried to battle and they got two goals to get back into it.”
This Week in Golf: The Mountaineers will take a winter hiatus … they return to the course on Feb. 15 when they travel to Houston, Texas, for the President’s Day Challenge … the event will be hosted by Rice.
Last Week in Golf: WVU was idle last week.
This Week in Cross Country: After a two weeks off from competition, West Virginia travels to Princeton, New Jersey, where Princeton will host the 2015 NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regional on Friday, Nov. 13 … the women’s 6k race is set to begin at noon … a total of 39 region teams will be competing on Friday for a chance to qualify to the 2015 NCAA Cross Country Championship set for Nov. 21.
Last Week in Cross Country: WVU was idle last week.
Notes: At the 2014 NCAA regional meet WVU placed second overall, earning the team an automatic qualification to the NCAA Cross County Championship … that marked its seventh qualification in eight years under coach Sean Cleary … the Mountaineers had five of the top-15 finishers … all five earned NCAA All-Mid-Atlantic Region honors for finishing in the top 25.
This Week in Women’s Tennis: West Virginia resumes play in January for the dual meet portion of the season … the Mountaineers will kick off the spring season when the team travels to Pittsburgh to take on the Panthers on Saturday, Jan. 23, at 10 a.m.
Last Week in Women’s Tennis: West Virginia was idle last week.
Notes: This fall, the Mountaineers competed in five tournaments … sophomore Habiba Shaker leads the team with 10 singles wins, followed by senior Hailey Barrett and sophomore Lyn Yuen Choo with eight victories this season … the doubles tandems of Barrett and Martinez, and Lewis and Choo are also tied for a team-best 4-3 doubles record this fall.
Coach Miha Lisac on the conclusion of the fall season: “We are working on the right things going into the spring season. Each and every player has improved, and we also improved as a team. We are not far off, and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Of course, there is more work to be done, but we can see that we are capable of playing well and can capitalize on points when given the opportunity.”
This Week in Rowing: The West Virginia University rowing team is idle until the start of its spring season.
Last Week in Rowing: The rowing novice team swept Duquesne, Pitt and Carnegie Mellon to conclude the fall season on Saturday, Nov. 7, on the Allegheny River … the Mountaineers raced two novice eight boats and two novice four boats … unofficial results were kept as West Virginia had a good workout on the water with excellent conditions … the novice 8 ‘A’ boat raced to a first-place finish with a time of 11:11.86, five seconds ahead of Pitt … the Novice 8 ‘B’ boat also won, finishing in front of Pitt with a time of 10:37.8 on a course approximately 200 meters shorter than the first novice 8 competition … in the last two races of the day, West Virginia finished first with a time of 11:40.8 in the Novice 4 ‘A’ race, followed by another first-place finish in the Novice 4 ‘B’ race.
Notes: The Head of the Occoquan on Saturday, Oct. 31, was the first regatta of the season for the novice team … eight of the Mountaineers’ 10 boats posted top-10 finishes on the Occoquan Reservoir … WVU’s four medals came with first-and second-place finishes in the Women’s Collegiate Novice 4+, a bronze-medal finish in the Women’s Collegiate Novice 8 and a fifth-place finish in the Women’s Championship 4+ … the WVU rowing team also had a strong showing in its fall season opener at the Head of the Ohio, on Saturday, Oct. 3 … the Mountaineers placed first and third in the Women’s Open 4+ and second in the Women’s Open 8 … to open the day, West Virginia finished second in the Women’s Open 8, as it faced 12 boats to take a silver medal back home to Morgantown.
This Week in Swimming and Diving: The Mountaineers have two weeks off from competition to prepare for the three-day Tennessee Invite, in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Nov. 20-22 … the meet will begin at 8 a.m. each day.
Last Week in Swimming and Diving: WVU was idle last week.
Notes: Last week, WVU senior Andrew Marsh and sophomore diver Alex Obendorf were named the Big 12 Men’s Swimmer and Diver of the Week by the Big 12 Conference … Marsh was recognized for his seven-win victory in each of his events, and Obendorf was recognized for his two top-two finishes with a pair off season-best-scores on the 1-meter and 3-meter boards at the 2015 Big 12 vs. Big East Weekend on Oct. 23-24 at the WVU Natatorium … Marsh was named to two weekly honors lists for his seven victories: CollegeSwimming.com and the Big 12 Conference.
This Week in Rifle: The No. 1-ranked West Virginia University rifle team opens it 2015-16 home season at the WVU Rifle Range against Great American Rifle Conference (GARC) foe Army on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 8 a.m.
Last Week in Rifle: The Mountaineers earned their fifth win of the season on Nov. 7, defeating No. 4-ranked Murray State, 4697-4692, at the University of Akron’s Championship Rehearsal Rifle Match, inside the Louis and Freda Stile Athletics Field House … the Mountaineers defeated the Racers in both guns, narrowly winning smallbore, 2330-2328, and air rifle, 2367-2364.
Notes: Last week’s match against Murray State served as a test run for the 2016 NCAA National Championships, set for March 11-12, also inside the Field House … four Mountaineers shot toward the team’s scores in both guns: seniors Garrett Spurgeon, Patrick Sunderman and Meelis Kiisk, and sophomore Elizabeth Gratz … senior Michael Bamsey added to WVU’s smallbore total, and freshman Ginny Thrasher shot toward the air rifle score … a pair of Mountaineers paced the team in smallbore, as Kiisk (198 kneeling, 199 prone, 190 standing) and Thrasher (197 kneeling, 197 prone, 193 standing) each shot 587, the second-best score of the match and finished third overall … the 587 mark was a season high for Kiisk and a career best for Thrasher … Spurgeon finished second overall in air rifle with a 595 (100-99-97-100-100-99), while freshman Will Anti shot a career-high 590 and placed 11th overall … with the win, WVU improved to 22-3 all-time against the Racers.
This Week in Women’s Basketball: West Virginia opens the 2015-16 season against Delaware State on Saturday, Nov. 14, against Delaware State … tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the WVU Coliseum … admission for the season opener is free courtesy of United Bank … the Mountaineers own a 3-1 all-time record against Delaware State with the two programs last meeting on Dec. 18, 2013, with WVU prevailing 109-47.
Last Week in Women’s Basketball: West Virginia finished its final week of preseason preparation … the Mountaineers knocked off Shepherd, 89-48, in the team’s Haunted Hoops exhibition game on Saturday, Oct. 31.
Coach Mike Carey: “When we had film a session, we got through half the first quarter and enough was said. We have a lot of work to do. Anytime, you put in a lot of combinations, it’s going to be sloppy out there. After we watched film, we came out and had one of the better practices. I think they realize (they need to get better). I think it is one thing me telling them what to do and another with them seeing it on film.”
This Week in Wrestling: West Virginia heads to the Journeyman/Asics Northeast Duals on Sunday, Nov. 15, at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, New York … WVU will square off with Michigan (11:15 a.m.), Buffalo (1:15 p.m.) and Oregon State (3:15 p.m.) in a trio of dual matches at the event.
Last Week in Wrestling: No. 21/23 WVU went 3-0 at the Mountaineer Quad to open the season on Sunday, Nov. 8, at the Coliseum … No. 16/18 Dylan Cottrell (157) and Parker VonEgidy (174) earned major decisions to lead the Mountaineers to a 26-7 victory over Drexel … Tony DeAngelo (141) won by fall while Cottrell earned a tech. fall and No. 3/4 Zeke Moisey (125) and VonEgidy registered major decisions in WVU’s 26-14 win over Campbell … VonEgidy also won a major decision vs. Arizona State, but it was Jacob A. Smith’s pin at 197 with 30 seconds remaining that sealed the 22-14 win over the Sun Devils.
Notes: Four Mountaineers went 3-0 at the Mountaineer Quad … Parker VonEgidy registered a trio of major decisions at 174 pounds … Zeke Moisey earned a bonus-point victory with a major decision and registered a pair of decision wins … Dylan Cottrell earned a major decision, a tech. fall and a win by decision in his debut with the Mountaineers … Jacob A. Smith earned a win by fall, a major decision and a decision … a trio of West Virginia wrestlers appear in the national rankings … Zeke Moisey is ranked No. 3/4 , Dylan Cottrell is ranked No. 16/18 and Jacob A. Smith is No. 9 … the win over Arizona State marked WVU’s third straight triumph of the Sun Devils … the Mountaineers hold a 3-1 series lead the in the Sammie Henson/Zeke Jones era.
Coach Sammie Henson after the Mountaineer Quad: “I think we battled the whole time, every match today. I think we had some great things like we always do as well as some things we need to work on. I felt like our guys went out there as a team and competed together as a team. I really thought that came through in the final match.”
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