Sports

The Lorian

March 19, 2015

Duhawks still winless at home Head for the door

track & field

Fontbonne 3, Loras 0

(25-20, 25-21, 25-22)

Loras (3-15, 1-8)........ AC Kl Dg Ast
Dawid Kasprzak..................0 11 1 0
Kyle Zacok...........................0 3 1 0
Shayne Marquez.................0 0 7 30
Jimmy Combs.....................0 5 2 0
TJ Esporas..........................0 15 6 0
Dylan Ross.......................... 1 7 1 1
Danny Krasich....................0 0 0 7
Mitchell Rubino..................0 0 0 0
Blair Anderson....................0 0 14 1
Darin Yrigoyen....................0 0 3 0
Michael Kreiser...................0 2 3 0
Totals........................... 1 43 38 39

Mount St. Joseph 3, Loras 1

(21-25, 25-22, 25-11, 25-20)
Loras (3-16, 1-9)........ AC Kl Dg Ast
Michael Kreiser...................2 3 9 1
Dawid Kasprzak..................0 1 0 0
Shayne Marquez.................0 0 6 16
Jimmy Combs..................... 1 6 2 0
TJ Esporas.......................... 1 6 9 0
Dylan Ross..........................0 5 0 0
Danny Krasich....................0 0 2 6
Blair Anderson....................0 0 17 1
Kyle Zacok...........................0 3 1 0
Totals...........................4 24 46 24
by Drew Brashaw | asst. sports editor

With eyes on earning their first home

victory in program history, the Duhawks
hosted a pair of conference opponents
this weekend, taking on the Fontbonne
Griffins and the Mount St. Joseph Lions. Unfortunately for the young Loras squad, that elusive first home win
couldnt be found, as the Duhawks fell
0-3 against the Griffins on Friday night,
and 1-3 against the Lions on Saturday.
Friday nights match against Fontbonne was seen by many as the Duhawks best opportunity of the season
to notch their historic first victory in the
AWC, having defeated the Griffins 3-0 on
Feb. 27 in Missouri. Despite outstanding
offensive performances by a bevy of tal-

ented Loras first-years, Fontbonne was

able to flip the script this time around,
and took the match in straight sets.
The first set was a back-and-forth affair, with both teams enjoying the lead at
different times. After being tied at 15, the
Griffins began to pull away, and finished
on a 7-3 run to win the set 25-20.
Set 2 was even tighter than set 1, with
neither team gaining more than a 1-pt.
lead until Fontbonne engineered a 7-0
run at 15-all, and eventually took the set
by a score of 25-21.
In the third and final set, with the
score evened at 19-19, the Griffins were
awarded a point for a highly questionable ball-handling error called against
first-year Shayne Marquez. Fontbonne
would hang on for a 25-22 victory to
close out the match.
First-years T.J. Esporas and Dawid
Kasprzak led the Loras attack with career-highs in kills Friday, tallying 15 and
11, respectively. Marquez racked up 30
assists, setting a new team record.
Its a tough pill to swallow, Esporas
said. I thought we played a great match
offensively, but on defense we werent
there, our blocks werent there to close.
Its something were going to have to
work on.
On Saturday, the Duhawks came out
hot against 15th-ranked Mount St. Joseph, taking the first four points of the
match. Loras led from wire to wire in set
1, winning 25-21. The Lions came out on
top of a closely contested 2nd set, 25-22,
and ran away with set 3, 25-10.
Set four began as a much more competitive frame, featuring six tie scores
and five lead changes in the early going.
The Lions then created separation with
an 8-1 run, and took the fourth and decisive set, 25-20.
First-year Jimmy Combs recorded six
kills and four blocks against the Lions,

while Esporas contributed six kills, a

block and a service ace. First-year Blair
Anderson recorded double-digit digs for
the seventh time this season, racking up
a career-high 17.
The key for us right now is consistency, Anderson said. We have to click on
both offense and defense, and its going
to come.
Head Coach Jeremy Thornburg
echoed Andersons sentiment.
Were going to be scary when every
things clicking, were just hoping for that
to come pretty soon, he said.
The Duhawks will have one more opportunity to grab their first home victory
when they host Lakeland College for senior night on Saturday in the AWC.

Steger, DeWitt earn All-American

honors at NCAA Division III National
Championships in Hershey, PA

FEET

by Drew Brashaw | asst. sports editor

(NOT ON THE STREET)

SERIOUS DELIVERY!

TM

2014 JIMMY JOHNS FRANCHISE, LLC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

photo by Maddy Cole

First-year Shayne Marquez sets

the ball for fellow first-year Dawid
Kasprzak during the Duhawks 0-3
loss to Fontbonne last Friday.

All-American

ON OUR

TO FIND THE LOCATION NEAREST

YOU VISIT JIMMYJOHNS.COM

by Matthew Marter | sportswriter

Last weekend, three Duhawks from the mens and

womens track and field teams got the chance to race at
the highest level of competition for their indoor season:
the Division III National meet. Although their expectations were much higher than their official results, these
Duhawks were proud to get the chance to run at Nationals.
Among them was senior Kyle Ward, who qualified for
the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.89, the new school
record. In his preliminary heat however, he only ran a
time of 6.96. This wasnt fast enough to get him to the
finals, but it earned him the 13th place in Division III.
I felt as though there were components of my start
that I left out due to my level of excitement at the meet,
Ward said.
The excitement was expected, since it was his first
trip to the national meet in his four years at Loras.
There was an energy unlike anything I have ever
experienced before, Ward said. I was pretty pumped
to say the least.
Not only was this Wards last race of the 2015 indoor season, it was also his last collegiate indoor race.
He said that his goal was to make finals and earn
[All-American honors], but hes placing [his] hopes of
qualifying for nationals in [his] outdoor performance.
Ward was optimistic about him and the rest of the
team for the outdoor season.
If all goes well, well bringing a flock of Duhawks to
New York [for the outdoor Nationals meet] in May.
Junior Zach Frey competed in the 800-meter run
on Friday. Due to a slow first half of the race, Frey finished with a time of 1:54.75. This unfortunately was not
enough to get Frey into the finals. He missed out of the
last spot by 0.25 seconds.
Sophomore Elizabeth Brandenburg also missed out
on a spot in the finals in the 60-meter hurdles. She finished 10th in Division III, missing a place in the finals
by two-hundredths of a second.
With the snow completely removed from the track,
the Duhawks compete alongside a few alumni in an inter-squad meet this Saturday, and then begin the outdoor season at Knox College in Illinois on March 28.

wrestling

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JIMMYJOHNS.COM

Runners and throwers prepare for

outdoor season after a disappointing
Indoor Championship meet

Senior Steven DeWitt and junior Nick Steger each earned

All-American honors over the
weekend, after advancing to the
semifinal round of the NCAA Division III Championships in Hershey, PA. DeWitt finished fourth
in the 157-pound bracket, and Steger finished fifth at 141.
Steven DeWitt
While both men went to Hershey with goals of becoming National Champions, the All-American distinction provides fitting
punctuation for the outstanding
individual seasons turned in by
DeWitt and Steger in 2014-15.
DeWitt finished the season with
an overall record of 35-4, while
Nick Steger Steger posted a 28-3 mark.
DeWitt opened his tournament by earning a 13-8 decision in an out-bracket
match against Roger Williams Universitys Tyler
Herzog. In his second match, DeWitt built an 11-3
lead over Shawn Brewer of Alma College before an
injury to Brewer forced the bout to a halt, sending
DeWitt through to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinal round pitted DeWitt against Tom Gerszewski of
UW-Whitewater, in a return bout from the NWCA
Duals on Jan. 9, when DeWitt earned an 8-4 decision. On the strength of 3 takedowns and a reversal,
DeWitt duplicated the feat on Friday, earning another decision over Gerszewski by an identical score,
and advancing to Saturdays semifinal round.
In the semis, DeWitt was met by top-seeded and
undefeated Nick Carr of Washington and Jefferson College. Carr lived up to his billing, scoring 4
takedowns and limiting DeWitts scoring to escape
points en route to the 10-3 decision. Carr would go
on to be crowned champion at 157 pounds, toppling
Wabashs Reece Lefever in the finals.

A familiar face awaited DeWitt in the consolation bracket, as he squared off against Wartburgs
Drew Waggenhoffer for the third time this season
in his first wrestleback. Just like in their two previous meetings, DeWitt came out the victor, scoring a
10-5 decision to complete the trifecta over his Iowa
Conference rival.
DeWitt came up short in his 3rd-place match,
yielding a 1st-period fall to 3rd-seeded Jorge Lopez
of Williams College. The senior closed out his collegiate career as a 4th-place finisher with All-American honors.
Steger began his first trip to Nationals with an
opening-round pinfall victory over Jake Sevoca
of Williams College. Steger pinned Sevoca at 6:11,
after building a comfortable lead with takedowns
and back points.
In his quarterfinal match, Steger faced 3rd-seeded Jacoby Bergeron of Concordia-Moorhead. After
a scoreless 1st period, Steger built 1:27 of riding
time to begin the 2nd period before allowing the
escape. Steger started the 3rd period from the bottom position, but escaped fast enough to preserve
his riding time and grind out the 2-1 decision.
The semifinal round at 141 pounds featured an
Iowa Conference showdown between Steger and
Luthers Drew Van Anrooy. Van Anrooy came out
on top of an early 1st-period scramble, and was able
to stick Stegers shoulders to the mat for a fall just
41 seconds into the bout, knocking him from the
championship bracket.
Steger would drop an 11-5 decision to NYUs
Brandon Jones in his first consolation match, but
bounced back to earn a 4-1 decision over Layten Binion of North Central (IL) to finish the tournament
with a victory and a 5th-place finish.
Im just so proud of both of them, said Head
Coach Randy Steward of his two All-Americans.
They lost in the semifinals, and youll see a lot of
kids in that situation just cash it in and go to sixth
place. But they both stepped up and won another
match after that, so I think that says a lot about
them.
The Duhawks finished the tournament in 15thplace in the overall team standings.