Sports Shorts
The Men’s Volleyball team finished up their postseason run this past weekend, advancing to the quarterfinals of the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA) Championship tournament and collecting many awards along the way. Seeded No. 5 in the tournament, MIT swept No. 12 Stevenson University (25-18, 25-17, 25-19) but lost to No. 4 Philadelphia Biblical University (17-25, 19-25, 26-24, 25-17, 15-6). Timothy R. Lee ’11 and David R. Thomas ’12 represented the nationally-ranked No. 10 Engineers (29-7) on the NECVA All-Tournament Team.
Cinderella makes it to the ball, but then trips...
This year’s Division I NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship game featured the third-seeded University of Connecticut Huskies against the eighth-seeded Butler Bulldogs. Despite possessing the lead after a brutal, defense-dominated first half, the Butler team completely fell apart in the second half, losing their second NCAA Championship game in a row in what will no doubt be considered one of the least memorable finals in the history of the tournament.
Baseball takes two out of three against Coast Guard
MIT’s offense, rendered dormant by WPI pitching last week, erupted for 22 runs in two games as the Engineers took two of three games from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy this past weekend, improving their overall record to 14-6.
BETH STAVELY ‘11 Flying, soaring, and winning
Elizabeth L. “Beth” Stavely ’11, who was named an All-American diver this year at the NCAA Division III championship, enjoys falling from great heights. Before coming to MIT, Beth completed a skydiving course and earned her “A” license, which allows her to jump from an airplane alone. She has also been honing her daredevil skills by taking classes at a trapeze school in Reading, Mass., since the summer. This love for falling and soaring through the air may have begun in her early years when she started gymnastics at age 4. A competitive gymnast since elementary school, Beth continued with the sport here at MIT.
Women’s Tennis plays in Wellesley Invitational
This past weekend MIT Women’s Tennis played in the Wellesley Invitational. In the first match they played SUNY New Paltz. The doubles matches went quickly. The number one team of Lauren C. Quisenberry ’14 and Candace L. Wu ’14 and the number two team of Julia C. Hsu ’14 and Bianca M. Dumitrascu ’13 both defeated their opponents with a decisive score of 8-1. At number three Melissa A. Diskin ’11 and Katharine A. O’Neal ’14 defeated their opponents 8-3. During the doubles matches, Jenny C. Dohlman ’11 played an exhibition match at seven singles and completed her match quickly, defeating her opponent 8-0, hardly losing a point. Overall, MIT went into the singles matches ahead 3-0.
SPORTS SHORTS
The MIT Women’s Openweight Crew team competed this past weekend against Boston College in the Inaugural Cup. This was the first race of the season.
After Tour de Troy, Cycling boasts 300 pt. division lead
MIT Cycling returned from yet another weekend race with a victory. The Engineers are having one of their best road cycling seasons in recent years: four weeks into an eight-week season, MIT has a commanding division lead of nearly 300 points over Bucknell University, as well as the overall lead by 50 points.
Baseball improves to 12-4 with WPI walk-off win
Holding onto a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, starter Chrisopher L. Vaughan ’12 found himself in a bases-loaded jam, pitching on a frigid Tuesday afternoon against Worcester Polytechnic Institute. This is the type of situation when dugout chatter tends to pick up. Dugout chatter is a rhythmic composition of the digits of the player’s numbers (2 and 8, in the case of Vaughan), a disyllabic nickname (Vaughanie), and exhortations like “here we go” or “battle.” The presence and intensity of the chatter matters far more than the content. As such, heads turn when someone from the dugout artfully weaves in the suggestion that Vaughan should actually “have fun” and that, in fact, “baseball is fun.”
The Tech’s sports staff weigh in as Final Four compete for NCAA Championship
From an original field of 68 teams in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, four teams — VCU, Butler, Connecticut, and Kentucky — are left, their hopes for a national title still alive. Both VCU and Butler, seeded eleventh and eighth, respectively, reached the Final Four by way of a string of upsets; Kentucky and Connecticut had close calls of their own, with the Wildcats upsetting Ohio State on their final possession and the Huskies edging Arizona by two points to reach the Final Four.
Men’s Swim takes 4th
The MIT Men’s Swimming team competed at Division III Nationals last weekend. Five swimmers, as well as five relay teams, earned All-American finishes, as the Engineers took fourth overall, the best finish in program history.
Cycling races in Philly
The MIT cycling team traveled to Philadelphia this weekend for the third race in the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference (ECCC) road-racing season. The weekend opened with the first team time trial (TTT) of the season. The TTT is generally MIT’s strongest event, as the teams make it a priority to practice together often — and the practice certainly paid off. The women’s A, men’s B, and men’s C teams won the event.
Party like it’s 1875? Red Sox ready for 2011 season
At 1:55 p.m. on Friday, April 8, military jets will streak across the sky to kick-off a baseball season that, to a vast swath of New England, no superlative can adequately describe. If you tune into WEEI 850 AM, you will hear caller after caller proclaim that he or she has truly found the best baseball team in the world. Not only that, you can be part of the excitement on Opening Day at Fenway Park, for just $100 on the secondary ticket market (seat not included)!
Lacrosse gets conference win
Following a shaky start, the MIT Engineers were able to overpower Smith College 9-3 on Saturday to win their first New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) lacrosse game of the season. A little over three minutes into the game, Smith’s Becky Bracken put the Pioneers on the board, giving them a 1-0 lead which stood for ten minutes, until MIT’s Kaitlyn L. Nealon ’14, assisted by Erica W. Little ’11, managed to tie the score.
SPORTS SHORTS
The MIT Women’s Softball team defeated Smith College in both games of a NEWMAC doubleheader on Saturday afternoon. With the 9-1 and 3-1 wins, the Engineers improved their conference record to 3-3.
MIT wins NECVA title
The nationally-ranked No. 10 MIT Men’s Volleyball team wrapped up regular-season play with a hard-fought 41-39, 25-20, 25-17 victory over North East Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA) New England Division foe Wentworth Institute of Technology on Friday night. The Engineers finished the New England Division standings with a ledger of 15-1 and an overall mark of 28-6 to earn their first NECVA New England title since 2007.
Women’s Tennis sweeps Mills College in California
This past week MIT Women’s Tennis traveled to California for their spring break trip. The Engineers played Mills College on Caltech’s courts because their match against Caltech was canceled due to rain and Caltech’s traveling schedule. The team returned home with an official win of 9-0.