The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 22, 2004, Page 11, Image 11
GAME SCHEDULE
Pinr#» 11 MEN’S SOCCER at Wake Forest, 7 p.m. Friday
xxr j j c ^ u n ™n/i VOLLEYBALL vs. Mississippi St., 7 p.m. Friday
Wednesday, September 22, 2004 WOMEN’S SOCCER at Auburn, 8 p.m. Friday
No. 25 Wiggins to lead
women’s tennis squad
By JAKE BROOM
THE GAMECOCK
“Young, but experienced.”
That is how head coach Arlo
Elkins describes this year’s
edition of the USC women’s
tennis team. After their 10th
consecutive NCAA Tournament
appearance in 2003, the future
is bright for the Gamecocks.
Last year’s team had four
newcomers. The 2003 lineup
consisted of three freshman,
two sophomores and one
junior. The young team reached
the NCAA Regionals before
falling to No. 5 seed Clemson.
All of those players are
returning, and the team looks
to build on last year’s 14-10
record.
There is only one freshman
on the team this year, Megan
McGavock, but overall the
team is still fairly young. But
youth doesn’t always equal
inexperience. The Gamecocks
are led by a group of players
with a lot of matches under
their belts.
Leading the way for the
J
Gamecocks is Danielle Wiggins,
a junior from Jacksonville, Fla.
Wiggins compiled a 21-13
record overall and a 15-8 record
at the No. 1 singles spot last
season. Her stellar record and
No. 25 national ranking has
earned her a spot in the Riviera
All-American tournament in Los
Angeles early next month. The
tournament is made up of last
year’s returning All-Americans
and this year’s top 32 individual
players. ’
Another returning player
that is expected to contribute
heavily is Christyn Lucas, a
sophomore from Miami, Fla.
Lucas, ranked 111th in the
nation, finished her freshman
season with an impressive 21
12 record, with 12 of her 21
wins coming at the No. 2
singles position.
While Wiggins and Lucas
provide the Gamecocks with
nationally recognized
individual standouts, the team
as a whole is not far behind.
Coach Elkins, in his 22nd year
at Carolina, describes the team
as “fairly equal top to bottom.”
Elkins said that while the team
is nowhere near setting a
lineup, Wiggins would
probably be its No. 1 player
based on her ranking and past
results.
The team will represent USC
not only in the Southeast, but
all across the country as well.
At one point during the season,
Wiggins will be playing
individually in Los Angeles
while the rest of the team plays
in the USTA National Tennis
Center Women’s Collegiate
Invitational in New York.
The team also has
tournaments scheduled in
Winston-Salem, N.C.,
Peachtree City, Ga., and the
season opener in Greenville at
the Furman Fall Classic.
This year’s edition of the
women’s tennis team might be
young, but that certainly
doesn’t mean they don’t expect
to succeed this year. The future
is still bright, but the present is
looking pretty good, too.
Comments on this story ? E-mail
gamecockspoits@giom.sc.edu
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK
Junior Danielle Wiggins prepares for a forehand slam in a match during the
2004 spring season. Wiggins enters the season No. 25 in the nation.
MLB
Twins
clinch
title
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Torii Hunter and the Minnesota
Twins are used to celebrating in
September. The playoff party never
gets old, though.
The Twins clinched their third
straight AL Central title Monday night
with an 8-2 victory over the Chicago
White Sox, then topped it off with a
raucous celebration in the visitor’s
clubhouse.
Donning hats and T-shirts
proclaiming them division champions,
Minnesota players poured beer down
manager Ron Gardenhire’s back. Brad
Radke sprayed anyone he could get.
Even general manager Terry Ryan was
doused with champagne.
“Three times!” Hunter screamed.
“How about that?”
Not bad at all, especially for a
small-budget team that was threatened
with contraction just a few years ago.
Now the Twins have reached the
playoffs in three straight seasons for
the first time in their 44-year history.
“Every year we’ve got to go out
there and prove to somebody. But you
know what? 1 like it,” Hunter said.
“We’re the underdogs.”
The Angels desperately want to join
Minnesota in the postseason, and they
gained some precious ground Monday
night with a 5-2 victory over visiting
Seattle.
Anaheim closed within 2 1/2 games of
idle Oakland in the AL West and 4 1/2 of
Boston in the wild-card chase despite
playing most of the night without star
right fielder Vladimir Guerrero, who
was hit in the head by Ryan Franklin’s 0
2 pitch in the first inning.
X-rays at a hospital were normal,
and Guerrero returned to the dugout
during the game.
“1 don’t think it was intentional. With
♦ Please see TWINS, page 12
COLD FEET
KATIE KIRKLAND/THE GAMECOCK
Senior Josh Brown lines up a field goal Saturday against South Florida. Brown was 2-for-2 in the game and is 3-of-5 overall.
Holtz gives mixed analysis
of special teams’ execution
By STEPHEN FASTENEAU
THE GAMECOCK
Quarterbacks aside, USC has a true
controversy on its hands this week stemming
from special teams, specifically the kicking
game.
South Florida managed 189 kickoff
return yards Saturday, the most against the
Gamecocks this season. Four different Bulls
had returns of 30 yards or more, with Andre
Hall finishing with 111 yards on four
returns.
“I was not pleased with how we covered
kickoffs,” USC head coach Lou Holtz said.
“In fact, other than PATs and field goals, I
was not very pleased with our kicking
game.”
USC did improve on its field goal kicking
woes last week. Josh Brown made both
attempted field goals in the game, from 32
and 22 yards. Holtz said before the
Gamecocks’ opener against Vanderbilt that
he did not want Brown to have to handle
both the punting and placekicking duties.
Brown made just one out of three field-goal
attempts against Vanderbilt, and Holtz
decided to go with Thomas Hooper and
Charlie Carpenter against Georgia.
Hooper converted both of his PAT
attempts, but Carpenter missed badly on a
44-yard field goal attempt, leading Holtz to
start Brown again against South Florida. At
this point, Holtz said he feels that Brown is
the Gamecocks’ most consistent option.
Brown “is the best right now,” Holtz
said. “Ask me again (later) and that may
change, but right now he’s the best.”
Holtz has traditionally preferred walk-on
kickers as opposed to signing one to a
scholarship but has said that would change if
he found one worthy of signing in the
future. Last week, Holtz explained that he
was looking for his kickers to send the ball
“end over end” as opposed to in a
“helicopter” motion.
♦ Please see KICKERS, page 12
We don’t
need no
stinkin’ QB
controversy
■ Pinkins AND Newton
will lead this Gamecock
team to SEC success
It was a mild, mid-September
afternoon where you could go
long-sleeved or short-sleeved and
still be comfortable. The 10-mile
an-hour winds made tossing
around the football a tempting
proposition, especially for those of
■ -- -- us stuck in the
bowels of the
Carolina
Coliseum
seven hours a
day.
After about
20 minutes of
taking turns
pretending to
JOEL be Troy
WALLACE Williamson
grabbing 50
FIFTH-YEAR v , r A
PRINT y r 0
JOURNALISM touchdowns or
STUDENT Cory Boyd
making one
handed circus catches, we talked
about how cool it would be if one
of the many football players who
frequent the Coliseum walked by
and wanted to get in a quick
pickup game.
George Gause and Moe
Thompson might have just gotten
out of class and met up with Ko
Simpson and Daccus Turman.
We’d pick up teams and start
playing a little three-on-three.
We’d play two-hand tag, of course
— I may be daydreaming, but I’m
not stupid.
We’d be having a good time of
it, heaving Hail Marys or trying to
scramble on a broken play, and
let’s just say Dondrial Pinkins and
Syvelle Newton happened upon us.
Would my friend and I argue
about who gets whom? Do you
think we’d stop the game and debate
over who is a better quarterback?
It’s just a game — you play for
fun. Do you think either of them
really cares? They both have their
.111 i
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they’re both going to play, so what
does it matter?
People around here get more
bent out of shape over a
quarterback controversy than they
do about the upcoming election.
The beauty of this situation is there
is no controversy. Both guys know
their role.
Newton sounded as good after
the game as he looked during it.
He deflected controversy as
gracefully as he eluded South
Florida’s defenders Saturday. In
just two games this year, Pinkins
has already shown the poise and
■ leadership ability that has been
lacking in his previous campaigns.
Since they’re both going to see a
significant number of snaps this
year, the only difference between
this week and last week is now we
have twc • guys we know are
capable of leading our offense
down the field and scoring points.
I .think Newton is going to be
great, but I think it would be wise
to use Pinkins while he’s here and
bring Newton along slowly.
He may have had the greatest
debut of any quarterback in school
history, but he hasn’t faced the level
of competition he’s about to face in
the upcoming weeks against SEC
opponents, especially on the road.
Like Newton said, he’s just the
backup right now. Pinkins is back in
the driver’s seat, so USC fans should
just sit back and enjoy the ride.
AUBURN, TENNESSEE
PLAYERS EARN HONORS
Auburn senior quarterback Jason
Campbell has been named the SEC
offensive player of the week for his
performance against then-No. 4 LSU
on Saturday. Campbell engineered
the Tigers’ game-winning scoring
drive in the fourth quarter of the 10
9 upset. On the drive, he converted a
fourth-and-12 for 14 yards and a
first down while under heavy
a pressure. Campbell, then capped it
off with a 16-yard touchdown strike
to Courtney Taylor.
The defensive player of the week
award went to Tennessee’s Kevin
Burnett. The senior linebacker tallied
a career-high 16 tackles in
Tennessee’s 30-28 win against
Florida. The Volunteer defense held
Florida to seven points in the second
half while Burnett bolstered his
tackles-per-game average to 12.
Tennessee place kicker James
Wilhoit received the special teams
player of the week award for his 50
yard, game-winning field goal in the
Vols’ win over the Gators.
BAMA, ARKANSAS GAME
TO HIGHLIGHT WEEK 4
Mississippi State goes into Baton
Rimge to take on LSU. MSU is
coming off an embarrassing loss to D
I-AA Maine, while the Tigers look to
rebound after a loss to Auburn.
Ole Miss travels all the way to
Laramie, Wyo., to play the Wyoming
Qowboys of the Mountain West
Conference. Wyoming beat
Appalachian State in its first game of
2004 but lost the next week to Texas
A&M.
After beating LSU in a crucial SEC
West game, Auburn will host The
Citadel. The Citadel is 0-1 on the
year.
Vanderbilt will take on Navy in
beautiful Annapolis, Md., this
weekend. The Mids beat Vandy last
year and are 3-0, while the
Commodores are 0-2.
Alabama plays at Arkansas in a
game that will be nationally televised
on «fcBS. Former Miami quarterback
Marc
Guillon
will take
over for
Brodie Croyle who
tore his ACL last
week against Western
Carolina.
Florida returns to
the Swamp after a
heartbreaking loss in
Knoxville to play
Kentucky. Last week, Kentucky
handed Indiana its first loss of the
season.
Troy makes its way to Columbia
after losing to New Mexico State last
week. The Gamecocks will look to j
get another win before taking on fl
Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Tennessee will host Louisiana
Tech, who lost tfc Miami 48-0.
Auburn quarterback Jason
Campbell, left, threw three
touchdown passes as No. 18
... Auburn defeated
v Mississippi
\\ State, 43-14.
E_