Sports Recap

By Terry Rabbitts, [email protected]

Rifle

The Zips rifle team opened up their season by shooting 4,600 out of a possible 4,800 on Saturday, Sept. 26 at the University of Memphis.

“Smallbore was hot, and air rifle was not,” said head coach Newt Engle. “All in all, starting the season where we ended last season is a good thing, but seeing what the team has been doing at training leaves us all wanting more. I know better scores are there, and I know the team will grab them.”

Freshman Caleb Lloyd paced the Zips this weekend, earning the title of “hotshot of the week”. Lloyd posted an impressive 581 out of 600 in the Smallbore competition. For the competition, Akron shot a combined 2,294 in the Smallbore competition. Lloyd shot a 581 landing him in the elite 580’s, supported by sophomore Julia Hatch who shot a 574 and junior Zachary Strohl, who posted a 572.

The Zips found some struggles in the Air Rifle round, shooting a 2,306 out of a possible 2,400. Lloyd again shot a 581, followed by Strohl (579) and junior Connor O’Mara (577).

Women’s Soccer

The women’s soccer team opened up MAC play last week and things looked good in the beginning as Karin Norman scored a goal to give the Zips a 1-0 lead against Kent State.

However, the Golden Flashes (5-2-2) managed three unanswered goal and managed to defeat the Zips, 3-1.

The weekend was not a total loss for the women as on Sunday they rebounded to beat Ohio, 2-0, at FirstEnergy Stadium – Cub Cadet Field. Akron (4-5-1 overall, 1-1 MAC) employed an offensive attack that accounted for season-highs in shots (27) and shots on goal (14). Meanwhile, the defense only allowed the Bobcats five shots total, and none that were on goal.

Junior goalie Annabelle Hegeman recorded her second shutout of the season. Junior Sarah Sivic broke up a scoreless deadlock with a rebound shot past a diving goalie at the 87-minute mark. Two minutes following Sivic’s goal, the Zips ended any doubt as freshman Rachel Baughman crossed the ball into the middle of the box, finding Ramos Gandia wide open, who put the ball in for her first career goal.

Women’s Volleyball

The Zips volleyball team started MAC play off on the right foot by defeating Buffalo on the road in a convincing manner in four sets (25-23, 16-25, 25-15, 25-16).

Amanda Bedell led the offensive attack for the eighth straight match, posting 17 kills. Sophomore Anna Wenger contributed a career-high 14 kills while Dragana Micic added 11. As a team, the Zips delivered an impressive 10 aces to their opponents’ four led by Callie Mack, who tallied three aces of her own. Micic and Karley Kusan also added two service aces apiece.

On Saturday, Ball State proved to be a tougher opponent for the Zips and managed to come away with a 5-set victory (25-19, 22-25, 25-17, 22-25, 9-15). The Zips (7-8, 1-1) were once again led by Bedell who posted a career-high 21 kills and just five errors in 37 attempts. Kelsey Wilson and Anna Wenger followed suit with nine kills apiece. Micic also added six kills and tied a career-high five service aces to go with a team-high 14 digs.

Tennis

The University of Akron tennis team closed out this weekend’s West Point Invitational with players competing in the consolation rounds of Flight 1 singles and both Flight 2 singles and doubles.

The three-day event was hosted by Army in West Point, New York. Sophia Geier led the Zips by winning the Flight 1 consolation final. She defeated LIU’s Leysen in the semifinals (8-2) before taking down Marist’s Pang, 8-5, in the final match.

“Sophia rebounded extremely well after her opening round loss to win the consolation finals,” head coach Brandon Padgett said.

In Flight 2 singles consolation, Carli Knezevich fell to Army’s Valiunaite (8-5) while Carla Flores and Waverly Wituski dropped a 6-3 decision in the Flight 2 doubles semifinals.

“We definitely turned things around after starting the tournament off 2-5, finishing the tournament with an overall match record of 10-9,” Padgett said.