“Today was a great way to finish out the 2022 season at home,” said head coach Guard Young. “I am very proud of the girls starting out strong on vault and then taking that into bars. We are currently a top team in the country on floor, so I just let them do their thing once we get to floor and they show up.”

Senior Sadie Miner-Van Tassell came away with the highest scores on vault (9.925) and beam (9.900), as well as finishing with an all-around score of 39.525.

“Sadie has just been fantastic this whole season and to have another great all-around performance will go towards her national rankings,” said Young.

BYU started out the night on vault. Junior Elease Rollins started the day off strong for the Cougars with a 9.850, tying her career high for the season. Sydney Benson followed with a solid score of 9.800. Miner Van-Tassell finished out the rotation for BYU with the highest score on the apparatus, a 9.925. BYU ended the first rotation tied with Arizona at 49.100.

Moving to uneven bars, Abby Beeston started by posting a 9.875 for the Cougars. Sophomore Allix Mason followed, coming away with a solid score of 9.800 on the apparatus. With the highest score on bars, Anyssa Alvarado scored a 9.925 for the sixth time this season. After great performances on bars, BYU pulled ahead of Arizona 98.250 to 98.025.

With a strong score of 9.800, Mason started off the beam rotation for BYU. Senior Miner-Van Tassell followed earning a solid 9.925. Posting another great score, Sophie McClelland earned a 9.825 for the Cougars. Rollins and Haley Pitou also came away with great scores of 9.875 and 9.800 to finish the third rotation. The Cougars stayed in the lead at the end of the third rotation with a score of 147.500-47.350.

The Cougars finished the meet with outstanding floor routines. Senior Beeston began the rotation with a 9.875 for BYU. Adeline Rieder also earned a solid score of 9.850. Both Miner Van-Tassell and Brittney Vitkauskas came away with scores of 9.925 to finish out the final rotation. With solid scores on floor apparatus, BYU secured the win over Arizona 196.82 to 196.300.

Cougar softball routs Ball State

BYU softball defeated Ball State with a season-high score of 14-5 in its final game of the Sun Devil Classic on Saturday afternoon, going 2-2 on the week.

“We played solid ball today” said BYU head coach Gordon Eakin. “Carley Brown who started in her first game this week pitched well and we also had an explosive offensive day. So, we as coaches are very pleased with today’s win.”

A grand slam by Violet Zavodnik would take BYU’s lead to 6-0. It was the second grand slam of her BYU career. The last time a BYU player hit a grand slam was on March 13, 2021, which was by Zavodnik herself against Tarleton State in Austin, Texas.

Up next, BYU will host Maine for its home opener on Tuesday, March 15 at 5 p.m. MDT. The game will be streaming on the BYUtv app and byutv.org

Wolverine baseball drops rubber match to CBU

With the weekend series all deadlocked at one game apiece, Utah Valley found itself of the wrong end of a 17-1 contest to the two-time defending WAC champion California Baptist Lancers on Sunday afternoon at UCCU Ballpark to drop the home-opening series.

With the game tightly contested in the early stages, the Lancers (10-4, 2-4 WAC) would go on to score runs in the third, fourth, fifth, and six innings en route to taking the finale and the series. Despite the loss, UVU (6-10, 2-4 WAC) has won four of its last six contests. The Wolverines were led on the day by Connor Hall and Kayler Yates, who both went 2-for-3 in the ballgame.

“California Baptist did a nice job this afternoon and pretty much played better than us in every facet of the game. We’ve got a lot to learn from this one,” head coach Eddie Smith said. “We’ll come back and practice hard all week and be ready to go Friday night at GCU.”

Moralez extended his hitting streak to 11 games and his reached base safely streak to 16 games after going 1-for-3 with a double. Sims also had a nice day offensively for the Wolverines by going 1-for-2 with an RBI. David Martin led CBU offensively by going 3-for-5 with a double, a run scored, and a game-high four RBIs.

On Saturday, UVU split a doubleheader thanks to claiming a 6-4 victory in the twin bill night cap. The Wolverines got strong pitching down the stretch in that one and a game-winning RBI double from Brody Ponti late in the contest to pull that one out.

After a busy stretch in the which the Wolverines played eight games over the past 10 days, UVU will take the next few days off and return to the road next weekend for a three-game league series at the defending WAC Tournament champion Grand Canyon Lopes. The series will run Friday to Sunday, March 18-20, at Brazell Field at GCU Ballpark in Phoenix.

UVU women’s golf finishes eighth

Victoria Estrada carded a final-round 72 to lead the way for the Utah Valley University women’s golf team by tying for 12th at the Pizza Hut Lady Thunderbird Invitational at Sunbrook Golf Club in St. George on Saturday afternoon.

With the even-par 72 on Saturday, the reigning WAC champion Estrada finished with a with a three-round total of 10-over-par 226 to tie for 12th. Estrada posted an impressive tally of six birdies during Saturday’s final round en route to carding the even-par 72. For the tournament, she posted scores of 78, 76, and 72 and moved up 10 spots on the leaderboard on Saturday.

“It was a great day for Victoria. She played solidly and put herself in great positions to capitalize on her birdies. I’m proud of her for executing today and happy with the fight through the up and downs of the day,” head UVU coach Juli Erekson said. “Looking forward to returning to Sedona next weekend!”