MARCH 1, 2013

Womens tennis serves up a fresh future

BY DANIELA DE KERVOR STAFF WRITER The Pioneers hit the ground running this season, taking down Whitworth on Feb. 15. After a disappointing loss to Whitman during the same weekend, womens tennis did not look back as they took Willamette on the road in a decisive victory on Friday, Feb. 22. The Sunday of that same weekend, the Pioneers defeated Pacific, sweeping them in doubles and losing only one match in singles for a final score of 8-1. As opposed to years before, the team has developed a fresh mentality and set new goals. The ladies believe that winning the Northwest Conference Championship is within reach, something that the team has not been confident about in previous seasons. The remodeled tennis dome has also brought new heart and morale to the team. Starting player Claudia Lew (16) commented that the team atmosphere has been one of her favorite parts of the season so far. The familial environment that this young team has created has been one of the most important contributors to the teams success. The team holds only one senior this season, Isabelle Izzy Borris (13). Additionally, two juniors, two sophomores and three freshmen are currently starting for the team, and the girls have taken it upon themselves to lead this group to a winning season and a conference championship. The team has their next home match on Saturday, March 2, against currently topranked Pacific Lutheran University. They would love to have the student body show its support by attending the match against this formidable opponent, where they will see the tennis dome being put to good use.

THE PIONEER LOG SPORTS

PHOTO BY SARAH DODGE

Gillian Lowe (15) returns a serve in a match last week against Pacific (Ore.) in the newly remodeled tennis dome.

Mens basketball close season with near-upset of Whitworth

BY GRACE MEHLHAFF STAFF WRITER On Thursday, Feb. 21, the mens basketball team faced the Whitworth Pirates in the semi-final of the Northwest Conference Tournament in Spokane, Wash. Whitworth was heavily favored going into the tournament, but the Pioneers hoped to take them down even without one of their teams leading scorers, James Hollins (13). The Pioneers put up a tremendous fight, especially in the last few minutes, but ultimately fell to the Pirates 74-69. The game started out in Whitworths favor, with a 10-4 lead early in the game. The Pirates extended their lead to as many as 12 points in the first half, with the score at 27-15. The momentum seemed to belong to Whitworth until the Pioneers had a 13-7 run to end the half, eight of those points coming from Dexter Pearce (13). The Pioneers took the game into the half with Whitworth leading 34-28. The Pios opened the second half shooting 4-7 from behind the arc, taking their first and only lead of the game after five minutes of play, 42-39. The Pirates soon took back the lead but the Pioneers trailed close behind, determined to not let Whitworth win without a fight. With 1:21 on the clock, Connor Freeberg (14) brought the game within three points at 70-67. The Pioneers were then forced to foul in order to stop the clock, but the Pirates held their lead by making all four of their free throw attempts, giving them the win and a ticket to the conference championship. Pearce ended his senior season as the games leading scorer with 19 points, shooting 5-9 from the three-point line. Ross Erickson (13) contributed 12 points and seven rebounds in the last game of his senior season. Serg Ovchinnikov (16) put up 15 points, shooting 5-7 from behind the arc. Although this season is over, Pearce is confident in the team hes leaving behind, saying that they will be fighting for a conference championship next year.

PHOTO BY HANNAH PRINCE

Guard Scott Pisapia (13) gets physical with an opposing player in a home game earlier in the season.

Long days, difficult nights: student-athletes struggle to find balance

ERIK KHAZOYAN STAFF WRITER For those outside the athletic department, most Lewis & Clark athletes probably spend between 15-20 hours a week, if not more, focused on their sport. This time includes team practice, lifting, meets or games and travelling to such contest. For example, the swim team has practice before 7 a.m. four days a week, and they have two practices a day three days a week. Cross country and track athlete Sam Smith (13) says, I spend between two to three hours a day on my sport ... On days with a long workout, I can be at Pamplin until close to seven. Track meets take about six to eight hours out of the day, excluding travel. Many student-athletes find it hard to use their downtime at meets or while travelling to do homework because they are either cheering on their teammates or focusing on their own events. Smith explained, All of us try to do homework, but with varying levels of success. Personally, its very difficult for me to focus on homework on race day. The mental effort of running 5k (12.5 laps around the track) is enough as it is. An exception to this is how the football team devotes between 30-35 hours to honing their craft. Matt DeRosa (14) breaks this down as such three hours practice Tuesday through Thursday and two hours on Friday, which included getting ready and training room time, between three to five hours a week in the weight room, and games take all of Saturday. DeRosa added that on the day of a home game, We meet at 8 a.m. on the field to do walkthroughs, then breakfast, team meetings, on the field for warm-up by noon, kick-off at 1 p.m. (then game goes until 4 or 4:30 p.m.). The reader should understand that athletes on other teams often give up a lot of their weekend to competitions. Dexter Pearce (13) explained that the mens basketball team has three hours of practice four days a week (two hours on court and one hour of film), three hours of optional lifting per week, and games account for two to three hours per game. LC student-athletes have many strategies for balancing their sport and their studies. These strategies include using calendars to track obligations, making effective use of the time between classes and prioritizing their obligations. Rachel Levitsky (13) believes that she has gotten better at time management over my four years and find myself managing my time better in season. Levitsky added, I think what I will miss and what I remember the most is the family. It is hard to put in words how much our time is like a family but it just is. It might be just spending so much time together in the pool; I am not sure. Smith recognizes that he needs to take advantage of time in between classes, and I have also learned which assignments matter the most: papers, written responses, reading primary sources instead of secondary readings, etc. I need physical exercise to mentally concentrate, so in that sense athletics has actually helped my academic career. Additionally, there are misconceptions that exist about LC student-athletes. Pearce believes that the biggest misconception is that athletes get athletic scholarships. Division III Athletes are unable to earn athletics scholarships of any kind. Smith thinks it is strange we use money to create events, bring in speakers and maximize academic research all the time, but for some reason giving a group of students money to continue playing their sport is frowned upon by some members of our community. Smith continued, Athletics at our level is not a selfish pursuit of glory, its an earnest attempt to find meaning and joy in the world. I wish more people would respect that. I wish people could watch a soccer game and see as much expression and transcendence as an exhibition of student art. DeRosa echoes this theme by stating that he believes studentathletes should embrace the value non-athletes bring to the community as well.