Sports

The Lorian

Feb. 26, 2015

Drews Views

First-year
TJ Esporas
attempts a
spike during
the Duhawks
0-3 loss to
Benedictine
last
Saturday.
Esporas is
second on
the team in
kills with 89
through 12
matches.
photo by
Maddy Cole.

Finally off the schneid

Mens volleyball team knocks off Trinity and
Calumet for first 2 wins in program history
by drew brashaw | asst. sports editor

Getting a new athletic program off the ground is never easy. The Loras
mens volleyball teams inaugural season has been no exception.
The Duhawks dropped a pair of matches to Lakeland and No. 1-ramled Stevens on Sunday, but not before kicking off the weekend with wins over Trinity
International and Calumet College of St. Joseph on Friday in Deerfield, Ill.
Loras got off to a rocky 0-8 start through the first month of the season,
and it was beginning to look as if that elusive first victory would never materialize. Led by first-year Jimmy Combs 4 aces and 9 kills against Trinity,
the Duhawks seized the momentum early. Loras took a 25-12 victory in their
first game against Trinity, and carried it through to a 3-1 final in the match,
and earned their long-awaited first win.
Senior Michael Kreiser led the Duhawks in kills against Trinity, tallying 15.
Later in the day, Loras would add another victory, downing Calumet 3-0.
Kreiser notched 6 service aces against Calumet, and first-year TJ Esporas
led the team with 8 kills.
Service was a strength for Loras on Friday, with the Duhawks laying down
21 service aces over the two games. In their ten losses combined, the Duhawks
have managed only 30.
While Trinity and Calumet are both winless on the season, the victories
should provide Loras with some much needed confidence for the second half
of the season.
The Duhawks will travel to Missouri on Friday to take on the Fontbonne
Griffins, before heading to Cincinnati on Sunday for a match with the Mount
St. Joseph Lions.

Loras 3, Trinity International 1

(25-12, 25-20, 22-25, 25-15)
Loras (1-8)................ AC Kl Dg Ast
Michael Kreiser................... 1 15 12 0
Dawid Kasprzak.................. 1 7 2 0
Shayne Marquez.................0 1 4 21
Jimmy Combs.....................4 9 2 1
TJ Esporas..........................3 9 6 0
Dylan Ross..........................0 8 2 1
Danny Krasich....................0 0 4 19
Mitchell Rubino..................0 0 5 1
Blair Anderson....................0 0 0 3
Tyler Beauchamp................0 0 0 0
Kyle Zacok...........................0 3 3 0
Christopher Ortiz................0 3 0 0
Darin Yrigoyen....................0 0 4 1
Totals...........................9 55 44 47

Loras 3, Calumet St. Joseph 0

(25-9, 25-14, 25-19)
Loras (2-8)................ AC Kl Dg Ast
Michael Kreiser...................6 1 2 0
Dawid Kasprzak..................3 4 2 0
Shayne Marquez.................0 0 5 12
Jimmy Combs.....................0 7 2 1
TJ Esporas..........................0 8 2 1
Dylan Ross..........................0 3 4 2
Danny Krasich....................2 1 2 10
Mitchell Rubino..................0 0 2 0
Blair Anderson....................0 0 0 1
Tyler Beauchamp................0 1 0 0
Kyle Zacok........................... 1 3 3 0
Christopher Ortiz................0 3 0 0
Darin Yrigoyen....................0 0 8 0
Totals......................... 12 31 44 27

track & field

Duhawks lace up for IIAC Championships

Men and women place 4th
at University of Dubuque
Spartan Invite
by Matthew Marter | sportswriter

The mens track and field team posted

seasonal records in both the 4x200-meter relay and 4x400-meter relay at the
Spartan Invitational last weekend. In the
4x200 relay, seniors Kyle Ward and Zac
Gassman, junior Stedman Foster, and
sophomore Brandon Gradoville finished
first with a time of 1:32.65. Later in the
meet, Gassman, Foster, and Gradoville
were joined by junior Zach Frey in the
4x400 relay. They placed second overall
with a time of 3:22.43, putting the relay
into the 21st spot in the NCAA Division
III rankings.
I felt like I got a really strong preseason in, and I felt I was ready for
the beginning of official practices [in
November], said Gradoville. I wasnt
running the times I wanted, but as the
season went on, my times got faster.
An injury threatened the 4x400 meter relay, but they found a replacement,
junior Zach Frey.
Were still right on course to be very
competitive at the conference meet and
hopefully qualify for nationals, said
Gradoville.
Running with upperclassmen hasnt

fazed Gradoville.
setting a new indoor personal record. JuI dont think about it too much, but nior Dan Vatch also took fourth in high
it is kind of in the back of my head, said jump with height of 1.86 meters, also setGrandoville, who has held a spot on the ting an indoor personal record.
relay for the whole indoor season. I dont
The womens team was led once again
think being younger is any excuse. I real- by the strong performance of sophomore
ly do think I am capable of running with Elizabeth Brandenburg in the 55-meter
anyone Im competing with. I feel like hurdles and pole vault. She took first in
there is pressure on all of us, not just me the hurdles, running a personal record
because Im the youngest on the team.
of 8.37, a drop of 0.3 from the Sol Butler
Ultimately, he and the juniors run- Classic in January. She tied for first in the
ning on the relay have one thing in mind pole vault, but due to her attempts on the
as they toe the line.
previous height, she ended up in second
We all want to do the best we can place. Junior Bree Powers finished secfor the other members of the team, espe- ond in the 200-meter dash with a time of
cially for our only senior, Zac Gassman, 26.81. In the field events, first-year Sarsaid Gradoville.
ah Schoel placed fourth in the long jump
The rest of the mens team competed with another personal record of 5.10 mewell overall, earning
ters. Senior Morgan
a fourth place finish.
Steere took second in
Frey took first in the
shot put with a mark
I dont think being
800-meter run with
of 12.82 meters.
younger is any excuse.
a time of 1:56.08. SeThe performers of
I really do think I am
nior Kyle Ward placed
the meet were sophothird in the 55-memore Elizabeth Brancapable of running with
ter dash with a time
denburg, seniors Shay
anyone Im competing
of 6.52, a personal
Coleman and Kyle
with. I feel like there
record. In the field
Ward, and junior
events, senior Nathan
Devan Kennedy.
is pressure on all of
Maiers won the weight
The Duhawks will
us, not just me.
throw with a mark of
compete in the Iowa
Brandon Gradoville, Conference Champi15.99 meters. Junior
sophomore runner
Devan Kennedy took
onships this weekend
fourth in pole vault,
in Waverly, IA.

,,

#awesome
S

ocial media is an incredible

thing.
In the old days, you had
to rely hard-hitting journalists
asking the perfect questions at
the perfect moments in order to
get a peek inside the minds of
athletes. Even then, youd have to
Drew Brashaw wade through a stream of canned
asst. sports editor answers and clichs before
getting to the good stuff, and it
was still a rare thing for a reporter
to truly capture the essence of what makes jocks
tick. If you wanted to get under the helmet back
then, your resources were limited to second-hand
stories and police reports.
But all of thats different now. In the age of
social media, athletes (and celebrities of every
ilk, really) are able to cut out the middle-man and
pour out their insides directly onto their adoring
publics. If you want to get to know your favorite
athlete, ignore his interviews and go straight to
his twitter account. There, youll find a portal into
your role models psyche that Jeremy Schaap and
Bob Ley could only dream of opening. On twitter,
youll find an unfettered, unfiltered view into the
minds of Americas superheroes.
Take, for example, this 2009 tweet from
Arizona Cardinals defensive end and Florida State
University alum, Darnell Dockett:
Mann on of my teammates SHARTED- OMG
I know he has a MAN POND cause he def just ran
to the bathroom LMFAOO smell like a PORT a
POTTY
A serious journalist could probe and prod an
athlete for hours on end and still not uncover
this kind of mind-blowing, culturally significant
insight. But thanks to twitter, a few quick thumb
swipes were all it took to deliver this powerful
message to Mr. Docketts 213,000 followers.
Without twitter, that moment would have been
lost forever.
While Dockett used twitter as a platform to
showcase his poetic voice to the world, Ohio
State Buckeyes quarterback Cardale Jones used
the micro-blogging site to provide a voice to
thousands of NCAA student-athletes across the
country, tweeting:
Why should we have to go to class if we came
here to play FOOTBALL, we aint come to play
SCHOOL classes are POINTLESS.
Jones found himself in a bit of hot water over
the tweet, and deleted it quickly. For all of the
other student-athletes out there who feel the same
way, but dont know the right words to say it,
Jones is a hero.
Perhaps the real beauty of social media in the
sports world, is that it creates a two-way line of
communication between athletes and fans. In
the old days, you had to go to the game and hurl
D cell batteries at players to properly express
disappointment or disdain. Now, you can insult
them from the comfort of your own home, 24
hours a day. Do you think Tony Romo throws like
a blind girl with an inner ear infection? Tweet
him and let him know about it! Feel like belittling
Russell Wilson for throwing that pick in the Super
Bowl? Tweet him! Depending on his notification
settings, your scathing insult might even vibrate in
his pocket!
If your barbs are caustic enough, and you strike
a nerve, the object of your ire might even tweet
back to you, like Colin Kaepernick did last week.
The San Francisco quarterback took a break
from his intensive regimen of tweeting about his
workouts in order to engage in a miniature flame
war with a follower who suggested he spend more
time studying defenses than blasting his abs.
Realizing twitters potential for connecting him
with his fans, Kaepernick tweeted:
@battman_returns are you illiterate or just
ignorant? Read the tweet again better yet give me
your breakdown of every defensive coverage and
@battman_returns you got 8 followers bruh your
own family dont even want to know what you
doin! Get better at life!
In the old days, if you could get a player sitting
on the bench to turn around and give you the
finger, you were doing pretty well. But now,
someone can tap the screen of a smartphone
and have a star quarterbacks attention on a
Wednesday afternoon.
I, for one, am all for it. Sure, social media is
helping to speed my chosen career field down
the path to obsolescence, but so what? At least I
know that one time, in 2012, DeAnthony Thomas
SEEN A DEER.
#awesome.