Mountain Momma Monday: March 18

This past week in WVU women’s athletics saw the gymnastics squad excel while the tennis squad got back to their losing ways. The diving squad wrapped up their season in the NCAA Zones and the rowing team got back into action. The basketball team will be on pins and needles tonight to see if they qualify for post-season play.

This and more in this week’s Mountain Momma Monday edition.

Mar 17, 2012; Norfolk, VA, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Mike Carey talks to his team against the Texas Longhorns during the second half in the first round of the 2012 NCAA women

Basketball:

Mike Carey and his girls will be glued to the television tonight to see if they can qualify for the Women’s NCAA Tournament (unlikely). ESPN will air the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament selection show tonight at 7 PM. The Women’s NIT field will be solidified later, probably by 9 PM.

Gymnastics:

West Virginia came away with a pair of victories this past weekend in their home tri-meet with Maryland and Rutgers. The Mountaineers tumblers notched a score of 196.0+ for the fifth time this season.

"“Setting that record exemplifies the mission I gave this team at the beginning of the season – climb higher” – coach Jason Butts"

WVU scored 196.05 to best Maryland (194.8) and Rutgers (194.175). The win over Maryland is vengeance for a narrow loss earlier in the season to the Terrapins. The win over Rutgers extends the Mountaineers win streak over the Scarlet Knights to 55 meets (55-0 all-time).

The Mountaineers victory was highlighted by junior Hope Sloanhoffer’s second all-around victory of the season with a score of 39.25.

Even with the pair of victories, the Mountaineers fell from #21 to #25 in this week’s poll. The Mountaineers will get an opportunity to show the pollsters the error of their ways this Saturday in the Big XII Championship in Ames, IA.

Rowing:

The spring season for the Mountaineers rowing team got started this past weekend at the Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational Regatta. The Mountaineers competed in races on Day 1 against Louisville and Virginia (round 1) and Dayton and Miami (round 2) before competing against Georgetown and Buffalo on Day 2 (round 3).

In round 1, the Mountaineers lost to Louisville and Virginia in each heat. WVU competed in 8+ A and B heats as well as in the 4+ A, B, and C heats.

In round 2, the Mountaineers finished in the middle of the pack in heats against Dayton and Miami. Each West Virginia crew finished second in their heats (although which school WVU defeated in each heat is unavailable). WVU competed in 8+ A, B, and Novice heats as well as in a 4+ heat.

Day 2 (round 3) of the competition was the finest for the Mountaineers. In the heats against Georgetown and Buffalo, the Mountaineers notched some impressive finishes. In the 8+ A heat, WVU took home third. From there, WVU would get rolling, taking a pair of second place finishes in the 8+ B heat and the 4+ heat.

WVU’s lone victory came in the round 3 8+ C heat where the Mountaineers out-paced Georgetown and Buffalo for the victory.

West Virginia will be idle until the meet with Alabama and Central Florida in Tuscaloosa, AL on April 6.

Swimming and Diving:

The Mountaineers divers took to the pool for the NCAA Diving Zone finals. The event was a great learning opportunity for the Mountaineer divers.

In the 1-meter dive, West Virginia’s top performance came from sophomore Hailey VandePoel scored 225.40, good enough for 19th. Other Mountaineers competing in the event were freshman Lindsay Schmidt with 218.40 (26th) and sophomore Jenn Rey with 204.00 (37th).

VandePoel’s score just missed the cut to make the finals in the 1-meter dive, missing the cut by 0.90.

In the 3-meter dive competition, West Virginia faired much better. Sophomore Hailey VandePoel took 5th place in the preliminary heat with a score of 293.10. Schmidt took 25th with a score of 234.25 while Rey finished with 203.90 for 34th.

VandePoel did well in the finals of the 3-meter dive, finishing in 7th place with a score of 293.10.

The WVU swimmers will compete in the NCAA Women’s Championships this week, March 21-23, in Indianapolis, IN.

Tennis:

The Mountaineers tennis squad continued their season of struggles this past weekend, losing their first two Big XII competitions. Even with a three match winning streak in hand, the Mountaineers could not use the momentum to overcome their ranked Big XII foes.

In play against TCU this past Friday, the Mountaineers dropped a tough decision to the Horned Frogs, 4-3. TCU was ranked #27 coming into the match, so the Mountaineers performance in the face of such a foe is something to note in an otherwise non-noteworthy season.

TCU swept the Mountaineers in the doubles competitions to earn the doubles point. WVU would rebound from a rough doubles set to take three out of four singles matches with victories from Emily Mathis, Vivian Tsui, and Audrey Wooland. Mathis’s victory is her 13th of the season.

The Mountaineers, after evening the match at 3-3, would get smothered in the final match. Monica Sirilova of TCU dominated Irinka Toidze to give TCU a 4-3 victory.

Yesterday, against #36 Baylor, the Mountaineers slumped back to their old ways, falling to the Bears by a wide margin, 6-1. The lone West Virginia point was registered Vivian Tsui in the 5th singles match. The Mountaineers doubles team of Mathis and Wooland took home a victory over Baylor’s Generette and Horter.

The Mountaineers, now with a record of 4-9 (0-2 in Big XII), will attempt to break their current losing streak at Texas Tech on March 22 and at Texas on March 24.

Track:

The track and field team took part in the Wake Forest Invitational this past weekend. WVU got strong, top-5 finishes from multiple Mountaineers. WVU top finishers were: Heather Adams in the Hammer Throw (4th, 53.93m) and in the Discus (3rd, 43.00m), Sydney Cummings in the High Jump (2nd, 1.78m), Allison Pettit in the 1,500m run B (4th, 4:49.76), and Katlyn Shelar in the Pole Vault (tied-2nd, 3.80m).

For complete results, see wvusports.com

In all, it was a tremendous performance for the track team in their first big meet of the spring slate. WVU will hit the track once more this weekend in the California (PA) Early Bird Meet on March 23.

As always, you can get more in depth analysis on every team at wvusports.com