Brigham Young
Women swimmers win
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - BYU's women's swimming team claimed its third straight title Saturday night in the WAC Swimming and Diving Championships.
BYU finished the competition with 582 points to Colorado State's 502 points. Other teams finished as follows: Fresno State, 400; New Mexico, 236; Utah, 206; Wyoming, 141; San Diego State, 56.
BYU's Cherrill Haws topped the competition in the 1,650 free by setting a WAC record (16:35.46).
BYU's Stephanie Egan triumphed in the 100 free (51.74), while teammate Anji Porter touched the wall first in the 200 breaststroke (2:20.74).
And the Cougars' Amie Nielsen claimed the title in the 200 fly (2:05.02).
BYU's 400 free relay team - consisting of Egan, Haws, Collard and Katie Willis - finished first in the 400 free relay (3:27.44).
Only 11 points separated the BYU men's swimming and diving team from first-place University of Utah (509), as the Cougars placed second (498) at the WAC Championships in Las Vegas Saturday.
BYU's diving team kept the Cougars in the hunt for first by sweeping the competition and taking the first five places on the one-meter springboard.
BYU sophomore Nathan Cook won the one-meter springboard with a 557.60.
The highest non-BYU score was a 479.85 from the University of Hawaii.
In the swimming events, the Cougars managed only one first-place finish, as junior Glenn Abernathy won the 200 backstroke.
Kaneshiro posts upset
PROVO - Senior Cherie Kaneshiro stunned University of Miami's Rachel Viollet, who is ranked third in the nation, as BYU's No. 20 women's tennis team downed No. 27 Miami Saturday 5-2 at the BYU Indoor Courts.
"Cherie played one of her finest matches ever today," said BYU coach Ann Valentine of her No. 1 singles player. "When you beat the No. 3 player in the nation, you know you are in select company."
"I was nervous going into the match but I think it helped me play better," said Kaneshiro, who won 6-3, 0-6, 6-4. "Viollet is a counterpuncher, so it was up to me to decide the pace of the game by being aggressive."
In No. 2 doubles, junior Jennifer Saret jumped back from a 1-6 loss in the first game to blast Miami's Caroline Hora, who is ranked No. 38 nationally, 6-0, 6-4 in the last two sets.
Salt Lake City native Angela Nelson dominated No. 3 singles by crunching Miami's Ashley Miller 6-3, 6-3. Nelson is now 14-4 overall and 8-1 in the No. 3 position.
Adrien Alder, a freshman from Ogden, was the other successful BYU player in singles. She buried Victoria Hunt 6-0, 6-4.
In doubles, BYU's Julie Menefee/Michelle Domanico duo came on strong in the last two sets to defeat Viollet/Hora 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Because BYU secured the dual-match win after No. 1 doubles was completed, Miami opted not to play No. 2 and No. 3 doubles.
The win improved BYU's overall record to 8-3. The Cougars will rest two days before meeting Utah Tuesday in Provo.
Y. outlasts SDSU
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Transfer Anthony Fenton had his biggest night of the season with 25 kills as the BYU men's volleyball team finally had a close match go its way in defeating San Diego State Friday night, 15-10, 15-10, 8-15, 12-15 and 15-10.
Scott Larkin added 24 kills and Kevin Hambly had 22 while setter Jesse Gant continued his torrid blocking with 11 block assists as the Cougars evened their overall record at 6-6 and improved to 5-6 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
On Thursday night at Cal State Northridge, BYU also won the first two games only to lose the match in the five games--their second straight marathon loss and fourth of the season.
The win at SDSU came in spite of 37 kills by the Aztecs' All-American, John Hyden. SDSU is now 3-5 both overall and in the league.
Cougars sweep Lobos
ALBUQUERQUE - Scoring a two-game total of 27 runs, BYU won both games of its Saturday doubleheader against the University of New Mexico, 4-3 and 23-11.
The Cougars improved to 9-12 overall and 2-1 in WAC play.
Scott Haws, BYU's starting pitcher in the first game, gave up only three runs, scattered eight hits and stuck out four as he improved his record to 4-2. Offensively, the Cougars recorded four doubles.
In the second game, the Cougars racked up 23 runs off 18 hits, including two home runs by Jared Bills and Leroy Brown.
BYU will continue conference play against WAC newcomer Grand Canyon University. The Cougars will play a doubleheader Tuesday and a single game Wednesday.
Y. edges Nevada
PROVO, Utah - Playing without their top two players in the line up, the BYU men's tennis team defeated Nevada 4-3, thanks to outstanding performances by freshman Nikola Blagojevic, and Shawn Hiatt.
In singles competition Blagojevic and Hiatt won both their matches 6-1, 6-1.
The Cougars swept the doubles with three wins. Squire and Fairchild, and Rosander and MacIntosh both took their matches 8-4, while Sheppert and Hiatt won 8-2.
The Cougars will meet Washington at 6 p.m. Saturday.