Spring break sports recap

Zachary Holden
Staff Writer

While students were soaking up rays at the beach or weathering the snow storm midweek, the athletes at VCU were busy representing the university.

Men’s Basketball

Starting spring break off right, the VCU men’s basketball team welcomed then No. 20 Butler to the Siegel Center in front of a packed house in a Saturday afternoon matchup. In a very one-sided game, VCU won 84-52, vaulting them back into the AP Poll at No. 21.

Next up was the intercity rematch against the University of Richmond on Wednesday. This time, VCU played host to the Spiders. In a close, back-and-forth scoring game, the Rams emerged victorious at the end as they stretched their lead enough to hold off the resilient Spiders. Round two of the Richmond derby would go to the Rams 93-82.

Finally, VCU traveled to Philadelphia, Pa. on Sunday to face the Temple Owls in a game that could have given VCU a share of the Atlantic 10 regular season title with St. Louis. Temple, at the time, was one of the last four teams out of the NCAA Tournament, so they had a lot to prove on the national stage against the No. 21 VCU Rams. In the end, Temple outplayed VCU and took the final regular season game 84-76.

Next up for the Rams is the A-10 tournament in Brooklyn, N.Y. where they will face the winner of the Xavier vs. St. Joseph’s game. VCU will play at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, March 15.

Women’s Basketball

The Rams welcomed Rhode Island on Sunday, March 3. In order to make the A-10 tournament, they would have to beat Rhode Island to clinch the 12th and final seed in the conference tournament.

Led by 22 points from Robyn Parks, the Rams emerged victorious 55-46 and snuck into the tournament after it appeared they wouldn’t just a game or two earlier.

The first round matchup with Duquesne awaited VCU on March 8 in Philadelphia, Pa. as they looked to make a run in the postseason tournament. Unfortunately, their postseason would end early as Duquesne moved on to the second round with a 64-58 win, ending the VCU women’s season.

Baseball

Entering spring break, the baseball team was off to their best start since 1989 at 5-0. They traveled to Charleston, S.C. the first weekend of break to play in the Charleston Crab House Shootout where they swept away the opposition by a margin of 29-11 in the three games and moved to 8-0.

On Tuesday they hosted George Mason as they looked to continue their winning streak. They did just that as they defeated the Patriots 4-2 to move to 9-0 on the season.

Finally, they traveled to Wilmington, N.C. to face UNC Wilmington in a weekend series. The Seahawks ended the Rams perfect streak as they took Friday and Saturday’s games 9-3 and 7-2 respectively.

On Sunday, VCU looked to avoid the weekend sweep in the final game of the series. In a low-scoring close game, UNC Wilmington completed their sweep as they beat VCU 3-2. It was the Rams third loss in a row after starting off a perfect 9-0.

The Rams return home on March 12 to welcome Wagner at The Diamond.

Men’s Tennis

Looking to build on their four-game winning streak, the men’s tennis team started their break in Richmond as they hosted Illinois State. The No. 28 Rams won 6-1 and pushed their winning streak to five games before they had two road games against tough ACC opponents Duke and North Carolina.

The Rams were swept aside by the fourth-ranked Blue Devils 7-0 on Mar. 5 in Durham, N.C. The No. 44 ranked North Carolina Tarheels were the next day in a game where VCU looked to avoid the Carolina sweep. Led by Max Wennakoski and Alexis Huegas, the Rams won 5-2 and recorded their 12th win of the season.

The men are in action again March 12 as they host Wake Forest.

Women’s Tennis

Fresh off a loss at Penn State the weekend before spring break, the women’s tennis team had the whole week off leading up to spring break. On Friday, March 1, they welcomed Maryland to the Thalhimer Tennis Center and won 4-3 in a tough fought match.

The women then hosted South Florida on March 3 whom they defeated 5-2 which was their 11th win on the season.

Next up is a match at North Carolina State on Thursday, March 14.

Golf

The VCU golf team spent part of their spring break in Orlando, Fla. playing in the Harmony Preserve Intercollegiate. Led by freshman Steffen Harm, VCU finished second just five strokes behind Austin Peay State.

Pinehurst Intercollegiate was up next for the Rams held in Pinehurst, N.C., the location of the 2014 U.S. Open on the PGA Tour. The team plays from March 10-12 as they look for another top two finish.