Yet another milestone for DU gymnastics, a split weekend series for both men’s and women’s basketball, and a testing weekend for DU Hockey against formidable Minnesotta Duluth.
Here is what happened last week in DU sports.
Women’s Golf
The spring season is officially underway for the women’s golf squad as they traveled to San Diego this past week to take part in the San Diego State Classic. The team posted a solid 909 points in the tournament and finished third out of 12 schools. Senior Anna Zanusso (Castelfranco Veneto, Italy) recorded a team-best +5 score, finishing tied for fourth in the tournament and graduate student Alyson Bean (Murrieta, Calif.) finished tied for seventh with a +9. The team will travel to Las Vegas to take part in The Show tournament on Feb 20 through Feb. 21.
Women’s Basketball
The women’s basketball team traveled a few states north to South Dakota to take on two Summit League opponents, South Dakota State and South Dakota. The team was held to 34 points in their matchup against the Jack Rabbits, and could not stop the high-flying offense of the conference-leading team. Ultimately DU lost 34-82. But it would not be an entirely bad road trip for the squad as they defeated the Coyotes via a late fourth-quarter comeback. Graduate forward Mikayla Brandon (Bourbannis, Ill.) led the way posting a season-high 25 points and freshman guard Emma Smith (Vestavia Hills, Ala.) followed with 23 points of her own. The team erased a 9-point deficit late in the fourth quarter en route to a 79-74 victory. The team has one more regular season contest against the University of Omaha Nebraska on Feb. 25 before moving on to the Summit League Tournament.
Men’s Basketball
The men’s basketball squad had similar results with their home slate this weekend against South Dakota State and South Dakota. The team first took on the Jack Rabbits Thursday night in a back-and-forth contest. Denver was up by 18 with 13:00 to go in the second half before SDSU outscored them 39-16 the rest of the way. Denver in the end fell 75-80. The team had a much better effort in their Saturday afternoon matchup against the Coyotes. Five players had more than 10 points in the contest and sophomore forward Touko Tainamo (Helsinki, Finland) registered a team-high 17 points. The team was successful on the defensive side of the court and recorded six blocks in the game including three from sophomore guard Tevin Smith (Danville, Ill.). The team will look to their final regular season matchup against the University of Omaha Nebraska on Feb. 25 before heading to South Dakota for the Summit League Tournament.
Women’s Gymnastics
The No. 10 ranked gymnastics squad keeps outdoing themselves week after week and posted yet another season-high performance at their Friday tri-meet against Air Force and UC Davis, one-upping last week’s outing. The squad recorded a 197.650 and registered season highs on bars, beam and floor. Graduate student Lynnzee Brown (Raytown, Missouri), junior Jessica Hutchinson (Gilbertsville, Penn.) and junior Rylie Mundell (Parker, Colo.) dominated the podiums, each tying each other or winning each event. Brown won the vault event with a 9.875, and all three tied on bars and floor with a 9.925 and 9.900 respectively. Hutchinson and Mundell tied for the beam event win with a 9.923 and Mundell ultimately posted the highest all-around score with a 39.600. The team will look to continue their impressive performances on the road with a Big 12 competition against Iowa State on Feb. 24.
Men’s Tennis
It was quite a busy but successful week of home matches for the men’s tennis team. The team first took on Metro State University of Denver on Feb. 17, sweeping the Roadrunners 7-0. DU won every singles match including a dominant effort from graduate student Conner Olsen (Orono, Minn.), who won in straight sets. The team then took on the Utah State Aggies that same night and also won in dominant fashion, winning 6-1. The doubles matches were quite successful for the squad as the two groups won their matches 6-1, and 6-2. The team took a day off on Saturday before hosting the University of Idaho on Sunday and winning big yet again, 6-1. The team now improves to 5-4 on the season and will look to continue the winning streak with an away match against the University of Utah on Feb. 25.
Women’s Tennis
The women’s tennis squad hosted Brown University Sunday afternoon and aced their way to their fourth win of the season, winning 5-2. The squad dominated the singles matches and won five straight matches to clinch the victory. Fifth-year student Taylor Melville (Duluth, Ga.) won her match in three sets and freshman Louise Wilkander (Helsingborg, Sweden) won her match in two sets after winning her first set 6-0. The team improves to 4-2 on the season and will look to their next matchup at home against Montana State University on Feb 24.
Men’s Lacrosse
The men’s team had the ultimate back-and-forth contest Friday night against No. 13/16 ranked Duke before falling in overtime 13-14. Sophomore attack Noah Manning (Victoria, B.C) and senior attack JJ Sillstrop (Encinitas, Calif.) scored a hat trick each with Manning’s goals all coming in the second quarter. After falling early 4-1, DU got back to a tie in the middle of the third quarter and kept trading goals with the Blue Devils. After going up 13-12 with two minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Blue Devils responded with a late goal to send the game to overtime. The Blue Devils would draw a faceoff penalty and cash in just 22 seconds in the overtime period. DU will look to get back into the win category after dropping their second straight contest with a home matchup against Merrimack on Feb. 25.
Women’s Lacrosse
The No. 10 ranked women’s lacrosse team had a game just 40 minutes north of DU at the University of Colorado Saturday afternoon. The team handled the Buffs, 9-8, scoring three goals in the first three-quarters of the game. Senior attack Julia Gilbert (Mclean, Va.) got her first hat trick of the season, and senior midfielder Ellie Curry (Lutherville, Md.) found the back of the net twice in the contest. After going up 9-5 after the third quarter, CU came roaring back with three goals of their own but Denver was able to halt their late-game comeback. The team will conclude their four-game road streak with a contest in Columbus, Ohio on Feb. 25. against the Ohio State University.
Men’s Hockey
The men’s hockey team split their weekend series against NCHC opponent Minnesota Duluth, winning 6-2 Friday night and losing 5-6 Saturday night. Friday night’s contest was a dominant showing of the team’s offensive abilities. Freshman forward Aidan Thompson (Fort Collins, Colo.) got the scoring going first for Denver with a booming slapshot on the powerplay to tie the game all up at one. Sophomore forward Jack Devine (Glencoe, Ill.) scored two goals, had an assist, and led the squad to the 6-2 victory. Saturday night was a much closer matchup and Minnesota Duluth came out swinging in the first two periods to bring the game to a 2-5 score. Devine would continue to be the production of the offense for DU and registered three assists in the third period, two of those coming on sophomore forward Massimo Rizzo’s (Burnaby, B.C) goals. The late surge of offense proved to be not enough as the team would fall 5-6. The team will take to the road and travel to Kalamazoo, Michigan to take on the high-scoring Western Michigan Broncos this coming weekend for the next weekend series.
