A season-high senior-day performance from the gymnastics squad, a road sweep for the men’s hockey team and two home match sweeps for the men’s tennis squad.
Here’s what happened last week in University of Denver athletics.
Women’s Gymnastics
DU gymnastics returned to Magness Arena this Sunday and dominated their quad meet while celebrating their five seniors. DU bested San Jose State, Lindenwood and Air Force in front of their home crowd.
DU recorded their highest team score of the season at 198.025 while also recording their season highs in two events. DU trounced their previous season high score in the beam and floor event by 0.125 points. The team improved throughout the competition and their rotation scores increased by 0.100 or more points as the meet went on.
The team celebrated their five seniors in the event and each competed in the quad meet.
Rosie Casali competed in all-around action and picked up a third place all-around finish with a 39.450, which is 0.050 higher than her season high. Casali picked up a 9.900 in the floor and two 9.875’s in the vault and bars event en route to her highest score this season.
Bella Mabanta had her best showing of the season in the beam event and recorded a season high 9.950.
Rylie Mundell tied her season high in the vault event with a 9.900 and picked up a decent 9.875 in the bars event.
Abbie Thompson competed in the floor event for the first time this season and had a solid showing with a 9.900 score. She also picked up another 9.900 in the bars event, good for a fourth place finish.
Lastly, Jessica Hutchinson returned to all-around action this week and captured another all-around title to cap off what could be her last Magness Arena meet.
Hutchinson earned a 39.725 score and first place finishes in the floor and bars event. She started decently with a 9.850 in the vault event but raised her game with a 9.950 in the bars event. She captured another solid 9.925 score in the beam event but saved her best event for last. Hutchinson recorded her second 10.000 of the year on the floor event and her fourth perfect score of her illustrious career.
Denver will travel to Missouri this week for their next quad meet. The University of Missouri will host the meet, and Denver will compete alongside New Hampshire and Southeast Missouri State on Sunday at noon.
Men’s Hockey
DU men’s hockey traveled up to Minnesota this past weekend and picked up a huge sweep over No.15/13 St. Cloud State. DU won Friday night’s game, 6-2 and Saturday night’s game, 7-2.
DU got out to a hot start in Friday night’s game and jumped to a 3-0 lead just halfway through the first period. They closed out the game very effectively and blocked 14 shots throughout the game.
It was a big night for freshman forward Sam Harris who has been hot in his last several games. Harris had a power play goal in the first four minutes of the contest and followed it up with a nice low snipe six minutes later. Harris has now scored five goals in his last five games.
Denver earned the sweep in Saturday’s contest and used six unanswered goals to lift them to a momentum boosting sweep. It was also a historic sweep as the last time DU swept St. Cloud State was in 2007.
Sophomore forward Tristan Lemyre slotted his first goal of the season and junior goaltender Matt Davis capped off his great weekend with a tremendous 36 save outing.
Denver now moves into second place in the NCHC standings and has one final weekend heading into the conference tournament. They will take on their biggest rivals Colorado College on Friday and Saturday, with Saturday’s game being at home in Magness Arena. Saturday’s game is slated for a 7:30 p.m. puck drop.
Women’s Tennis
Denver women’s tennis picked up two match wins this weekend on the road against St. Thomas and Minnesota. DU defeated the Tommies, 7-0 and the Golden Gophers, 4-3.
In Saturday’s sweep in St. Paul, Minnesota, DU started off hot and captured all three doubles matches en route to the first point of the contest. On the singles side, every finished matchup was decided in straight sets. Junior Andrea Burguete Beltran and sophomore Louise Wikander each only dropped one set en route to their dominating victories.
Sunday’s match against Minnesota was much closer but Denver still started off the match on top with the doubles point.
On the singles side, sophomores Alice Otis and Claudia Martinez de Velasco won their matches in straight sets. Sophomore Caroline Driscoll surged back to claim the second and third set in her singles match to help lift DU to their eighth victory this season.
DU has two important Summit League matches coming up this weekend. They will take on South Dakota on Friday afternoon at Denver Tennis Park and travel to Nebraska the next day to take on the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
Men’s Tennis
The DU men’s tennis team stayed hot and improved to 12-0 this past weekend via two sweeps over Montana and Wichita State.
In Friday’s 4-0 sweep over the Grizzlies, Denver earned the doubles point to start out the match. Graduate student Marvin Schaber and junior Daniel Sancho Arbizu earned a 6-3 victory while sophomore Raffaello Papajcik and senior Peter Sallay utilized tiebreakers to give DU the doubles point.
On the singles side, Papajcik, senior Charlie Miller and senior Nicolas Herrero Cuesta each won their matches in straight sets to give DU the victory.
Sunday’s match against the Shockers was also a 4-0 sweep and Denver also earned the doubles point to start out the match. Schaber and Sancho Arbizu won their match 6-1 while Miller combined with junior Rikuto Yamaguchi to a 6-4 win.
On the singles side, Miller, Schaber and Sancho Arbizu won their matches in straight sets to lift DU to their 12th straight victory.
DU will travel to Albuquerque for their next match against the University of New Mexico. The match is slated for Sunday at noon.
Men’s Lacrosse
No. 4 DU men’s lacrosse stayed undefeated this past weekend and picked up a 16-5 win over Le Moyne University on Saturday night.
Le Moyne kept it very close in the first half and went into halftime with a 5-5 tie with the Crimson and Gold. But Denver came alive in the second half and scored nine unanswered to lift them to their best season start since 2016.
Denver outshot Le Moyne 19-1 in the second half and forced seven more turnovers as well.
Senior attack Michael Lampert recorded a hat trick in the contest, his second of the season. Graduate attack JJ Sillstrop had a team leading five points with two goals and three assists.
DU will be faced with another tough-ranked opponent in their next home matchup on Sunday. They will face the Yale Bulldogs at Peter Barton Stadium; game time is slated for noon.
Women’s Lacrosse
The No. 10 women’s lacrosse squad had another top-ten matchup on Saturday and fell to the visiting No. 9 Maryland Terrapins, 8-10.
Maryland jumped to a 7-5 lead heading into halftime and Denver’s defense really stepped up in the second half. They allowed only one shot and zero goals in the fourth quarter but the offense could not capitalize and ultimately fell by two.
It was a hard-fought battle between the two teams and it was a test of the two goalkeepers on each side. Junior goalkeeper Emelia Bohi only stopped two shots in the first half but picked it up in the second, stopping five of Maryland’s eight shots. Bohi was outdueled by the reigning NCAA Goalkeeper of the Year Emily Sterling, who stopped 10 of Denver’s 18 shots on goal.
Graduate attack Julia Gilbert recorded her third straight four-goal outing in the loss. Graduate attack Olivia Penoyer recorded a team high three assists in the contest.
After falling to 3-2 on the season, Denver will have the toughest test yet. They will face the team that sent them home last season in the NCAA semifinals, Northwestern University. They will take on the Wildcats in Evanston, Ill. on Friday at 5 p.m.
Women’s Basketball
Denver women’s basketball split their final regular season weekend against Kansas City and St. Thomas. DU defeated the Roos on Thursday night, 74-60 and were routed by the Tommies on Saturday, 68-79.
In Thursday’s victory, Denver took a lead in the first quarter and never relinquished it. DU led by as much as 22 in the second quarter and shot the ball more efficiently than Kansas City.
Sophomore guards Emma Smith and Jordan Jones each recorded double-doubles in the victory. Smith recorded 16 points, Jones recorded 15 points and each recorded 11 rebounds.
In Saturday’s loss, Denver and St. Thomas went back and forth and held short leads throughout the contest. The Tommies depleted the one point DU lead heading into the fourth quarter and outscored DU, 29-17, in the final frame.
Jones recorded another double-double, 22 points and 10 rebounds—her seventh of the season.
DU finished 8-21 in the regular season and seventh in the Summit League. Their next contest is the first round of the Summit League Tournament, where they will take on the No. 2 seed North Dakota State on Saturday. The game will be broadcasted on the Summit League Network with a tip off time of 11:30 a.m.
Men’s Basketball
Denver men’s basketball capped off their regular season with two rough losses against Kansas City and St.Thomas this past weekend. DU lost to the Roos on Thursday night, 69-84 and were defeated by the Tommies on Saturday, 58-83.
It was not an ideal Senior Night for the Crimson and Gold on Thursday as Kansas City took charge of the game in the second half. After going down one at half, Denver was outscored by 14 in the second half and only shot 9-25 in the frame.
Fifth year guard Tommy Bruner recorded 31 points and three assists in the contest. Bruner finished with 760 points in the regular season over 31 games and is 64 points ahead of Zach Edey of Purdue for the scoring title.
Saturday’s game was more of a blowout for Denver, and St. Thomas rolled to an easy victory. Denver finished with their second-worst three point shooting outing this season, 6 for 28, while the Tommies dropped one of the best three point games DU has faced all season, shooting 55.6% from behind the arc.
Bruner was shutout for the first time in his career on Saturday, and freshman guard DeAndre Graig and junior guard Tyson Garff led the way in scoring with 11 points.
Denver finished their regular season 15-16 and seventh in their conference. They will take on the second-seed Kansas City on a neutral site in South Dakota in the first round of the Summit League Tournament. Tip off for the first round is slated for Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. The game is available to stream on the Summit League Network and 104.3 The Fan.
Men’s Golf
The men’s golf team was in Puerto Rico this past weekend participating in the Dorado Beach Collegiate and finished 13th as a team over two rounds of action. Due to bad weather, the tournament did not finish, and the third round was canceled.
The University of North Carolina Greensboro won the tournament with a 37 strokes under par team stroke, nine strokes ahead of the second team finisher.
Individually, DU’s highest finisher was sophomore Jack Dozer who finished in tied for 38th. Freshman Jet Hernandez and graduate student Brady Arnett were the next highest finishers both tying for 53rd place.
DU golf gets a couple of weeks off and then will travel to Tucson, Ariz. for the Arizona Intercollegiate hosted by the University of Arizona. The team will compete on Mar. 18-19.
