Tag Archives: 1997-2000); Victor Luces (UTEP

After fighting through strong winds, the UTEP tennis team downed the UTPB Falcons 7-0 on Saturday at the El Paso Tennis and Swim Club. The Miners only dropped one match on the day, in doubles play, but swept the Falcons in singles play without dropping a set. UTEP is now 3-4 on the season while UTPB is 0-1.

“We have to play in these conditions all the time anyway, so I just told the team to focus more on their footwork and try to control the ball and control the points as much as possible,” head coach Ivan Fernandez said. “I knew that this team [UTPB] was going to come out fighting hard against us, but we needed to just withstand their attack. I think that we were able to do that in a lot of the matches.”

The Miners earned the doubles point to start the morning, beginning with a 6-0 win on court no. 6 by Milena Baigorria and Yvette Van Oijen over UTPB’s Amelie Saint-Dizier and Julia Ramalho at the no. 3 spot. In a tight match on court no. 1 at the top doubles spot, Raven Bennett and Chloe Purkiss kept pace with Eugenia Sanchez and Madison Hoetling, but fell 6-4. With the doubles point and the match lead on the line, Lois Wagenvoort and Maria Paula Medina battled Fernanda Orona and Maria Briones on court no. 3, at the no. 2 doubles position. The Miner tandem worked for a 6-3 victory to seal the doubles point and put their team up 1-0.

“I’ve got a veteran on no. 1 and no. 2 doubles, so I think it helps a lot having somebody in there with one of the younger players to kind of keep it under control,” Fernandez said. “Lois and M.P. [Medina] knew that it was down to them and even though they started pretty shaky, they were able to get it under control and close out that doubles point for us. I really wasn’t that worried that they weren’t going to close that out, but the fact that they were able to do it with less mistakes showed a lot of courage. UTPB played really intensively in no. 1 doubles, and they outplayed us. I’m not going to say that we played poorly, they just played better than us.”

The wind was picking up as singles play was underway, but Bennett still handled business with a 6-0, 6-1 straight-set victory over the Falcons’ Saint-Dizier at the no. 2 position. Shortly after, Purkiss wrapped up her match at the no. 3 spot with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Briones on court no. 3. UTEP freshman Erandi Martinez, who only played singles, battled UTPB’s Sanchez at the no. 5 spot, and handed her opponent a 6-0, 6-2 loss to clinch the match for the Miners.

Finishing out play, Medina overwhelmed the Falcons’ Jessica Madamba 6-2, 6-1, while Baigorria pulled out a 6-4 win in the first stanza and came back for a 6-2 triumph in set two to beat UTPB’s Ramalho. Senior Lois Wagenvoort was playing in a marathon of a match against Orona at the top singles spot. Wagenvoort was able to squeeze out a 7-6 set one victory, then a convincing 6-1 win in set two to end the match.

‘I think individually it helped with our confidence, the unfortunate thing is that when its this windy, they [players] don’t really get to feel the ball the same way or feel as comfortable,” Fernandez said. “Even though we got the wins, they [players] didn’t feel that great about their shot selection or how they really played. The bottom line is, we came out on top and we have to keep fighting every match. ”

The Miners will return to action on Feb. 25 when they host Tarleton State at the El Paso Tennis and Swim Club. First serve is set for 10 a.m. MST, admission is free.

NORMAN, OKLA. – Three Oklahoma quarterbacks combined to complete 32-of-36 passes for 496 yards, as the no. 7 Sooners opened the season with a 56-7 victory over UTEP.

Heisman candidate Baker Mayfield completed his first 16 passes, and finished 19-for-20 for 329 yards in the first half as Oklahoma surged to a 35-7 lead.  He was relieved by Kyler Murray to start the second half, and Tanner Schafer came on late in the fourth quarter.

“We were outmatched,” UTEP coach Sean Kugler said.  “I really felt going into the game, that’s a potential national championship quality offense.  It’s one of the better offensive lines that I’ve seen.  Put together, they’ve got an outstanding quarterback who keeps plays alive with his feet, he’s got a great understanding of the game, he made some really accurate throws and made some accurate deep ball throws, which he hadn’t shown on film.”

The Sooners scored touchdowns on five of their six first-half possessions.  Mark Andrews was the other offensive star for OU in the first 30 minutes, reeling in seven catches for 134 yards.

After Oklahoma (1-0) opened the scoring by moving 76 yards on six plays, capped by a two-yard touchdown run by Rodney Anderson, the Miners (0-1) mounted an impressive season-opening drive.  Walter Dawn Jr. rushed four times for 49 yards on the eight-play, 78-yard sequence, and finished it off with a 17-yard dash into the end zone as UTEP knotted the contest at 7.

After that, the Sooners continued to roll offensively while the Miners were forced to punt eight times.

Dimitri Flowers scored on a three-yard run for OU, then the Sooners went back to the passing game as Mayfield found Grant Calcaterra (16 yards), Andrews (five yards) and CeeDee Lamb (four yards) for TDs.

Oklahoma had 419 yards of offense in the first half to UTEP’s 95.

The Sooners tacked on a few more touchdowns in the second half behind Murray, who threw a 43-yard pass to Lee Morris and handed off to Jaxon Uhles and Marcelias Sutton for short scoring runs.

Murray was equally as razor-sharp as Mayfield, finishing 10-of-11 passing for 149 yards.  Schafer was 3-of-5 for 18 yards while coming on for the Sooners’ final offensive series.

“They’ve got an outstanding team,” Kugler said.  “we weren’t physically matching up with them and they wore us down, especially defensively.  We had one nice drive offensively, and couldn’t get it going after that.”

The Miner defense had to play a large chunk of the second half without senior linebacker Alvin Jones, who was ejected for targeting and will miss the first half of next week’s game against Rice.  Jones picked up five tackles with several family members in attendance including his brother Aaron, the Miners’ all-time leading rusher who made the Green Bay Packers’ final roster on Saturday.

Ryan Metz completed 10-of-18 passes for 56 yards in his first season-opening start before giving way to Zack Greenlee late in the third period.

“We had some penalties, had some drops,” Kugler said.  “I really didn’t think the quarterbacks played inefficiently.  I think we didn’t really help them a whole lot in different situations.”

Dawn Jr. rushed for a career-high 56 yards on seven attempts and was the Miners’ top offensive performer.

Oklahoma finished with 676 yards of offense, including 180 on the ground as three backs ran for 50+ yards – Abdul Adams (53), Sutton (52) and Trey Sermon (51).

Jeff Badet added 91 yards on four receptions for the Sooners.

UTEP tallied 167 yards of offense – 94 passing and 73 rushing.  Alan Luna punted eight times for 352 yards, a 44.0-yard average.

The Miners will host Rice in the Conference USA opener next Saturday (Sept. 9).  Kickoff is at 6:05 p.m. MT in the Sun Bowl.  UTEP season tickets are on sale now by calling (915) 747-6150.

“I didn’t think the kids quit competing, I think we were outmatched,” Kugler said.  “Sometimes you’ve got to acknowledge that and move on.  We have a conference game coming up this week, and that’s what our sole focus is going to be.  We can’t spend one second dwelling on this game.  The first one is in the books and not in our favor, but there’s a long season ahead of us.”

Photo gallery by Andres Acosta, El Paso Herald-Post Chief Photographer

Former UTEP Basketball greats Jason Williams and Omar Thomas will host the 2nd Annual Basketball Camp and UTEP Alumni Game on July 23 at Burges High School (7800 Edgemere Blvd) in El Paso.

“We hope to influence the children of El Paso gain the confidence needed to make positive decisions in their lives while helping them improve their basketball skills, but letting them know that school is very important, and keeping positive people around them,” said Williams.

He added, “Moreover it’s about us giving back to the community who came out every home game and showed us love and welcomed many of us who still live here with arms. We are asking everyone to come out to enjoy our event also to bring any pair of shoes that’s wearable for kids or teens we will take these shoes and donate to kids around the city that’s in need of shoes. We are proud to work with other UTEP alumni and local sponsors to make this happen.”

The cost to participate in the camp is $50 and to watch the game is free admission. Participants are encouraged to bring new or gently used shoes which will be donated to the less fortunate in the El Paso community.

Additionally, Former NBA player Lee Nailon will be in attendance, speaking to the children about skills needed to be successful.

Raffle tickets will be available, with proceeds going towards camp expenses and future nonprofit activities. The clinic will be from noon to 4:30 p.m. and the game will begin at 5 p.m.

Participants of the UTEP Alumni Game include Jason Williams (UTEP, 2003-2006); Omar Thomas (UTEP, 2003-2005); Leonard Owens (UTEP, 2000-2002); Miguel Ayala (UTEP, 2004-2006); Brandon Wolform (UTEP, 1997-2000); Victor Luces (UTEP, 1998-2002); CJ Cooper (UTEP,2011-2015); Randy Culpepper (UTEP 2007-2011); John Bohanan (UTEP, 2010-2014), Earvin Morris (UTEP, 2014-2016) ;Tyler Tafoya (UTEP, 2009-2014, (Toraino Johnson, Chapin High School/Utah State).

Sponsors include Bernadette Carrillo, Independent Herbalife Member, Make-A-Wish, Nuovo Cappetto, Xplode Athletics, The Best Ever Nutrition EP, The Sport Nutrition Las Cruces, Mountain View Vocational School, Con-Tex-Construction, Winton Flair Custom Home Builders.

To register and learn more about this event, please contact Jason Williams at 504-281-8116 or via email at believesportsincorparated@gmail.com or Klay Gardnier at 915-269-3239.