Welcome back fellow Cougars, to another academic year that is sure to be filled with more exciting sports moments than ever before; sports moments that I take great delight in covering. For those who don’t know, I am Ken, and I will be bringing you sports recaps through the Xavierite digitally, for the first time ever. Now, without any more time wasted, let’s recap some sports for the week of August 29.
Golf
The sun is out and the grass is green, which could only mean one thing: Golf season.
Thursday, Sept 1
Competing in their second tournament of the year, the Cougars went up against many different schools in the two-day Governors State Jaguar Invitational, held in Crete, Illinois.
Men
The men had to compete against nine other schools, and out of the ten total teams, SXU placed 8, with a score of 326 on day one and 354 on day two. Freshman Matthew Clark led the way for the Cougars with a score of 75 on day one and 76 on day two, for a total score of 151. Senior Robert Lively followed with a score of 81 on day one and 83 on day two, for a total score of 163. Overall, this is a disappointing result for the men’s team, especially after finishing 12 out of 13 other teams in the last tournament. Let’s hope they pick it up.
Women
The women saw a bit more success, well a lot more success, than the men as the finished 1 out of the 3 other teams that competed that day. The team had a score of 310 on day one and 317 on day two, for a total score of 627, 51 points lower than the runner up Robert Morris University (678). Senior Taylor Thompson led the way with a 75 score both days, with a total score of 150, followed by junior Hannah Cruz, who had 77 on day one and 78 on day two, for a total of 155. Although they competed against fewer teams than the men, you still can’t undercut the success the Women’s Golf team is experiencing.
Volleyball
Now, we’re going to be trading in our green grass and fresh clubs for indoor courts and knee pads. That’s right, it’s volleyball time.
Thursday, Sept 1
The 4-2 SXU Women’s Volleyball found themselves matched up against the 0-1 Dominican University.
Set 1
The first set was a tightly contested one that saw Saint Xavier gain 25-22. This game was very much back and forward for the first 10 points scored, until Dominican started to get into a grove and run away with it. Trailing 21-19 and realizing they were in danger of losing, the Cougars started to turn it up by going on a 5-0 run that put them up 24-21. Dominican was able to score again, but couldn’t stop SXU as they were able to close the game.
Set 2
The second set was a very different story from the first. There was way less back and forward as more dominance was displayed by the SXU Cougars. At one point in the game, they led 15-9. As one can guess, Dominican was unable to stop the offensive fury displayed by SXU as they took set 2, 25-19.
Set 3
Realizing they were on the verge of losing the game, Dominican University sought dominance from the beginning, leading 14-12 early. Despite the early lead, SXU was not going to allow Dominican to win the set and elongate the game. SXU went on a 5-0, and eventually won the set 25-21, and the game at 3 sets to 0.
Cross Country
From outdoor to indoor, and back to the outdoors, we now switch our gears to the Cross Country team.
Friday, Sept 2
Both the Men and Women’s Cross Country team competed against numerous other schools in the Saint Twilight Invitational, hosted by the University of Saint Francis.
Men
The men’s team competed against 9 other teams, and finished 6 out of the 10 total teams. As a team, SXU ran an average time of 16:54.0. Junior Abel Hernandez led the way for the Cougars in the race, finishing 8 with a running time of 15:42.7.
Women
The women’s team had a pretty impressive showing in the tournament as they finished 2 out of 11 total teams that competed. The team ran an average time of 18:50.6 with senior Nicole Watkins leading the way with a 2 place finish in the race, and a running time of 18:25.5.
This will end this week’s recap, but comeback Friday for a recap of the week of 9/6. Also, be sure to check up on other sections of the Xavierite for daily happenings of the school, opinion pieces, movie reviews, and more exciting features.
Kenneth Washington
Sports Editor