Page A4
Thursday, November 20, 2008
The Pilot
Sports
Football wraps up season with Liberty loss
By Blake DuDonis
Pilot sports writer
With a plague of turnovers
upon them, the Gardner-Webb
Bulldogs could not up-end Big
South powerhouse Liberty Uni
versity, and fell 30-10 Saturday
night.
The Bulldogs gained 363
yards on offense, but turned
over the ball four times and al
lowed as many sacks.
Liberty started off the game
with a field goal and a touch
down run by possible All-
American running back Rashad
Jennings, putting the Flames up
10-0 with a little under 10 min
utes until halftime.
The Bulldogs tried to find a
way into the end zone, but quar
terback Devin Campbell found
one of his passes intercepted by
a Liberty defender.
The Flames took advantage
of the pick, for a 25-yard touch
down pass that pushed the Lib
erty lead to 17-0.
The Bulldogs moved the
ball into field goal range follow
ing the score, and kicker Ryan
Gates put them on the board,
cutting the lead to 17-3.
Unfortunately, the GWU de
fense could not stop Liberty’s
offense, setting the score at 24-
3 heading into halftime.
The Bulldogs came out in
the second half with better in
tensity, but missed out on a
golden opportunity to score, as
they coughed up the ball on the
Liberty one-yard line.
The Flames took the ball
down the field and got a field
goal. Finally, with 10:52 left in
the fourth quarter, GWU run
ning back Patrick Hall found the
football Promised Land to make
the score 27-10.
After a failed onside kick,
Liberty tacked on another field
goal, and the Bulldogs saw
themselves turn the ball over
two more times before it was all
said and done.
In his last collegiate game,
Devin Campbell completed
24-of-40 passes for 242 yards,
10 of which were hauled in by
standout wide receiver Dobson
Collins for 109 yards.
Jeffery Williams led the way
yet again for the ’Dawgs on de
fense, dragging down Liberty
players 15 times on the game,
while Marty Patterson and Dami
Teniola each chipped in with 10
tackles.
Gardner-Webb finished the
year with a record of 5-6(2-3),
and says farewell to Campbell
and many other seniors who left
it all on the field in their years at
Gardner-Webb.
Notes: Jeffery Williams fin
ishes the season with 119 tack
les, putting him in first place
.in ihe Big South... Ryan Gates
knocked in 16 field goals, also
good for first place in the Big
South... Dobson Collins and
Tre Perry finished second and
fourth, respectively, in receiving
yards per game.
Lady Bulldogs dominate opposition
Win by 48 points
over UVA-Wise
By Lanny Newton
Pilot sports editor
The outcome was nev
er in doubt as the women’s
basketball team played its
first home game Monday.
The Lady Bulldogs
beat University of Vir
ginia-Wise by the largest
margin of victory in the
program’s history, finish
ing 97-49.
Also a first in the pro
gram’s history was two
players finishing with at
least 20 points, as LaTroya
Pope and Laura Povilo-
nyte put up 20 apiece.
“We played a lot of
people and mixed up some
stuff; everybody contrib
uted and I think they all
did a good job and I was
really pleased with how
hard they worked,” said
Head Coach Rick Reeves.
“I think our defense
was good. We mixed up
our defense a lot and I
went away from some of
the things that we were
doing well ... just so we
could practice some other
things after we got the
game in hand.”
UVa-Wise was able to
keep it close for the first
eight minutes, as Gard
ner-Webb held a 14-7 lead
with 11:45 left in the first
half The Bulldogs took it
up a notch from there on
out though as they went on
a 29-4 run into the half.
The lead continued to
grow until they held a 52-
pomt lead at 74-22 on the
Cavaliers with 11:06 left
to play. With the change
in defenses UVa-Wise
was able to start scoring
but could not make up
much ground on the high-
powered Lady Bulldogs
offense.
Other top scorers were
Dominique Hudson and
Margaret Roundtree, with
14 points apiece.
In a 54-rebound ef
fort everybody got in
on the action. Sherika
Montgomery led the team
with 11 boards including
seven offensive. Pope and
Roundtree each had nine
rebounds.
Courtney Epps had an
all-around night of eight
points, seven rebounds,
seven assists, three steals,
one block and no turn
overs in 19 minutes. Her
three steals were part of a
program-record 24 steals
by the Bulldogs.
Hudson led all thieves
with five steals while Po-
vilonyte had four, and
Teonika Webb had three.
Meranda Burnett fin
ished with six points,
two steals and one assist,
while Ashley Faulkner
pulled down six boards.
Monique Hudson, the
I
reigning A-Sun Player of
the Year, returning from
a serious illness over the
summer to finish with four
points and two steals.
Breynna Winkler fin
ished with one rebound,
one block and one steal in
limited minutes.
Gardner-Webb’s next
Wrestling team outgrappled by Liberty
By Andrew Veeder
Pilot sports writer
Competing against one
of the toughest schools in
the region Nov. 11, the
Gardner-Webb men’s
wrestling team lost to Lib
erty University 43-6.
“They are a phenom
enal team,” Head Coach
Scott Shipman said. “They
are very deep and their
ability to recruit top-notch
athletes is remarkable.”
Despite the lopsided
score, the Runnin’ Bull
dogs put up a fight against
the Flames of Liberty.
Redshirt-junior Dustin
Porter won his first match
of the year in the heavy
weight division, garner
ing three points for the
’Dawgs.
Following suit was
Rob Tate, another red
shirt-junior who lit up the
scoreboard for Gardner-
Webb against a very tough
opponent.
“Dustin Porter had a
nice solid win at heavy
weight, while Rob beat one
of their better wrestlers.
He really out-wrestled his
opponent the whole time,”
Shipman said.
Only a few days after
the contest with Liberty,
the Runnin’ Bulldogs were
set to play Appalachian
State in Boone Sunday.
Gardner-Webb again
turned out on the short
end of the stick, losing 27-
12 to the host team.
The team showed signs
of improvement.
Courtney Roberts,
grappling in the 125
weight class, improved
his personal record to 1-1
after beating his ASU op
ponent 5-4. With the win,
Gardner-Webb led the
match 3-0.
However, ASU came
back strong in the 133 di
visions. Kyle Baird lost a
close match, 6-3, to Frank
Colorrio.
Gardner-Webb’s Tate,
141 lbs., leveled the con
test at 6-6 after winning
his second consecutive
match of the year.
Tate has not only im
proved his personal re
cord this year, but he has
also moved up a weight
class from 133 to the 141
division.
After Tate’s win, the
Mountaineers of ASU
slowly began to pull out
of reach of the Runnin’
Bulldogs. Kurt Wentink
lost his match 2-0 to Chip
Powell.
In an extremely close
contest, rookie Justin
Guthrie lost 17-9 in the
157 divisions. Dave Swee-'
Bulldogs move toward tournament after loss to High Point
By Lanny Newton
Pilot sports editor
In the regular-season finale, the
Gardner-Webb volleyball team was
unable to pull off the upset, falling
3-0 (23-25, 15-25, 13-25) at High
Point.
In doing so, GWU locked up the
no. 8 seed in the conference tourna
ment, which opens Friday at UNC-
Asheville. The Lady Bulldogs will
play no.l seed Liberty University
“We played really well in the
first set and did some really good
things,” said Head Coach Chris
Phillips. “We just didn’t pass well
the second and third sets; it kind of
always comes down to passing with
us.”
Laura Wilcox led the Bulldogs
by slamming 10 kills, while Beth
any Martin had nine. Laura Evans
chipped in four kills, while Evan
Moffitt, Heidi Steinebrunner and
Tamia Herholz added three apiece.
Regina Feagin put up 26 assists
and got down for seven digs. Katie
Mattykowski and Herholz led the
team with eight digs each. Martin
and Jessica Clayton got together to
put up the Bulldogs’ only block.
One of Martin’s kills gave the
Bulldogs a 14-12 lead midway
through the first set, and an error
by Audie Gonzalez followed to put
the Bulldogs up three. The Panthers
battled back to tie it 15-15.
The two teams scored back and
forth until 17-17 when High Point
went on a 4-0 run. GWU scored
four of the next five points to move
within one at 22-21. HPU put up
three of the last five points though
to win the set.
In both of the last two sets High
Point jumped out early leads and
steadily pulled away. GWU com
mitted five errors in the first set, but
had six in the second, and 10 in the
third. With the win High Point fin
ished in a three-way tie for first in
the conference at 13-3. The Bull
dogs dropped to 3-13 in conference
and 5-26 overall.
“They’re a team that we
actually play better against than
some other teams just because they
played more of our style. They like
to hit the ball, and not tip the ball
as much. Our defense plays better
against teams like that,” said Phil
lips about playing Liberty in the
conference tournament.
With a win Gardner-Webb
would face either UNC-Asheville
or Winthrop in the semifinals on
Saturday. The conference finals are
Sunday at 2 p.m.
Swimmers end home meet
with a victory and a loss
By Lanny Newton
Pilot sports editor
Photo by Jill Phillips
GWU’s Margaret Rondtree gets ready to make a
shot against in an opponent from the University
of Virginia-Wise Monday at Paul Porter Arena.
game is at home against
North Carolina Central
Saturday at 7 p.m. It is the
second game of a four-
game home stand.
South Carolina State
comes to town Tuesday
at 7 p.m. while Tennessee
Temple arrives Nov. 29 at
3:30 p.m.
ney, in the 165 division,
held on until the very end,
but lost a 6-1 decision.
ASU swept the 174
and 184 divisions against
Johnathon Valezquez and
Blake Salyer
In the 197 division,
Matthias Piasecki was
held to just one point be
fore losing 2-1.
In the last match of the
day, heavyweight Porter
pinned his opponent in
just 1:03. However, the
win came too late, as the
Mountaineers dropped the
Bulldogs 27-12.
The Grappling Bull
dogs faced Anderson Col
lege at 7 p.m. Wednesday,
but the results were not
available at press time.
Don’t forget to come
and support the wrestling
team at its first home
match of the year on Dec.
4 against VMI at 7 p.m.
Hosting the only con
ference team to defeat
them during the regular
season in recent memory,
the Gardner-Webb wom
en’s swim team blew past
Georgia Southern 109-96.
The men struggled
against defending D-II
national champions Lime
stone College in several
events and ultimately fell
118-86.
The women improved
to 6-0 while the men suf
fering their first loss move
to 3-1 on the season.
“It’s very, very seldom
that you can lose both re
lays in a [dual] meet and
still win the meet,” said
Head Coach Mike Simp
son.
“We knew we were
swimming a team that is
really, really talented. We
wanted a meet where we
knew we would have to
get up and compete and
our guys did a great job of
that.”
The Bulldogs got off to
a rocky start as they took
second and third in the
200-yard medley relay.
Elizabeth Ketterer
took first in the 1,000 yard
freestyle in near school
record time at 10:24.23.
She swam in the next
event as well and took
second in the 200 yard
freestyle.
Corey Hughey and Ve
ronica Case finished gold
and bronze in the 50 free.
Rachel Warkentin and
Victoria Bryant won first
and third place in the 200
I.M., both with top 10
times in school history.
Warkentin, Lyndsey
Roka and Carrie Kibler
finished second, third
and fourth, respectively,
while Warkentin’s time of
2:08.06 was a new school
record in the 200 butter
fly.
In the 100 free GWU
sandwiched the com
petition as Hughey and
Case took first and third.
The 200 yard backstroke
proved to be one of the
Bulldogs’ best events, as
Bryant and Sarah Stead
man took first and second
place.
GWU continued to
push its lead as Ket
terer and Kelly Gueltig
captured first and third.
Mallory Baxter missed
first place by a 10th of a
second, at 2:28.96, while
Kiah Bellows took third.
The combo of Case,
Kristen Sellers, Steadman
and Stephani Stadnik fin
ished second to conclude
the women’s portion of
the meet.
The men finished
second and third in the
200-yard medley relay to
start off the meet. Adams
Suggs, Derek Gore and
Abram Miller finished
second, third and fourth
in 1,000 free.
In the 200-yard free,
George Partin took silver.
Steven Caudill, Col
lin Burchens and Adam
Middleton placed second,
third and fourth in the 200
I.M.
Caudill took home the
first gold of the day, blow
ing away the competition
by almost seven seconds
in the 200 butterfly.
Middleton finished
second at 2:03.33.
Gore finished second
in the 200 back, while
Saxon Simpson took
fourth.
The most amazing feat
of the day was the men’s
200-yard breastsfroke.
Casey Brutus and Burch
ens tied for first place
with identical times of
2:12. 26.
Patrick Williams took
fourth in the event.
The day ended as Gard
ner-Webb took second in
the 200-yard freestyle re
lay as Caudill, Matthew
Leonard, Middleton and
Gore finished in 1:31.13.
Both teams are back
in action this weekend as
they swim at the David
son Invite.
The next home meet
is Jan. 17, 2009, against
Duke University.
Cross country ends
season on solid note;
prepares for track
By Blake DuDonis
Pilot sports writer
After a season that
saw injuries, solid finishes
and tough races, Gard
ner-Webb’s cross country
team finished up its sea
son Friday, winding up in
32nd place in the NCAA
Southeast Regional.
Gardner-Webb sent
three men, who did well
overall.
Freshman Nick Kelly
led the way for the Bull
dogs, finishing the 10k
race in a time of 34:36,
putting a nice touch on a
solid rookie campaign.
Shortly after, senior
. Tim Israel, in the final
cross country race of his
career, crossed the finish
line in 36:04.
Junior Charlie Stein-
ke stopped the clock at
37:28.
On the woman’s side,
senior Carrie Minard
completed the 6k race in
23:58, followed by Beth
Long and Laura Scott,
who finished in 24:53 and
24:54, respectively.
Bree Tharpe also ran
for the Bulldogs, and
completed the course in
25:39.
Rebecca Silleman was
the last Gardner-Webb
runner to come in, with a
time of 26:41.
Gardner-Webb finishes
the season with eight races
where the team came in at
least fifth place.
The runners now take
a few weeks off to prepare
for the indoor track sea
son.