Progress At Court

The picture above shows all that is left of Pacific's former recycling and waste management facility...a great signs for the Pacific tennis programs.

The facility, really a three-sided lean-to with trash compactors and recycling bins inside, is the most visible sign of progress on Pacific's new tenns facility. Site preparation is well under way on the former site of Tom Reynolds Soccer Field, including the removal of the last of the poplars that once ringed the field and the filling in the ball-eating gulch on the east side of the field.

Excavation for the new courts could begin as early as next week, with full fledged construction to get underway in November.

The courts will be a welcomed and long-awaited sight for the Pacific tennis teams, who have been without home courts since the summer of 2007 when the former Holce Courts were demolished to make way for the new A.C. Gilbert Residence Hall, which opened this fall. The Boxers played all of their 2008 home matches at the Tualatin Hills Tennis Center, located a 30 minute drive from campus in Beaverton.

The new courts will be a step up from the former home facility. In addition to a new surface, three of the six courts will be covered, allowing for year-round play. That should eliminate a few trips to Beaverton when it rains.

Of note too is that the construction of the courts continues the use of the site at the corner of University Ave. and Cedar St. as a varsity athletic facility. The field was first used in the late 19th Century for football and track and later, as McCready Field, served as the longtime home of Pacific football. When football was discontinued after the 1991 season, the field became Tom Reynolds Field. It served as the home of the Pacific men's and women's soccer teams until moving to Lincoln Park Stadium in 2007.

"I Don't Believe What I Just Saw!"

Just like Jack Buck when he announced Kirk Gibson's improbable bomb for the Dodgers in game 1 of the 1988 World Series, there are moments we all have where we truly have not believed what we just saw.

At Pacific, I have had a few of those moments.
• Pacific at Lewis & Clark men's basketball, 1997. During their march to the NAIA Division II National Tournament, Pacific is up one with less than 10 seconds left. With a hand in his face, L&C forward Whitney Brake launches a 15-footer that hits the rim, flies straight up and drops into the net at horn. The Pacific simply sat there...stunned.

• Pacific vs. Lewis & Clark, 2005 baseball season. On a cold, drizzly March evening, Pacific starter proceeds to set a NCAA Division III record for batters hit by pitch. The inside throwing lefty plunked seven batters, yet went on to throw a complete-game four hitter and the Boxers won 4-2.

Then...there was tonight's women's soccer match against George Fox. The Boxers were looking for anything...ANYTHING...that would get them off the schnied after going scoreless for seven matches.

In the 50th minute, it looked like it had happened. Trailing 1-0 at halftime, Jenny Novak scored to tie the match. The scoreless streak had ended at 680 minutes, and not a moment too soon.

But, as I had predicted to Joy Boswell earlier in the month, it would only take one goal to open the floodgates. What I didn't predict, though, is that Novak would try to do it single-handedly. The former Pleasant Hill Billy (from the city of Pleasant Hill, near Eugene...and yes, that's their mascot) buried two more to put Pacific up 3-1 with 15 minutes to go. It was Pacific's first hat trick since 2003...and I think everyone thought this one was wrapped up. (Jenny could have easily had four or five goals in this one. Two shots were well saved by GFU goalkeeper Sally Page and another apparent first half goal was waived off by an offside call.)

Everyone except George Fox's Kristen Cardwell and Jenny McKinsey. Cardwell scored a quick one in the 81st minute to make the score 3-2. No more than two minutes later, McKinsey ties it with a high lofting shot from 20 yards out. Three minutes after that, McKinsey makes it 4-3 with a chip shot from eight yards out. And she wasn't done. McKinsey got a breakaway in the final minute of action and buried it to not only secure the winning 5-3 total, but score a hat trick of her own.

Two hat tricks in one match. Wow. And the George Fox comeback...wow. It was truly one of those times when you sit there, stunned, wondering if you had really seen what just happened.

Much of what happened in the final nine minutes was a result of Pacific defensive breakdowns. Perhaps it was the defense getting a little complacent. After all, when one of your teammates scores three unanswered goals, you would get pretty confident yourself. It is the mistake a young team can make when you are trying to quickly forget the last seven matches.

Head Coach Joy Boswell took the high road after this one. She would have had a right to be upset with the lapse in the final 10 minutes. Instead, she was happy to see her team get their scoring touch back. Is there still work to do? Sure, but sometimes confidence comes in little steps instead of one big swing.

This one will sting for both Boz and the team, but it should only prove helpful for them when they go to Linfield on Saturday. They have broken through, found the back of the net and know they have that scoring touch. Just keep giving it to Jenny Novak...and all should be fine.

Young & Potent

One can look at the numbers in the win-loss column and notice how well the Pacific men's soccer team is playing. The Boxers enter the week with an 8-3-4 record and are 4-1-4 against Northwest Conference opponents.

Digging a little deeper into the numbers, however, and its not hard to see that this team is quite and good. And they have the potential to be scary good over the next few years.

Let's look at the numbers that prove the point...
• To date, Pacific has lost just one conference match. The last time the Boxers finished with just one loss was 1994. Change just two of their four ties into victories, and the Boxers are on top of the conference instead of fourth.

• Pacific has allowed just 12 goals in 15 matches and the team's 0.75 goals against average is among the best in the nation at the NCAA Division III level. That's second in the conference only to the 11 allowed by Whitman. In conference matches, the Boxers have allowed a league best seven goals, one less than Whitman, Puget Sound or Pacific Lutheran.

• For the first time since adopting a more defensive-minded approach to the game with the arrival of assistant coach and defensive guru Jim Rilatt, the Boxers are posting offensive numbers that are better than that of their opponents. The Boxers have outscored opponents 20-12, outshot opponents 207-185 and posted 101 shots on goal.

• And perhaps the mosat important part...all but four of the players on the Pacific roster are underclassmen. Upperclassmen Danny Williams and Brandon Porter accounts for eight of the Boxers' 20 goals, with a number of players waiting to step into that top scoring role.

Granted, their is plenty of seaosn left with five matches remaining and, yes, a chance at their first NWC title since 1996 will require some help from some other teams. Nonetheless, the Boxers are continuing to build towards what could become a run of strong and successful teams over the years to come.

Marathon Woman

Pacific assistant athletic trainer Alma Sproul is now among the thousand who can say they have completed one of life's most challenging physical exercises.

Sproul completed her first marathon on Sunday. She finished the Portland Marathon in a time of 4:49:16, putting a cap on six months of training. A runner since her college days, Sproul said she was inspired by seeing a picture of Andrea Stewart, the athletic department's manager of administrative services, completing the Portland Marathon in 2006.

"Andrea had a picture of herself crossing the finish line at the marathon," Sproul said. "From that point, I decided I just needed to do it."

Sproul followed the training program provided by Portland FIT, but sometimes had to balance training and her job by getting up at 4 a.m. to complete training runs. She is greatful to her colleagues, head trainer Linda McIntosh and assistants Phil Lentz and Richard Rutt, for being willing to adjust their schedules to get her runs in.

Marathon day was certainly a challenge, but in end worth it. "During the marathon I was wondering if it was worth the pain," Sproul said. "It was probably the longest five hours of my life, but as soon as I crossed the finish line I had never felt prouder of myself. I never thought I would actually run a marathon, and now that I have I may try it again."

"It gave me an accomplishement to work towards and I think it made me a better person and athletic trainer," Sproul said. "I would definitely advise training for something that is important to you, whether that be a marathon, triathlon or anything else. Just knowing that you van accomplish anything that you put your mind, body and soul into is a great feeling."

Congratulations Alma on a job well done and a great goal attained!

Well Dunn, Melissa!

Pacific volleyballer Melissa Dunn is the subject of a nice feature story in her hometown newspaper, the Napa Valley Register. The story appears in today's edition of the paper.

Dunn talks about her career and how emotional it will be to play her final home match, against Pacific Lutheran on Nov. 6. She also talks about being the end of the line of a volleyball playing family. Her oldest sister, Heather, completed a four-year career at Gonzaga in 2007 and her other sister, Stephanie, played one season at Sonoma State.

Melissa has been a four-year starter at Pacific and continues to be one of the conference leaders in both service aces and digs.

A Learning Experience At The ITA's

The Pacific men's tennis team spent the weekend participating in the ITA Small College Regionals at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash. Head Coach Brian Jackson was kind enough to provide this first-hand evaluation of the weekend for a rather young Pacific lineup.

Even though none of our players made it deep into the tournament, it was still a long weekend for the men’s tennis team. The squad, composed of only freshmen and sophomores, sent six players to the tournament and came away with a couple of solid wins and some very good experience.

Rain was the theme of the weekend. With a draw of 64 singles players, and 32 doubles players and only four indoor courts, we knew we would be spending a lot of time at the courts. In fact, the tournament was supposed to start Saturday morning, but due to the threat of rain we began immediately upon arrival Friday evening. So, after the 5-hour bus ride to Walla Walla Friday afternoon, tennis started with a round of doubles. The team of Nhat Nguyen & Eric Furuya kicked the night off. Although they battled hard, but lost to a solid team from Linfield (8-1).

Next up, the first-year team of Spencer Hing & Micah Leo fought in a classic server’s match versus a team from Whitworth. After staying on serve throughout the match (and showing a great deal of potential) the team of freshmen was broken to lose the match 8-6.

Finally, our night ended with the team of returning players Michael Okada & Michael Kinghorn playing in a nail-biter. After trading service holds and breaks, the sophomores found themselves against the wall against a team of big servers from George Fox. Down 4-7, and on the brink of elimination...the Boxer team showed their determination by battling back to a tie-breaker at 8-8. With the back and forth continuing throughout the breaker, the Boxers came away victorious with a 10-8 decision.

Saturday was a long day of tennis. Beginning with warm-ups at 7 a.m., members of the Boxer squad were the first players on...and the last players off the court at 11 p.m. Although good overall efforts, three of the first four Boxer netters lost their opening singles matches in straight sets.

The match of the day was turned-in by the last Boxer player on the court Saturday. After waiting around for over 12 hours to play his first round, Hing played a solid back and forth match versus his opponent from UPS. After trading the first two sets, the freshman was able to pull out the win with a 10-8 victory in the 3rd. For his efforts, he was rewarded with going back on the court 15 minutes later to play the last match of the evening.

Still pumped from his first-round victory, Hing started off strong versus the tournament’s 15th seed from Whitworth, winning the first set 7-5. Following the first set, the Boxer opponent blazed to a 5-0 lead in the second, and despite a late run by Hing, won the set 6-3. So, for the second time that evening, the Boxer freshman was battling for a third set victory. Unfortunately, his efforts came up short, with a 10-7 3rd set tie-breaker defeat. Our 14-hour day was over…as soon as we were able to find a restaurant open for dinner at 11:30 p.m.!

Due to the rain, the consolation brackets were cancelled. That meant the only Boxer players left in the draw for Sunday’s round was the sophomore doubles team of Okada & Kinghorn. And for their efforts on Friday, they earned a date with the No. 6 seeded team from PLU. Going down two early breaks at 4-1, the Boxers looked as though we would be heading home very early on Sunday. However, showing the same fight that they demonstrated in the first round, the sophomore squad battled to get those breaks back to make it 7-7. After a back and forth 15th game of the set, the Boxer team was unable to pull off the break of their own to take the lead, and in turn lost the match 9-7.

All in all, a good weekend for Boxer tennis. We battled hard, and were able to get a close look at this season’s competition. The ITA tournament, which was dominated by the host school Whitman College (all four singles and doubles semi-finalists), serves as the Boxers’ fall season finale. We now know what we need to do to compete with a number of schools in the Northwest Conference this year, and know that we will be successful in doing so with a lot of hard work in the off-season. GO BOXERS!!!!

In addition to his work as men's tennis coach, Brian Jackson is also the chair of Pacific University's department of exercise science.

Headline News

A couple of articles have appeared this week involving Pacific athletes.

• The Honolulu Advertiser ran a story on Pacific's Big Island golf connection, specifically featuring the "Waiakea Three" of Jasmine Ching, Tami Park and Valerie Kitamori. The three have been impact players for the women's golf program over the last year. The story also features men's golfer Max Bonk, who continues to impress after going to the 2008 NCAA Championships as a freshman.

• The local Forest Grove News-Times featured Pacific's breathtaking 4-3 double overtime victory over Linfield as the top story on the sport page this week. Despite the by-line, know that no goods or services were traded for the publication of the story.

• Expect to see later this week or early next week a story in the Napa Valley Register (Calif.) on Pacific volleyball Melissa Dunn. A native of Sonoma, Dunn is finishing off a fine Boxers' career this fall.