Brigham Young
FOOTBALL: To conclude the spring practice season, the BYU football team will participate in the annual Blue/White scrimmage Saturday. Kickoff is slated for noon (MST) at Cougar Stadium. Admission to the game will be free of charge.Before the intersquad scrimmage, coaches and players will be on hand, beginning promptly at 11 a.m., to conduct a free football clinic for children between the ages of 8 and 14. The clinic will also be free of charge for those wishing to participate.
MEN'S VOLLEYBALL: Following its first loss of the season on Friday to then third-ranked Long Beach State, 3-2, the BYU men's volleyball team (19-1, 12-1) dropped to No. 3 in both the USA Today/AVCA Coaches' Top-15 and the Volleyball Magazine Top-10 poll.
With their win over the Cougars, the '49ers (16-1, 13-1) claimed the No. 1 spot in both polls, while BYU's upcoming opponent, Pepperdine (18-1, 12-1), remained the second-ranked team in the nation.
In a battle for the top spot in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation's Mountain Division, BYU will take on Pepperdine (18-1, 12-1) on Friday and Saturday in the Smith Fieldhouse. Both matches are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Not only will the winner of this weekend's series take sole possession of the MPSF's Mountain Division, but the victor will have the inside track to hosting the first round of the conference tournament.
The top-seed in the Mountain Division, as well as the Pacific Division, will host first-round action on April 24, while the highest remaining seed will play host to the finals on April 29 to May 1. The winner of the MPSF Tournament, and perhaps an at-large selection (from the highest-rated volleyball conference in the nation), will receive an automatic bid to the four-team NCAA Championships on May 6-8 at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles.
Pepperdine enters this weekend's series having won 18 of its last 19 matches, including a nine-match win streak. The Wave knocked off fourth-ranked Ohio State on Monday, 3-0, and has won its last eight matches in three straight games.
Like BYU, Pepperdine's only loss of the season came against Long Beach State, 3-2. Pepperdine is led by All-American and 1998 AVCA Player of the Year, George Roumain.
MEN'S TENNIS: A clean sweep in the singles round gave BYU's 51st ranked men's tennis team a 9-0 victory over Air Force Monday. The win improves BYU's record to 7-4, 2-2 on the year. Air Force drops to 16-7, 0-3.
The Cougars head to Palo Alto for a matchup on Wednesday against the third ranked Stanford Cardinal team, then it's off to Santa Barbara for the Gaucho Invitational, March 24-27.
MEN'S GOLF: Junior Andy Miller finished up strong at the Morris Williams Intercollegiate Tuesday in Austin, Texas, by carding a final-round 69 to finish in third place with a 1-under 215. Miller helped BYU finish fourth among many of the nations highest ranked teams.
Georgia, ranked third nationally took the victory with a three-round total of 876. UNLV, ranked fifth, finished second at 885. Sixth ranked Houston came in at 887, with No. 11 BYU at 893 and No. 2 Oklahoma State at 897 rounding out the top five.
Utah State
SOFTBALL: Senior outfielder Tammy Alcantar has been named the Big West Conference Position Player-of-the-Week after leading the Aggies to a 4-0 record last week.
Alcantar went 8-14 for a .571 batting average in helping USU sweep doubleheaders from San Jose State and Southern Utah. Alcantar knocked in seven runs and scored six, to go along with three doubles and her first home run of the season.
Southern Utah
BASEBALL: Southern Utah's baseball team found itself on the short end of another slugfest, this time dropping a 12-10 decision to Air Force Tuesday afternoon in Cedar City.
SOFTBALL: Defending Mid-Continent Conference champion DePaul opened its 1999 conference schedule with a pair of wins Tuesday, sweeping a double-header from Southern Utah, 7-1 and 8-0.
Jenn Kerr (1-14) and Audrey Jensen (2-7) suffered the pitching losses for the T-birds.
Weber-UVSC
BASEBALL: Weber State swept a pair of games from Utah Valley State College, getting solid pitching performances from Scott Wade and Jake King to beat the Wolverines 9-2 and 6-3.
The two losses dropped UVSC to 12-15 on the year. The Wolverines will take on the College of Southern Idaho in a Scenic West doubleheader Friday at 1:00 PM at UVSC. The same two clubs will tangle in a Saturday twinbill at noon.