May 2008 Archives

Virginia Tech completed the second round with a 291, seven over par and in the middle of the pack. Now, the Hokies must play the waiting game.

The top 15 teams play the morning round on the final day and most observers believe that teams not in the top 15 are in trouble of advancing to the nationals. The Hokies must wait out the final wave of teams before knowing whether they will be having an early wake-up call or if they can sleep in in the morning.

As of 3 p.m., Jurrian van der Vaart was tied for fourth place, individually, but he was only a witness to the talk of the day. Zach Sucher of UAB, who played in van der Vaart’s group each of the first two days, shot a 28 on the back nine and finished with a round of 62. He vaulted into the lead with a two day total of 131. Van der Vaart is four strokes back at 135.

A complete wrap-up of the second round will be posted on hokiesports.com following completion of play this evening.

Updating the Hokies as they make the turn in the second round of the East Regional. The major change is that the rain never came, but the winds did. It’s not too bad now, but they are calling for increased winds in the afternoon.

Tech is right around par for the day. The story of Friday at the East Regional is the same as the story of the day on Thursday. Top-seeded Georgia is living up to their billing and more. After shooting 19-under-par in the rain in the first round, the Bulldogs have not let up any in round two. Three-quarters through the second round, UGa is 15-under-par for the day and a staggering 34-under for the tournament. They lead Auburn by 21 strokes. 

Auburn has the second-best round of the day, currently 10-under-par for Friday. Duke is also playing well today, as is host Chattanooga.

Jurrian van der Vaart is currently listed in a tie for fourth place. Click the link to the live scoring on Golfstat.com for up-to-the-minute scoring from all three regional sites. 

We hope to have photos on hokiesports.com tonight from today’s second round. If we do, credit the hustle of David Knachel, the photo coordinator for the Office of Athletics Communications. Last night, Dave photographed an event in Blacksburg, then got on the road and drove to Knoxville. He spent last night there, before an early morning wake-up call that got him in Chattanooga well before Tech’s 8:05 a.m. tee times. He will head back to Knoxville around noon and shoot the softball team’s first round game in the NCAA Regional against Louisville.

Check back to hokiesports.com – the notebook in the early afternoon. We will post a short wrap-up of the team’s round on Friday and will then post the final release in the evening as a soon as all the play of the second round has been completed.

Former Tech football player Caleb Hurd, who now works in NASCAR as the gas man on Jeff Gordon’s pit crew, combined with catch-can man Jamie Frady to win an individual competition during the Sprint Pit Crew Challenge held Thursday night in Charlotte.The team competition included 24 crews, with the top eight in the Sprint Cup standings getting a bye into the second round. Teams faced each other in head-to-head, single-elimination stops. Brian Vickers’ team edged Denny Hamlin’s team for the team title, changing four tires, filling the car with fuel and pushing it 40 yards in 22.902 seconds to claim a $70,000 first-place prize.

The Hokies began play in their second round of the East Regional a little drier than they did in round one. Overcast skies and a temperature of 61 degrees greeted the Hokies this morning at Council Fire. There is no wind to speak of, so conditions are not bad as the morning wave of teams begin. There is a slight chance of rain, but nothing long-lasting or severe is being predicted.

It was a quick turnaround for the Hokies, as they returned to the hotel to dry off around 8 p.m. and had dinner. Wake-up call was early this morning to prepare for the 8:05 a.m. tee time.

Check out Golfweek.com for more information on all the regionals. Senior writer Ron Balicki, another denizen of the media room here at Council Fire, is filing stories and notes from Chattanooga. Today’s notes include a couple on the Hokies.

We will try and post again after the Hokies make the turn.

Time for the 2:30 p.m. update on hokiesports – the notebook.

The Hokies hit the course for the first round of the East Regional just about the same time the steady rain began. Teams playing in the morning dealt with mist and light fog, but no real rain to speak of. Augusta State posted the best score of the morning with an 11-under 273. Georgia, which teed off around 11:30 a.m., is also in the 11-under-par range, as of now.

The forecast for the greater Chattanooga area is for steady to heavy rain the rest of the afternoon. Looking at the radar, it’s probably true. The Hokies will be one of the final teams off the course this afternoon and one of the first on the course on Friday morning.

There was an outstanding column on Hokie golfer Drew Weaver in the Chattanooga Times Free Press this morning.

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2008/may/15/wiedmer-vts-weaver-will-always-remember/?sports

Check back with hokiesports – the notebook later in the day for an update from the East Regional.

Virginia Tech began its practice round at Council Fire Golf Club on Wednesday morning in final preparations for the first round of the 2008 NCAA East Regional in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The Hokies finished their round at 1:30 p.m. EDT and following some media obligations and a quick lunch, returned to the practice range for a couple of hours of work. The team will attend the tournament dinner tonight at the official hotel at 7:30 p.m.

Tech has the late tee time for Thursday’s opening round. Freshman Aaron Eckstein (Fr., Salem, Va.) will get things started at 12:35 p.m. from the tenth tee, along with Adam West of UAB and Andrew Byrd of NC State. The rest of the Hokies will follow Eckstein onto the course in nine and a half minute increments. Tech will be paired with the Blazers and Wolfpack for each of the first two rounds. Friday’s second round will find the Hokies teeing off at 8:05 a.m. from the first tee.

Remember to frequently check hokiesports – the notebook during the three-day tournament for updated information on the Hokies in the East Regional, including progress of play, tournament notes and updated weather reports.

For live scoring from Chattanooga, log on to: http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/index.cfm?tournament_id=1188

The women's tennis 2008 recruiting class has been ranked as No. 11 in the nation by tennisrecruiting.com. Fall signees included Shannon Bette, Martha Blakely, and Courtney Rauscher while Katie Blow recently joined the committment list.

Betts, from Newnan, Ga., is rated as a five-star recruit by www.tennisrecruiting.net. Betts is ranked No. 59 nationally among seniors and was a member of the 2007 Southern team that won the World Team Tennis Supernationals.

Blakely, from Reading, Pa., is a three-time Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) AA state champion and is the top-ranked player in Pennsylvania. She has a No. 31 national ranking among seniors and is a five-star recruit according to www.tennisrecruiting.net.

Rauscher, from Evans, Ga., is another five-star recruit by www.tennisrecruiting.net. She is ranked No. 43 nationally among seniors and was the winner of the 2007 Dansani Mayor’s Cup.

Blow, a walk-on from Richmond, Va., is a senior at Mills Godwin High School where she plays both No. 1 singles and doubles. She is a four-star recruit  according to tennisrecruiting.net and ranked No. 3 in Virginia. She is the sister of Virginia Tech redshirt freshman baseball player Matt Blow.

Pedro Graber, a sophomore from Santiago, Chile, underwent successful surgery Monday on his right wrist. The procedure was performed by Dr. Jim Lebolt, orthopedic physician, at Montgomery Regional Hospital. Despite the wrist injury, Graber won 12 singles and nine doubles matches to help the Hokies to a 16-9 record and advance to the NCAA Championships for the second consecutive season. Graber is expected to be ready to return to the court in the fall.

The Football Writers Association of America has announced the Watch List for the 2008 Bronko Nagurski Trophy, which is awarded to the best defensive player in college football and sponsored by the Charlotte Touchdown Club. Among the many nominees is Hokie senior cornerback Victor "Macho" Harris.

The FWAA All-America Committee selects the Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner from the association's 11-man All-America defensive team in November. The watch list was developed by the FWAA All-America committee with the help of the schools and conferences.

The Charlotte Touchdown Club will hold the 2008 banquet on Sunday, Dec. 7, at the Westin Hotel in Charlotte. For the eighth straight season, the FWAA will also pick a Bronko Nagurski Defensive Player of the Week beginning with games on Aug. 30 and running through he middle of November. And a Bronko Nagurski Legends Award winner will also be selected from the FWAA's 1967 All-America team.

The Virginia Tech softball team will face off against NC State Sunday at noon in the championship game of the ACC Softball Tournament. Tech got to the final by shutting out Florida State, 2-0, while the fifth-seeded Wolfpack shocked top-ranked North Carolina 1-0 in the other semifinal.

Sunday's game will be broadcast live on the ACC's Regional Sports Network, which includes FSN South, SunSports, Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic and NESN.

First pitch is scheduled to 12:07 p.m.

The brackets for the 2008 NCAA Softball Tournament will be announced Sunday night between 10 and 10:30 p.m., on both ESPNEWS and ESPNU.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - After more rain moved through College Park Friday night, the 2008 ACC Softball Championship has been made a single-elimination event. Maryland and Virginia were already eliminated and now Georgia Tech and Boston College will be done.

Tech and Florida State will play one semifinal at 2 p.m., followed by North Carolina and NC State.

The championship game will be Sunday at noon.

Jason Bowers, a sports turf and grounds manager who oversees Worsham Field and the football practice fields, and the rest of the grounds crew for the Tech athletics department earned a prestigious award recently, as Pioneer Athletics named the department – and thus, crew – a winner of the 2007 Field of Excellence Award. Pioneer specializes in painting lines and logos on playing fields, and its Field of Excellence program honors outstanding athletic fields and the hard-working crews who maintain them.

Colleges, universities, high schools, and parks and recreation departments from all over the U.S. submitted photos, letters of recommendation, and application forms describing their institution’s detailed athletics field maintenance programs. A judging process yielded 22 winners, and Worsham Field in Lane Stadium was one of those 22.

The Tech athletics department will receive a certificate of recognition and a Field of Excellence banner that can be displayed at Lane Stadium. Pioneer may also use the picture of Tech’s field in its upcoming publications and annual calendar.

The women's basketball team will hold the first of six practices on Wednesday in preparation for the upcoming tour of Italy and Greece. The Hokies will practice Wed. - Fri. this week and Mon. - Wed. next week prior to the Thursday departure for the tour. Tech is scheduled to play four games during the tour with one game in Italy and three in Greece. The first contest will take place on Sat. May 17 against Acquario Palestrina with the remaining three contests against the Greek Senior Selection Team on May 20, 21 and 23. Check back later for information on the hokiesports.com special page for following the team during the trip.

As the 11th seed in the NCAA East Regional in Chattanooga, Tenn., the Hokies will have an 8:50 a.m. practice round on May 14th and will begin play on the 15th at 12:35 p.m. from the 10th tee. Tech will tee off in round two at 8:05 a.m. from the first tee. Tech is paired with the 10th seed UAB and the 12th seed NC State for the practice round and the first two round. Third round pairings and times will be determined following the second round.

The event will be played at the Council Fire Golf Club May 15-17 and is hosted by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Council Fire Golf Club is a par-71 and will play 6,961 yards for the 54-holes of competition. Live scoring will be available at Golfstat.com and will be linked from hokiesports.com.

Twenty-seven teams will compete in each of the three regional sites, along with six individuals at each site. The top 10 teams and top two players not on advancing teams will qualify for the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex- Kampen Course at Purdue in West Lafayette, IN, on May 28-31.

It’s been talked about for over a month, and now Hokie fans and softball fans around the country can finally watch one of the greatest upsets in softball history. Tuesday night, May 6, ESPN2 will broadcast the Virginia Tech softball team’s historic defeat of the US National Softball Team at 7 p.m., Eastern Time.

The game was played on March 26 at Oklahoma City’s Hall of Fame Stadium and is being shown for the first time Tuesday night.

The 1-0 win by the Hokies snapped a 185-game pre-Olympic exhibition tour winning streak by the three-time defending gold medalists. Since that loss, the Red, White & Blue has reeled off 11 straight wins, including wins of 21-0, 13-0, 24-0 and 16-0 and still stands as the favorites to take home the gold in Beijing.

Eric Collins and Michele Collins will have the call of the game.

After gathering as a team to watch the game, the Hokies will head to College Park, Md., Wednesday morning in preparation for the 2008 ACC Softball Championship. The Hokies, seeded second, will open with host and seventh-seeded Maryland Thursday at 12:30 p.m.

Additionally, the Virginia Tech Web site, www.vt.edu, has produced a full section on Angela Tincher and her career accomplishments in its “Spotlight” segment. There’s a full-length story, an audio interview, pictures, a list of her accomplishments, national stories on her and a link to download a sports card. Go to this link for the section.

Recently, theACC.com sat down with Hokie pitcher Angela Tincher to talk to her about the upcoming ACC Tournament, her senior season winding down and her thoughts on no-hitting the U.S. National Team [NOTE: that game is being broadcast this coming Tuesday, May 6 at 7 p.m., Eastern on ESPN2].

Here's an excerpt from the Q&A:

When did you start playing softball?
I started in the Little League system when I was nine. No one specific (got me into it). I think they were talking about sign-ups for it at school so I bugged my parents until they let me sign up.

What other teams have you competed on leading up to your college career?
I played Little League for a couple of years and then with the Roanoke Scrappers, a 14-and-under travel team, before a few years with their 18-and-under squad. Then I played with the Shamrocks out of northern Virginia for a year before I came to college.

For the full Q&A, go to theACC.com.

The Athletics Office of Student Life and the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) recently held a fundraising dodgeball tournament to donate money to Relay for Life.

‘Hokie Dodgeball’ took place last Saturday in the back gym of Cassell Coliseum, and in all, $360.33 was raised for Relay for Life by 72 particpants.

The winning team had a little karma on its side, as it paid homage to the winning team from the Ben Stiller/Vince Vaughn comedy ‘Dodgeball’ by naming themselves ‘Average Joes.’

Each team consisted of a mixture of male and female student athletes. Team ‘Average Joes’ knocked off Team ‘Oreos’ in the finals, while Team ‘Make it Rain’ took third place.

Average Joes roster (men pictured below):
Jessica Botzum (women’s swimming)
Paul Debnam (men’s basketball)
Erin Moore (women’s soccer)
Gina Om (women’s soccer)
Ashley Owens (women’s soccer)
Marcus Travis (men’s basketball)
A.D. Vassallo (men’s basketball)
Terrance Vinson (men’s basketball)
Deron Washington (men’s basketball)

Oreos roster:
Jeff Allen (men’s basketball)
Jerran Anderson (men’s basketball GA)
Lindsay Biggs (women’s basketball)
Bryan Collier (men’s soccer)
Jonathan Collier (men’s soccer)
Brittany Cook (women’s basketball)
Rachel Dulla (volleyball)
Marcus Reed (men’s soccer)

Virginia Tech golfer Drew Weaver has accepted a sponsor’s exemption to compete in the 2008 AT&T National. The tournament, hosted by Tiger Woods, is scheduled for July 2-6 at Congressional County Club in Bethesda, MD.

“Drew demonstrated great skill and poise when he competed against the world’s best golfers last month at the Master’s and at the 2007 British Open,” said Greg McLaughlin, president of the Tiger Woods Foundation. “We’re very pleased he’s accepted our invitation to compete at the AT&T National and fans can look forward to seeing this up-and-coming talent showcase and test his skills against an outstanding field.”

The AT&T National benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation and pays tribute to the men and women in our Armed Forces. In addition to serving as the tournament organizer, the Tiger Woods Foundation has also announced plans to expand its programs to the East Coast by bringing the Tiger Woods Learning Center to Washington, D.C. To purchase tickets, visit www.attnational.org.