• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_2016-02-25_Vol83_No02_05

The Western Carolinian SPORTS February 25, 2016 A5 Men's basketball team wins close game with Bulldogs, womens falls to Mocs Jake Browning Staff Writer The Western Caro- lina University mens and womens basketball teams played a hard fought double header against Samford and Chattanooga, respec- tively, on Feb. 13 at the Ramsey Center, bring- ing home a victory anda defeat. The women were up first against the Chattanooga Mocs. After an opening awards ceremony honoring Western Carolina senior players Lindsay Simpson, Brianne Mack, Erika Jo- seph and Lindsey Burle- son, both teams came out swinging. The game was a defensive struggle featur- ing aggressive rebounds, skillful passes and a fair share of fouls. The Cata- mounts were strong from the beginning and domi- nated their opponents dur- ing the few opening series, but the first quarter ended ina tie and the half witha narrow lead of five points. At the beginning of the second half, Chattanooga began playing much more aggressively and quickly closed the gap. Western Carolina kept up a strong inside game, but the Mocs began to pull away ona string of powerful drives (as well as a series of con- troversial foul calls that some more enthusiastic fans could be heard describ- ing as ridiculous and total bull****), The Mocs eventually overpowered the Catamount defense, and the final score was 51-65 in favor of Chattanooga. The womens team was led by Ace Easter and Sherae Bonner on points scored, Sherae Bonner on rebounds and blocks, Angel Allen on assists and Erika Joseph on steals. The teams record now stands at 6-19 overall, 2-9 for the conference and 5-7 at home. The mens game against the Samford Bulldogs followed shortly after and immediately took on'a fast-paced, offensive tone. With the point difference remaining almost constant- ly within single digits, this matchup was characterized by big plays and wildly swinging momentum. At one point in the first half, the Bulldogs managed to open up the games first and only ten point lead, only to have the Catamounts gain mojo going into the half and retain it until they had made up the entire gap unanswered. A similar pattern persisted throughout the second half. In the last ten minutes, however, the Catamounts finally gota good grip on the lead and never let it go with back to back three pointers from Justin Browning and Rhett Harrelson, the latter of whom had a particularly impressive night with five completed three point- ers and a grand total of 19 points. The final score was 76-71, this time in favor of Western Carolina. The mens team was led by Mike Brown on blocks, assists and rebounds, by Justin Browning on steals and by Rhett Harrelson on points scored. This win improved the mens teams overall standing to 11-15, their conference record to 6-7 and their at home record to 10-2. It also means that they will begin their upcoming road trip through Eastern Tennes- see State, Mercer and the Citadel on their first three game winning streak of Men's catamount basketball huddle during a timeout. the season, also built on wins against the Virginia Military Institute and Chat- tanooga. Head Coach Stephanie McCormick of the womens team is spending her first season as a head coach for the Lady Catamounts after spending two years as an assistant coach for the Sienna College Saints, whom she helped lead to a 22-18 overall record and an appearance at the Womens Basketball Invitational Championship. Head Coach Larry Hunter of the mens team is a former conference championship head coach of the Ohio Bobcats. He is coaching his eleventh sea- son with the Catamounts, Photo by Breanna Taylor/STAFF whom he has coached through two regular season division championships. Catamount Sports is the official resource for all things athletic at Western Carolina. You can visit www.catamountsports.com for more information on the universitys basketball programs and much more. Jake Browning Staff Writer Western Carolina Uni- versitys womens tennis team brought home a big win in their match against the Longwood University Lancers on Feb. 12. The first victories of the day came in the first round from seniors Stacia Kissell and Shannon Bettiol, who won their doubles match against Fallon Burger and Isis Gill of Longwood with a score of 6-1. Senior Nicole Nielly and freshman Gaby Hurt faced Paloma Ala- torre ae Maria Coronel next and also enjoyed a handy victory of 6-3. Senior Megan McLinden and freshman Savannah Taranto finished off the doubles round in a full sweep against Anna Pelak and Mason Thomas. Senior Erin Maguire and sopho- more Elizabeth Ansari, as well as Kissel, Alatorre, Bettiol and McLinden, con- tinued to dominate in the singles rounds, leading toa resounding 7-0 success by the Lady Catamounts. The victory was almost prevented, however, when an unexpected snowstorm before the first rounds threatened to postpone the match. The snow let up in time to allow play, but the cold was still an extremely noticeable factor as the players took the court. According to Head Coach Michaela Kissell-Eddins, however, it did nothing if not motivate the team. T thought we handled the elements really well today and brought great energy from the first point in doubles, said Kissell- Eddins. This win improves the womens teams record . to 4-2 overall with a total of 24 set wins. The Lady Calandunts still have a long season ahead of them, with regular season games lasting until April 16 when they will host a double header against Limestone College and Lenoir-Rhyne University and with confer- ence play starting when they play in Greensboro on March 4. Michaela Kissell-Eddins played tennis with the University of Miami and Marshall University for an amazing record of 55-20 on singles and 55-21 on dou- bles and is also a former interim head coach at the University of Pittsburgh and former assistant coach for Cornell University. She has been with Western Carolina since September of 2013. In a very short pe- riod, she has lead the Lady Catamounts to some im- pressive accomplishments. Last year, they secured their first Southern Con- ference Championship in four years in a nail biting 4-3 match with Mercer. In the same season, they had six conference wins, the franchises highest total since 2002. Before the match, I told the girls I wanted this to be the first match that every single person had a great day and thats exactly what happened, Kissell-Eddins said about the teams per- formance against the Lanc- ers. Longwood is avery . good team and we knew to expect close matches on each court. Iam very proud of each of the girls and lam excited about the opportu- nities that lie ahead of us. Catamount Sports is the official resource for all things athletic at Western ~ Carolina. You can visit www.catamountsports.com for more information about Lady Catamounts tennis ahd much more. y for upcoming Southern Conference championships Track and Field prepares Ronnie Davia Staff Writer Western Carolina Uni- versitys entire populace is absolutely nuts about Catamount Sports in general, especially Chan- cellor David Belcher. Among these sports we love is Track and Field, which is currently in its indoor season. The sport is, as a whole, so me- chanically different from any other. Hailey Cook, an entre- preneurship major in her junior year here at Western Carolina, com- petes in throwing events, shot-put, weight throw, discuss and hammer. Currently we are neck and neck with two other teams: Samford and East Tennessee State University. We are fighting for first place in the Southern Confer- ence. This season we have a very young team, and learning to compete . with so much young tal- ent has been a challenge. We should hopefully be strong within the South- ern Conference ratings. Hopefully, we will have a few people going to junior regionals, in Oregon, or regionals, in Florida, said Cook. Among this new talent that the track and field team has been able to scout out is Kennedy Williams, a freshman pole vaulter. T love competing with WCU. We are a closely knit team. We are known for performing the way we do for each other, not ourselves. At meets, we are always cheering ev- eryone on, pushing them to be the best they can, Williams said about her experience on the team. My hopes for the remainder of the season is to win both indoor and outdoor conference, but watch my teammates grow and do all they can to perfect what events theyre involved in. We are all in this together, and watching my team thrive not only makes me want to do better for myself, but for all of them, Williams added. During this indoor season, the Catamounts have been to Tennessee, Virginia and Alabama. Mateius Brown, a sophomore criminal justice major and com- munication minor, participates in heavy implements and throw- ing events. This season has been a strong season for me individually in the throwing events compared to the previ- ous year. The team is at its all-time highest level of performance than ever before. The team has stayed closer in distance compared to last year. The team has grown stronger compet- ing in small meets that allowed for full effort. performances. The team is stronger than ever, I believe because of the amount of effort put into smaller meets this year, said Brown. There are many Cata- mounts on the team that hope to come out on top in the SOCON champi- onships taking place in Birmingham, Alabama on Feb. 27. Among them, is freshman business management major, Tyrie Adams. We have had a lot of excellent individual performances by many people! We have fresh- man breaking school records, seniors sae ing school records, and many people placing first in their events. All of these which help us win asateam! said Adams. This season helped meas aperson more | than anything, because I can now see how hard I have to continue to work to be able to main- tain grades, football, and good performance ~ in track. Its helped me become a better person overall, Adams added. For more information about the track and field team and all other ath- letic programs at West- ern Carolina, visit www. catamountsports.com. Before they were coaches: Michaela Kissell-Eddins of womens tennis Anna Crisp Staff Writer Tennis is encoded in Coach Kissell-Eddins DNA. The Western Caro- lina University womens tennis coach grew up playing and loving the sport. Her mother was a tennis teacher and coach herself and taught Kissell-Eddins and her two sisters how to play at a young age. The entire family shared a passion for the sport. T was especially obsessed with the sport and couldnt wait to come home from school and practice anywhere from three to six hours a day: Thonestly couldnt get enough, said Kissell- Eddins. Her love for the sport drove her to have a very successful career as a high school tennis player. After high school she found herself with a big decision to make from be- ing heavily recruited. Kissell-Eddins began her excellent college ten- nis career at the Univer- sity of Miami, but after her first two years there, she made the move to Marshall University. Despite having a suc- cessful two first years on the court at Miami and being named an All-ACC athlete, I realized I would be happier somewhere else, Kissell-Eddins said. I decided to trans- fer to Marshall Univer- sity and had a wonderful last two years of college there. There I realized I not only loved tennis as an individual sport, but that I particularly loved the team aspect of NCAA tennis. Her time at Marshall University helped Kis- sell-Eddins realize she might enjoy coaching her favorite sport someday. T was very close to my coaches and it was here [Marshall] I started to think that maybe I would love to coach one day, she said. Marshall University provided many positive experiences for Kissell- Eddins, since it was there that she met her hus- band, as well. T also met my husband during my time there and had finally found someone as obsessed with tennis as I was. We realized that it is both our dream together to be successful college coach- es and help other people love the sport as much as we do, she said. Kissell-Eddins started coaching tennis imme- diately after graduating college. She started as the Assistant Coach at Cornell University before becoming the Assistant Coach at the University of Pittsburgh. The opportunity to coach at a school like that so close to home was too good to pass up. Kissell-Eddins said of the position. Halfway through her year working as the Assistant Coach at the University of Pittsburgh, the head coach decided to retire. Kissell-Eddins became the interim head coach. During that time, I realized I really loved being a head coach and getting to make the big decisions that could affect your overall suc- cess, she said. Then Kissell-Eddins began a search for permanent head coach- ing positions. Western Carolina University had a position open, and the university already held a special place in Kissell- Eddins heart. I had previously brought my sister, Stacia Kissell, on her recruit- ing visit here and was amazed by how beautiful the campus was and how much potential I thought the tennis team could have. Being that she went to school here, it already held a special place in my heart and when I was offered the job I couldnt have been more excited to.accept and start work- ing with the team, she said. After her first coaching job at Cornell, Kissell- Eddins knew that coach- ing tennis was the job for her. 1 realized I loved help- ing other people reach their individual goals. I also still love to compete and as acoach you get to feel the butterflies just like you did when you were a player, she said. Kissell-Eddins loves ev- erything about coaching tennis. he relationships that she gets to make with the team and mak- ing memories together makes it worthwhile. Also seeing your play- ers reach new heights in their games and doing things maybe they didnt think was possible is a pretty awesome feeling, she said. As for her least favor- ite part of coaching, she doesnt have one. Losing is of course never fun, but as my mom always used to say the second best thing to winning a tennis match is losing a tennis match, because in both sce- narios you got to play the game, she said. When shes not coach- ing, Kissell-Eddins en- joys spending time with _ family, reading, exercis- ing and being outdoors. Kissell-Eddins has a daughter named Kylie and a son due in April. My family has always and will always be my number one, and being a mom is my absolute favorite thing in the world, she said. Watch- Photo by Mark Haskett ing Kylie grow has been the single most reward- _ ing thing I have ever done and Im excited to see her be a big sister soon. Kissell-Eddins success leads one to ask, what advice has she got for us college students? From my experience the best athletes and most successful people are often the most persis- tent and consistent. Kis- sell-Eddins said. Dont get down when you fail. Everyone fails at some point. Small failures do not mean you wont reach your goal.

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University's student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
  • Text
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 2016-02-25
• Extent
  • Dimension: 22.5" x 11.25"
  • Pages: 12
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
  • Western Carolina University -- Periodicals
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_2016-02-25_Vol83_No02
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library