Welcome to The Doghouse, a weekly column recapping Union University sports action from the weekend.
The volleyball team swept Mississippi College on Friday, soccer hit the road with the women and men both going 1-1, and men’s and women’s cross country had respectable appearances in Saturday’s Rhodes College Invitational.
Coming off a 3-1 loss to Christian Brothers University on Thursday, the volleyball team was seeking redemption in Friday’s game.
“It is at this point of the year that we need to be playing better volleyball,” Darrin McClure, head coach, said.
The match started with a very back-and-forth set, in which Union came out on top 25-22. After this set, the Lady Bulldogs controlled the two that followed, winning 25-19 and 25-16.
The team’s kill leaders were senior Deja Moorer, with 11, and junior Ceciley Blanchard, with nine. Freshman Alecia Funk had 18 assists in the game, while senior Hannah Huguley added 17. Freshman Audrey Cagle led the team with 17 digs.
This sweep moves Union to 4-6 overall and 1-1 in conference play.
“This next week of road games will be a tough test for us, so we are thankful to get rest this weekend,” McClure said.
Also Friday, the women’s soccer team lost in a complete shutout to the winningest team in Gulf South history, the West Florida Argonauts (135-14-3).
In the game, the Argonauts outshot the Lady Bulldogs 25 to six, and there were no penalties.
West Florida had goals from one freshman and one senior in each half. In the first half, the scorers were Kaley Ward and Leonie Kreil. In the second half, the team’s goals came from Sara Helgadottir and Camille King.
Union turned their struggles around on Sunday, when the Lady Bulldogs defeated Spring Hill College for their first regular season win.
The game started with a scoreless first half, void of penalties. In the half, Union outshot Spring Hill 11 to one.
In the first five minutes of the second half, a yellow card was called on Addison Dunn, freshman Union midfielder/forward. Approximately 15 minutes later, in the 63rd minute of play Georgia Hopkins, sophomore defender, Shelby High, found junior midfielder, for the game’s lone goal.
In the game, Union took 21 shots and had eight corner kicks, while Spring Hill had seven shots and one corner.
After the weekend, the Lady Bulldogs have a record of 1-3-1 overall, and 1-1 in conference.
The men’s soccer team also started their weekend with a loss to West Florida on Friday.
In the 7th minute of play, Argonaut forward Marteinn Urbancic scored on a penalty kick.
The game remained 1-0 until the 57th minute, when Urbancic scored off of an assist from Allan Kuhne, senior midfielder/defender . Kuhne’s long pass set up Urbancic for a one-on-one situation with Union goal keeper Pedro Haniel, freshman.
Union was left in the dust in this game, as they were outshot 11 to five, and were shut down 2-0.
Things changed come Sunday, when Union defeated Spring Hill College with three late goals.
As has been a common trend for Union soccer this season, the first half was low scoring. In this case, it was scoreless.
In the 55th minute of play, Spring Hill forward Imbrahima Ndaw, redshirt junior, scored the game’s first goal to put the Badgers up one.
With under 20 minutes to play, the Bulldogs remained down 1-0, but in a matter of less than five minutes, Union took the lead. In the 73rd minute, Paul Langord, senior Union forward, tied the game with a goal assisted by Cole Asfour, freshman midfielder/forward. In the 77th minute, Henrique Loureiro, junior defender, successfully made a penalty kick.
As the game wound down, Tomas Frishneck added to Union’s lead with a goal assisted by Rodrigo Zonta, senior midfielder.
After this weekend’s games, the Union soccer team has a record of 3-4 overall, and 1-1 in conference.
In Memphis this Saturday, the men’s cross country team had four runners participate in the Rhodes 8k, among a field of 17 schools and 156 runners.
A series of unfortunate events, including injuries, prevented the team from having the necessary five runners to qualify for a team score. Union’s top finisher was senior Jacob Whitney, who finished with a 26:11 for 11th place.
“Jacob is running very well and is finishing a great career,” Gary Johnson head coach, said.
The Memphis Tigers took first with a time of 2:09:28, followed by Central Arkansas and Harding. The host Rhodes College Lynx came in fourth.
For the women’s cross country team, the 5k run in Memphis consisted of 164 runners from 20 schools, and ended with a fourth place finish for the Lady Bulldogs. Like in the men’s race, Memphis took first, this time with a team time of 1:31:25.
Johnson said it was a “great strategic race” for Union.
“We had the girls work on hitting a pre-determined pace,” Johnson said. “They did well.”
Janey Berends, junior, led the way for the Lady Bulldogs, finishing in 18th with a time of 19:27. Sarah Fickley, junior, came in just four seconds later for 19th.
“Janey and Sarah are leading the women’s team at this point of the season, and are helping prepare the younger girls to perform in October and November,” said Johnson. “We will use these results to plan new workout paces and continue moving forward.”
Looking ahead, volleyball travels to Shorter University on Tuesday, North Alabama on Friday, and Alabama-Huntsville on Saturday. Men’s soccer plays at West Alabama Friday night, while women’s soccer plays at Mississippi College on Friday and at Delta State on Sunday. On Saturday, men’s and women’s cross country have an invitational at Trevecca Nazarene. Starting Sunday, men’s and women’s golf will be playing in the Freed-Hardeman Classic.
Who took this photo? Please don’t forget to credit such sources.
Hey, David, Thanks for catching that. It was a photo submitted to us by the athletics department and we have updated the caption to reflect that.