Newspaper Page Text
Friday, Feb., 16, 2007
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KELLY WEGEL | The Red * Buck
▲ Courtney Kupets competes in the balance beam in
the win over N0.4 Utah, 196.850-195.475.
Men’s
basketball
marred by
off-season
By LAWRENCE CONNEFF
The Red & Black
The recent months have
been up-and-down for the
Georgia men’s basketball
team.
Last season, the Dogs
came into 2007 sporting an
8-4 record in non-confer
ence action.
Georgia played well to
start its SEC slate. The
team hovered around .500
in conference play.
Then Mike Mercer tore
his ACL at South Carolina
in February, and the Dogs
lost three of their last four
. conference games. Georgia
won an NIT game to finish
19-14 (8-8 SEC).
Felton began preseason
practice by announcing
Takais Brown, Mercer and
Albert Jackson would be
suspended for a total of 30
games due to academic
reasons.
Soon after, Brown was
dismissed from the team
for violating an undisclosed
policy.
Nov. 14, junior guard
Billy Humphrey was sus
pended for the Dogs’ sec
ond game due to being
charged with felony pos
session of a weapon on
campus.
The final hit came Nov.
19, when Mercer was kicked
off the team for violating
team policy.
This leaves Felton with
two seniors and three
juniors as his team’s core,
and has forced him to lean
on a talented class of five
freshmen through the first
month of the season.
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Tennis team wins fifth national championship
By JASON BUTT
The Red & Black
The 2007 Georgia men’s
tennis team finished 32-0
and won its fifth national
championship in Athens.
The Bulldogs dominat
ed each contest during
the season, giving up only
13 points for the year.
“The pressure starts
creeping up,” said head
coach Manuel Diaz.
“These guys have been
dominant through, by far,
the toughest schedule
we’ve ever had.”
During the season and
SEC tournament the
Bulldogs had to go through
13 top-25 ranked teams.
“I cannot think of a
better way to go out my
last collegiate duel match
as a national champion,”
said John Isner, who is
Lady Dogs end season No. 13
By TYLER ESTEP
The Red & Black
Georgia women’s bas
ketball coach Andy
Landers was inducted
into the Women’s
Basketball Hall of Fame
in June, putting a cap on
his 28th season at the
helm in Athens. -
“Being selected into
the Women’s Basketball
Hall of Fame is an honor,
but the real honor is
coaching young people
and teaching them how to
be successful,” Landers
said.
It was those young
people who helped
Landers make 2006-07
another historical season
for Georgia women’s
basketball. Here are
|S|3j
The Red & Black THE YEAR IN REVIEW DECEMBER 7, 2007
Gym Dogs repeat nationals win
By KEVIN COPP
The Red & Black
The Gym Dogs cap
tured their third consecu
tive NCAA National
Championship this year,
becoming the second pro
gram in NCAA history to
capture at least three
straight titles, joining
Utah (1982-1986).
Before the Gym Dogs
come “Back 4 More,”
here’s a look of the high
lights of 2007.
• Georgia now holds
eight NCAA National
Championships second
on the all-time list behind
Utah with nine.
• Then-sophomore
Courtney Kupets cap
tured the NCAA All-
Around Title for the sec
ond consecutive season.
now competing in the pro
fessional circuit.
Men’s tennis notes:
• Pepperdine defeats
Georgia 4-2 in the 2006
NCAA National Champ
ionship in Palo Alto, Calif.
This loss made John Isner
decide to come back for
one last shot at a national
championship.
• Georgia wins the ITA
National Indoor Cham
pionships in Chicago, 111.
after beating Ohio State
4-0 in the final.
• Georgia finished its
second consecutive regu
lar season undefeated and
earned the top seed in the
NCAA men’s tournament.
• Georgia defeated
Illinois in the 2007
NCAA National Cham
pionship 4-0.
the highlights:
• The Lady Dogs fin
ished the season with a
loss to Purdue in their
fifth-straight Sweet 16 to
end a 27-7 season.
• Then-senior guard
Cori Chambers became
the program’s all-time
3-point leader and set the
record for career games
played. Chambers then
was drafted by the WNBA
and currently plays for
the Connecticut Sun.
• Then-freshman
Ashley Houts set the pace
for an outstanding debut
campaign with 18 points
her first game. The guard
averaged 9.6 points and
3.6 assists per game en
route to an SEC Freshman
of the Year award.
Classmates and room
• Kupets’ NCAA All-
Around score of 39.750
matched her 2006 cham
pionship score, and is
tied for the second
highest total in NCAA
history.
• Kupets captured her
fifth individual NCAA title
in just two years of com
peting at a collegiate
level, adding the 2007
vault title to her 2006
beam and bars champion
ships, and her individual
all-around championships
of the last two years.
• The Gym Dogs com
piled a team record of
32-2-1, tying No. 1 Florida
during the regular season
and exacting revenge by
defeating the Gators in
Utah for the National
Championship.
• Ashley and Courtney
Women’s tennis notes:
• The Georgia women’s
tennis team was ranked
No. 24 in the preseason.
• Georgia climbed up
to No. 1 after beating
then-No. 1 Florida on Mar.
11.
• Georgia suffered its
only regular loss of the
season at Auburn after
top singles players Natalie
Frazier and Monika
Dancevic were out with
injuries.
• The Lady Bulldogs
snapped Florida’s streak
of five straight SEC tour
nament championships by
beating the Gators 4-2 in
Lexington, Ky.
• Georgia’s season
ended in the quarterfinals
of the NCAA tourn
ament after losing to
California 4-1.
mates Angel Robinson
and Christy Marshall
joined her on the confer
ence All-Freshman team.
• All-American Tasha
Humphrey slumped a lit
tle in her junior season,
but still managed to pull
down All-SEC First Team
for the third time and
claim Second-Team All-
American honors.
• The Lady Dogs end
the season ranked No. 13.
in the country, the ninth
straight season they have
closed a campaign in the
top-25.
Georgia has started
this season 8-0, and looks
to give Landers the title
that has eluded him since
he became the Lady Dogs’
first full-time head coach
in 1979.
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Kupets broke a two-year
Gym Dogs 10.0 drought,
with Ashley recording a
perfect score on the
vault and Courtney
matching that total on
the uneven bars.
• Courtney Kupets won
the Honda Award, award
ed yearly to the top gym
nast in the nation.
• Nine Gym Dogs on
the 2007 roster had All-
American honors on their
resume Courtney
Kupets (10), Katie Heenan
(nine), Tiffany Tolnay
(eight), Kelsey Ericksen
(eight), Ashley Kupets
(five), Nikki Childs (four),
Grace Taylor (two),
Megan Dowlen (one) and
Marcia Newby (one).
• Legendary Gym Dogs
coach Suzanne Yoculan
announced Oct. 17 that
Thursday, June, 7, 2007
|j£r.. I
KELLY WEGEL | The Red s Black
▲ John Isner defeats Illinois’s Kevin Anderson during
the singles portion of the Championship game.
Georgia sports overview
SWIMMING AND
DIVING
• The women finished
fifth at NCAA Champ
ionships in March.
• Men’s and women’s
swimmers charted NG
AA-qualifying times in 15
events.
TRACK AND FIELD
• Jennifer Dahlgren
was crowned Female
Field Athlete of the Year.
• Georgia women fin
ished third, men fourth at
the SEC meet in the
spring, sending 17 mem
bers to the NCAA
Championships.
she will step down after
the 2009 season.
“(Yoculan) has built
the Georgia program into
the most successful in
the country,” Athletic
Director Damon Evans
said. “She’s been relent
less in her quest to be the
best every year and has
brought to Georgia an
enviable record of nation
al and SEC titles, national
champion gymnasts, and
graduation rates.”
Yoculan, who has
brought eight national
titles to Athens in her
24-year tenure, said long
time assistant Jay Clark
will take over her role.
• Monday, Courtney
Kupets turned down a
bid for the 2008 Olym
pics in Beijing to stay
in Athens.
SPORTS NOTEBOOK
BASEBALL
• The Diamond Dogs
had a disappointing sea
son marred by shoddy
defense and ended the
season at 23-33 (11-19 SEC).
SOFTBALL
• Georgia softball fin
ished at 46-28 (13-15
SEC). It then won three
games in the NCAA
Tournament before being
eliminated by Nebraska.
• Senior outfielder
Kellie Middleton was
named a First Team All-
SEC performer.
Ryne Dennis
5C
sports