February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By John Manley
Harvard opened its new Murr Center last Saturday with the men’s tennis team facing the University of Kentucky. The Crimson were down 3-2 with Dublin juniors Joe Green and John Doran left to try to salvage victory from their singles matches. The pair had earlier lost their match at third doubles.
Both came through, however, with comeback victories after losing in the first set. Green defeated Edo Bawano, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, while Doran controlled Johan Grunditz, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. Harvard won the match, 4-3.
The 16th-ranked Crimson then hosted No. 12 Tennessee on Sunday, with the home team winning decisively, 6-1. Green suffered Harvard’s only setback on the afternoon, losing to Adam Carey, 6-2, 6-2. Doran was victorious over Mark Parsons, 6-3, 7-5. The duo earlier defeated Parsons and Paul Podbury in doubles action.
George McGill tasted victory in two matches at third singles last week. The Indiana University junior from Castleroy, Co. Limerick, defeated Louisville’s Fabio Jesus, 6-2, 6-4, and Purdue’s Jason Marshall, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.
Teamwise, the unranked Hoosiers shutout Louisville, 7-0, and lost to Purdue (No. 33), 4-3.
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Mississippi State (No. 50) enjoyed an 8-1 victory over Southern Methodist, with Eimear Sloan contributing victories at fourth singles and second doubles.
Sloan, a junior from Dublin, defeated Chrissie Werding, 6-2, 6-1, and joined Amelie Detriviere to score an 8-5 win over Werding and Patricia Ubeda-Diaz, 8-5.
California’s Claire Curran, also a junior from Dublin, likewise had the upper hand in her two matches against Santa Clara. Curran dispatched Nicole Williams, 6-0, 6-0, at fourth singles, and teamed with Anita Kurimay at first doubles to handle Sarah Duncan and Nicole McCord, 8-2. The 4th-ranked Golden Bears were 9-0 winners.
Seton Hall’s Laura McCracken split a pair of matches at first singles in Philadelphia last Saturday. The junior from Greystones, Co. Wicklow, defeated Colgate’s Samantha Kohn, 6-0, 6-3, but was upended by Temple’s
Tamara Truta, 7-5, 6-4. Teammate Judy McAuley, a junior from Loughlinstown, Co. Dublin, was pitted against Colgate’s Brooke Couch at fifth singles, where she won 7-5, 6-3. McAuley also joined Evelyne Macko to score a 6-4, 6-3 doubles win over Temple’s Tanya Zecic and Nina Kumar. Seton Hall won the Colgate match, 7-0, but lost to Temple, 3-2.
Track and Field
Providence junior Larry Morrissey qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championship in the Mile with his fourth-place finish at the Valentine Invitational at Boston University on Saturday. Morrissey’s time of 4 minutes, 3.51 seconds earned him a starting spot in the field, which will assemble in Indianapolis over the March 5-6 weekend. Morrissey hails from Waterford.
Women’s basketball
Susan Moran continues to dominate the floor. The St. Joseph’s (Pa.) freshman from Tullamore, Co. Offaly, scored a career-high 27 points in a 75-61 victory over St. Bonaventure and nearly matched that output with 26 points in a 74-61 triumph over Fordham. Moran was named the Atlantic-10 Conference’s Rookie of the Week for an unprecedented seventh time.
Moran shot 12 of 16 from close range against the Bonnies, and added 3 of 4 from the foul line. She handled 4 rebounds. She was nearly perfect against Fordham, draining 10 of 11 field goal attempts and all 6 free throws. She grabbed 8 caroms in this contest as well. Moran, who doesn’t possess Jordanesque skills on the floor, owes her output largely to heads-up play, which finds her in the right place time at the right time. Case in point: teammate Angela Zampella managed a couple of steals from her backcourt position in the Fordham game, leading to a 2 on 1 fast break, with Moran, who was posted down low on defense, trailing her. Drawing the lone defender to her as she approached the basket, Zampella dished off to Moran on both occasions for the easy deuce.
The Hawks clinched first place in the Atlantic 10’s East Division with the win. They are 17-7 overall and 12-2 in Conference play. Moran leads the squad in scoring with 14.6 points per game and in rebounding with 6.3 boards.
Men’s basketball
Robert Morris junior Niall Phelan saw limited action in victories over St. Francis (Pa.), 79-66, and Monmouth, 72-70. The Dubliner converted 2 of 3 free throws in the St. Francis win for 2 points, then canned his only shot, a 3-pointer, in the Monmouth victory. Robert Morris is 14-10 overall and 11-7 in the Northeast Conference.
Swimming
North Carolina State’s women conceded bragging rights to their rivals from Chapel Hill as North Carolina scored a 182-118 victory. Gina Galligan, an N.C. State senior from Dublin, contested two races, finishing second in both. On her own, Galligan was second in the 100-meter breaststroke, which she swam in 1 minute, 6.82 seconds. The Tar Heels’ Katie Hathaway was the winner in 1:04.26. Galligan also took to the water for the second leg of the 200-meter medley relay. State’s "A" team was second to UNC’s "A" team.