A second place quad meet finish for the gymnastics team, two second place event races for the skiing squad and a sweep of a conference opponent from the men’s hockey team.
Here’s what happened last week in University of Denver athletics.
Women’s Gymnastics
No. 10 Denver gymnastics picked up a second place team finish in their home Blackout meet against No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 11 UCLA, and Stanford. The top ranked Sooners edged the Crimson and Gold by 1.150 points to take the meet title in Magness Arena Sunday afternoon.
Individually, senior Jessica Hutchinson had another solid meet for DU. Hutchinson earned a near perfect 9.950 in the floor event which lifted her to a first place finish for that event and third place all-around finish. She also recorded a 9.900 in the vault and beam events en route to her podium finish.
Senior Rosie Casali continued her strong start to the season. Casali started the meet with a great 9.950 on the vault event and ended it with a 9.900 in the floor event.
Denver will stay in conference action with another meet against conference rival Oklahoma on Friday night.
Women’s Basketball
DU women’s basketball dropped to 4-14 this season after losing both conference home matchups this past week. They lost to North Dakota State, 63-84, Thursday night, and North Dakota, 68-78, Saturday afternoon.
In Thursday’s contest, DU kept it close for most of the matchup until the fourth quarter when the Bison pulled away. DU forced more turnovers and stole the ball more, but could not keep up with NDSU behind the three point line and at the three throw line.
Sophomore guard Jordan Jones led the way offensively for DU, recording 18 points and adding two steals and six assists in the contest. Sophomore guard Angelina Robles dropped 12 points and picked up three steals in the contest as well.
Saturday’s game ended with a great celebration of the team’s four seniors. Jocelyn Wyatt, Makayla Minett, Lauren With and Emily Counsel were honored post-game alongside family, friends, coaches and teammates for their contributions to the program.
Counsel had a career day against the Fighting Hawks and tied her career high of 21 points in the contest. Counsel also added two steals to her second 20 point effort this season. The effort was not enough as Denver could not hold on to their three point lead going into halftime and fell by 10 points.
DU will look to get a tally back in the winning column Thursday night on the road against South Dakota. They will also travel to Omaha Saturday for a matchup against the Mavericks with tip off starting at 1 p.m. Both games will be broadcasted on the Summit League Network.
Men’s Basketball
DU men’s basketball split their road conference slate in North Dakota this past week. They defeated North Dakota State Thursday night 78-70 and lost to North Dakota, 78-92, Saturday afternoon.
After picking up a monumental victory against South Dakota State the game prior, DU made history again and snapped their 11 game losing streak to North Dakota State Thursday night. DU had four more steals than NDSU and outshot 10.1% better than the Bison en route to the victory.
Junior forward Touko Tainamo had a big game in the contest, dropping 21 points and picking up five rebounds in the victory. Graduate guard Jaxon Brenchley also had a solid effort in the victory, recording 15 points, two blocks, and two steals.
DU could not keep the great momentum going into Saturday’s matchup though and the Fighting Hawks downed the Crimson and Gold via a solid second half effort. North Dakota outscored Denver 54-41 in the second half to boost them to their third Summit League victory this season.
Fifth year guard Tommy Bruner picked up his sixth 30 point effort this season in Saturday’s loss. Bruner also reached 1000 career points with the program in the loss and only needed 52 career games to do so. That is good for the fastest in DU program history.
The Crimson and Gold will return home for two home contests in Hamilton Gymnasium. They will welcome South Dakota Thursday night, and will host Omaha for the last time this season on Saturday afternoon.
Skiing
The alpine season for DU skiing is officially underway and the team participated in the Westminster Invitational and Utah Invitational last week. Denver earned second place team finishes in both events.
Individually, the week was highlighted by success from freshman Liv Moritz. After Moritz finished second in the giant slalom race in Friday’s race, she outdid herself and captured her first collegiate event win in Saturday’s race. Moritz edged Westminster College’s Hanna Saetherberg by less than a second en route to capturing her first career win.
Sophomore Sara Rask and senior Nora Brand also recorded top 10 finishes in the slate of races this past week. Rask finished sixth in Friday’s race and fifth on Saturday while Brand finished 11th and seventh respectively.
The men were not as successful in the Alpine events and only one DU racer finished in the top 10. Junior Cooper Cornelius picked up two straight tenth place finishes in the competition.
The squad has a week off before returning to RMISA action on the first of the month in Steamboat Springs. They will stay in Steamboat for several days and compete in the Colorado Invitational hosted by the University of Colorado with action starting on Feb. 2.
Men’s Hockey
The No. 5/6 DU men’s hockey dominated another NCHC ranked opponent this past weekend and swept No. 19 Omaha in enemy territory. DU won 6-3 in Friday night’s victory and 6-2 on Saturday night.
Friday night belonged to the top forward line for DU who combined for four of Denver’s six goals. Junior forward Jack Devine had a career night recording two goals and three assists for DU. Junior forward Massimo Rizzo added a goal and three assists to his NCAA leading point total and senior captain McKade Webster recorded a goal and two assists in the victory.
Denver had a similar result in the second game of the weekend series and used a four goal effort in the second period to lead them to a conference win.
Freshman defenseman Zeev Buium led the way offensively with a goal and three assists on the night. Buium adds to his leading point total among all NCAA defenseman and also moves into a tie for most points among freshman skaters with Boston University’s Macklin Celebrini.
Rizzo also picked up another three assists in the victory while junior defenseman Shai Buium and freshman defenseman Cale Ashcroft also recorded multi-point efforts in the contest.
DU will stay on the road for their next conference series against yet another ranked NCHC opponent. They will be in Grand Forks on Friday and Saturday to take on rival North Dakota for the second and last time this season. Puck drop on Friday starts at 6:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcasted on CBS Sports Network.
Women’s Tennis
DU women’s tennis kicked off their 2024 season with two sweeps against Air Force and Colorado State this past weekend.
The Crimson and Gold started the weekend off with a 5-0 match victory over the Falcons. DU did not drop a set en route to the shutout victory. Sophomore Caroline Driscoll and sophomore Louise Wikander combined to a 6-0 doubles victory and also defeated their singles opponents 6-1, 6-1 and 6-0, 6-0, respectively. Junior Andrea Burguete Beltran won the No. 1 singles match 6-0 and 6-3.
DU continued their momentum into Sunday afternoon, where they beat the Rams 4-0. Three singles and one doubles match was left unfinished but in each finished match, DU won in straight sets. Sophomore Claudia Martinez de Velasco trumped her opponent 6-2 and 6-1 in the two set victory.
DU will travel to Durham, North Carolina this week to take part in the ITA Kickoff weekend. They will take on Auburn Universit Friday afternoon and either Duke University or Princeton University on Saturday.
