UCF's Gevenia Carter drained a half court shot as time expired to give the Knights a 68-65 win over UTEP last night in Orlando.  Tough loss for the Lady Miners, but the video is worth a couple of seconds regardless.

The UTEP Miners volleyball squad is off to a red hot start.  The Miners have opened up 2010 with a 7-3 record and swept through the competition last weekend at the UTSA Classic.  The Miners are in Arlington (Wake Up Dallas Alums!) this weekend to take on Prairie View, UNT, and UT-Arlington.  UTEP's next victory will mark their 500th victory in program history.

I'm not going to pretend and act like I know anything about volleyball strategy.  Sadly, time limitations restrict my ability to cover the squad the way I want to.  So, if you want to keep up with Miner Volleyball I highly recommend you check out the JCasonVball Blog for the most recent information.  The blog is kept by the father of Jacquie Cason, a freshman on the squad who is off to one heck of a start as a Miner.  In fact, Cason, Stephanie Figueroa, and senior Patty Jarmoc were all named to the All-Tournament team last week in San Antonio.  Jarmoc was named the Tournament MVP.

Speaking of Jarmoc, she seems to be on her way to breaking some UTEP records.  From UTEP's site:

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The UTEP Track team had a stellar showing at the NCAA West Preliminaries in Austin, TX this weekend.  14 Miners have qualified for the NCAA Championship Meet that will take place June 9-12 in Eugene, Oregon.  The meet will be retiring Miner legend Bob KItchen's final as the head coach of UTEP's track team.

"Today we qualified both our relays and women in the hammer and 5,000m to nationals and that’s all that matters," head coach Bob Kitchens said. "We had a great. We did as much as we could do and more. Both our men and women just had an outstanding meet. I hope it carries over to nationals now."

The Qualifiers

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The UTEP Track team had a monster outing at Day 2 of the NCAA West Preliminaries in Austin, TX.  From the official press release:

On the men’s side, Anderson Mutegi (400m) and Ronalds Arajs (100m), hammer throwers Dimitrios Fylladitakis and Hans Eriksson, and Nicodemus Ng’etich (3,000m steeplechase) will all make the trip to Eugene, Ore., in two weeks. Nine-time All-American Blessing Okagbare will represent the 13th-ranked women with appearances in the 100-meter dash and the long jump.

“We had five guys qualify and Blessing [Okagbare] qualify in two events today so I would say we had a good day,” said head coach Bob Kitchens. “We’re definitely having a good meet. Now we just have to see what our relays and the remaining our of women do tomorrow.”

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Today was Day 1 of the NCAA West Preliminaries in Austin, TX.  This year, the NCAA has altered the format of the preliminary rounds for the NCAA Championship Meet.  Essentially, every school west of the Mississippi is competing in Austin, TX, and everyone else is competing in Greensboro, NC. The top 12 qualifiers in each preliminary will advance to the NCAA Championships.

"Our sprinters did exactly what we were supposed to do today," said head coach Bob Kitchens. "Now we're just waiting to see how our women javelin throwers finish off the day for us."

The Highlights

• Senior Ronalds Arajs ran a blistering 10.4 in the 100m dash to automatically advance to the next round.
• All-American Blessing Okagbare ran a scorching 11.26 in the 100m dash.  That was the fastest time of the day.

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UTEP Coach Ken Murphy signed three high school juniors to his 2010 class, including a San Elizario High School star.  I'm working on more football spring previews and a few other things.  They should be rolling out soon.

1. Rachael Scott (Setter, Leander High, Leander, TX) 

via leanderlionsports.com

From the official UTEP press release:

"Rachel is going to make a very big impact on our program," Murphy said. "She is a great competitor and leader who will bring fire to our gym from the first day.

"She is one of these players that finds a way to win and her teammates love playing with her.  She is a fast, powerful athlete with all the tools to be a great setter for our team."

Scott was also recruited by Oregon, North Texas, Houston Baptist and Henderson State. She played club volleyball with the Waco Juniors under the direction of Staci Fletcher and Blair Underwood (2005-07); the Austin Juniors for Roberto Frontera, Jenny Andrews and Peter Salatich (200-09); for Thomas Kane in 2009 with the Austin Performance.

2.  Malia Patterson (5'8, Setter, Punahou High, Honolulu, HI)

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Bob Stull didn't take long to replace retiring Miner legend Bob Kitchens.  Today, he named longtime Mike Laaksonen as his replacement. Laaksonen was an assistant coach under Kitchens for 12 seasons.  When asked about the selection, Kitchens  remarked "Handing over the baton to Mika as head coach and Paul as associate head coach is a very pleasant and enjoyable thing for me. They are excellent coaches and they will make the program proud. I am delighted that the Miners will be in such good hands." 

Hopefully, Miner track doesn't skip a beat.

From the Official Press Release:

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