Know thy enemy: A preview of the week in UVU sports
Photo by Sarah Sanchez
The UVU baseball team will be hosting its first home series of the season this week. The softball team, still looking for its first win on the year, will be in St. George participating in the SUU Red Desert Classic with games against UC Santa Barbara, Utah State, UNLV, Montana and Iowa State. Meanwhile, the basketball teams will be wrapping up WAC play with games against Seattle and the wrestling team will be busy with the Big 12 Championships. For more info on that, see Devin Olsen’s preview.
The men’s basketball team will host their final WAC game of the season, welcoming Seattle to the UCCU Events Center Saturday at 7 p.m. The Redhawks handed UVU a 13-point loss in their last matchup on Feb. 4. The Wolverines only managed a season-low 50 points in that matchup while Seattle’s Matej Cavas dropped a game-high 18 points. With Seattle directly above the Wolverines in the standings, this game may play an important role in the seeding for next week’s WAC Tournament. UVU should look to take advantage of the Redhawks’ lackluster play on the road to round into shape going into postseason play.
The women’s basketball team will wrap their regular season schedule on the road, tipping off at Seattle on Saturday at 5 p.m. Last time out, Alexis Montgomery and Kaylee Best picked the Wolverines apart in an 18-point defeat. Montgomery finished with a near triple-double, dropping 17 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out six assists. Best stuffed the stat sheet with 15 points, four rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block. Finding a way to slow those two down will be crucial if UVU hopes to avoid a repeat result in their final tune-up before their WAC Tournament appearance.
The baseball team will open a four-game series against Indiana State Friday that wraps up Monday. The Sycamores have shown a penchant for surrendering runs to the opposing team early in the season. They gave up 30 combined runs in the first three games of the season which bodes well for a UVU team that is looking to open the home schedule with a vibrant offense. ISU also scores a lot; they scored 33 runs in the same three-game stretch. UVU must hold off the big inning from the Sycamores as they had six innings of 3-plus runs in the first three games.
Reporting by: Kaleb Searle, Ty Bianucci