Men’s and Women’s Track and Field

This past weekend saw both The University of Akron men’s and women’s track and field teams sweep their competition in the Northeast Ohio Quad held at the Lee R. Jackson Track and Field Complex.

The Akron men’s team defeated Youngstown State (108-68), Kent State (109-71), and Ashland (117-60) while the women registered wins over the same three schools, 115-81 over YSU, 105-89 over KSU, and 115-81 over Ashland.

The Zips were able to place first in 14 events and Clayton Murphy and Jackie Siefring added to the weekend by setting new school records.

Murphy placed first in the 3,000 meter run, posting a time of 8:19.09 to set a new mark. Siefring claimed victory in the 400-meter hurdles by clearing the course in 55.61 seconds to claim the new record.

Terrell McClain posted the nation’s second-best mark this spring in winning the long jump with a mark of 26 feet, 1 inch. That mark is also the third-best effort in school history. Joe Oduho was close behind with a leap of 25 feet, 3.25 inches to finish second and establish the fifth-best jump in school history.

Also registering first place showings for the Zips were: Ana Martin-Sacristan (women’s long jump), Caroline Hasse (women’s pole vault), Ariadna Ramos Gandia (women’s triple jump), Claudia Garcia Jou (women’s high jump), Natalie Zidd (women’s 800 meters), Mackenzie Andrews (3,000 meter), Ian Behm (men’s javelin), Mike Ohiembor (men’s triple jump), Dan Zupan (1,500 meters), Sean Weems (400-meter hurdles); and the team of Weems, Brent Gray, Nick Owens, and Taron Slone in the 4 x 400 meter relay.

Women’s Tennis

The University of Akron tennis team finished its home schedule for the season by defeating Buffalo, 4-3, last Saturday in Mid-American Conference action.

Before the start of the match, Marina Zerbola and Madison Cohen were honored on Senior Day.

The Zips (14-9, 4-3 MAC) were able to take the doubles point and a 1-0 lead by winning two of the three matches to start the day.

Ariadna Blinova continued her torrid play by claiming her 11th consecutive match in singles play. The win Saturday was also her 20th on the season.

Sophia Greer also continued her streak of tremendous play this season in single action with another victory.

The match was not decided until the final singles match was over with Zerbola bringing home a tough 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 decision to clinch the win for the Zips.

“Today was a great day for Zips tennis,” Head Coach Brandon Padgett said. “It was senior day for Madison and Martina, and it could not have finished in a more fitting way with Martina clinching the match for us.”

The Zips finish their season with a road match against Bowling Green this Friday before heading to the MAC Championships on April 29-30 in Oxford, Ohio.

Women’s Softball

The University of Akron women’s softball team took two of three games from host Ohio University this past weekend.

Akron started the weekend off on the right foot with a 4-3 win and then the Zips split their two Saturday games, losing the first game 2-1 before coming back with a 1-0 victory in the second game.

Friday’s game was a matchup of the two best pitchers in the Mid-American Conference with the Zips’ Erin Seiler and Ohio’s Savanna Jo Dorsey.

Entering the sixth inning, Akron clung to a 1-0 lead courtesy of a Savannah Fruin home run in the third inning.

Dorsey had struck out six of the first seven Akron batters before Fruin connected on her round tripper.

Some timely hitting by Akron and bad fielding by Ohio allowed the Zips to score three more runs in the sixth for a 4-0 lead.

Akron loaded the bases on a double and a pair of walks with two outs. Dorsey then threw a wild pitch, allowing one run to score. A bad throw to the plate allowed another run to cross home plate as the ball rolled out to the pitcher’s circle.

Then after Caitlin Gambone was hit by a pitch, she tried to steal second and an errant throw bounced into the outfield to allow Akron to score the last run.

Ohio scored 3 runs in the bottom of the seventh, but it was not enough to complete a comeback.

On Saturday, the Zips jumped out in front again by a score of 1-0 after Carley Childress connected on her first career home run in the top of the sixth inning.

This time it was the Akron defense that failed. Three errors in the bottom of the seventh led to two Bobcat runs and a walk-off win.

Just as the first two games of the series had started, Akron jumped to a 1-0 advantage in the third inning of the second game on Saturday.

Alyssa Nichols singled in Gabrielle Fredericks, who had doubled earlier in the inning, for her 14th run batted in on the year.

Akron (23-18-1, 7-5-1 MAC) returns home for a double header against non-conference foe Niagara at Lee Jackson Field on Tuesday at 3 p.m.

Men’s Soccer

The University of Akron men’s soccer team finished off the home portion of its spring exhibition schedule this past Saturday with matches against Wright State and Pittsburgh.

In the first game against Wright State, the Raiders started the scoring to take a 1-0 lead.

Anthony Macchione scored the equalizer for the Zips as the two teams battled to a 1-1 draw in the first match of the day.

Later that day, Akron and Pittsburgh fought each other through a scoreless first half before Victor Souto was able to find the back of the net after taking a pass from teammate Sam Gainford.

Later in the second half, Tyler Sanda was able to find Macchione for his second goal of the day to close the scoring on a 2-0 Zips victory.

Akron, 5-1-1 during the exhibition season, travels to Columbus to take on the Columbus Crew in a scrimmage on Saturday, April 24. Unfortunately for Zips fans, this scrimmage is closed to all fans.