Kyle McDonald | Sports editor | @kylesportsbias
Photos courtesy of Byron Harward & Gabi Campbell
It will be a pretty busy day for the UVU athletic department and it could be a really good day for the UVU athletic teams, mainly the volleyball team, women’s soccer team, women’s basketball team, and the men’s basketball team.
The Wolverine spikers finish off their regular season by hosting Western Athletic Conference regular season champion New Mexico State. The Aggies haven’t lost a conference match and defeated the Wolverines 3-1 back on October 15. It is senior day for Lauren Bakker, Megan Jenkins and Jaramey Barney so there will be a lot of emotion riding high in this match. UVU is also in in a tie with CSU Bakersfield for the No. 2 seed in next week’s WAC tournament so a win could help that cause.
Everyone, by now, should know what is going on in Provo at South Field at 1 p.m. MT. UVU travels the short distance to Provo to take on 19th-ranked BYU in an NCAA Women’s College Cup first round matchup. The game features WAC goalkeeper of the year Jessica Duffin going up against West Coast Conference goalkeeper of the year Rachel Boaz. The Cougars only give up 0.37 goals per game, UVU scores 2.24 goals per game. So it will be an interesting chess match between the Cougars and the Wolverines. It is the first-ever appearance in the NCAA tournament for the UVU women’s soccer team while BYU has been here 7 out of the last 8 years, including a run to the Elite Eight in 2007. It is a sold out match as both teams are looking to move on to the second round of the NCAA Women’s College Cup.
The men’s and women’s basketball teams look to rebound on Saturday evening. The women’s team hosts Bethesda University and tip is scheduled for 3 p.m. They will look to get in the win column in their home opener and will look to get more offense out of Rhaiah Spooner-Knight and Mariah Seals. The men’s team takes on Great Falls in their home opener and senior guards Jaden Jackson and Marcel Davis will look to bounce back from a rough performance on Friday night against BYU. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. MT in the UCCU Center.
It is another exciting day for Utah Valley University and one that fans should look forward to. The UVU Mawl was out in force at the Marriott Center last night not just for the men’s game but for the women’s game as well. There is a lot of school pride going on right now and with the exciting things happening in day three of a huge sports weekend for UVU, why shouldn’t there be?
