Lees-McRae College officially has a men's volleyball coach. James Goodridge will take the reigns of the men's volleyball program after serving as the interim head coach of women's volleyball for Conference Carolina's opponent, Mount Olive College. Goodridge's Trojans reached the 2008 Conference Carolinas Tournament Finals after upsetting the Lady Bobcats, who were the fourth seed, in the second round of the tournament. Prior to that, the Lady Bobcats were had won 10 of the last 10 conference tournaments. During the following men's season, Goodridge was named Associate Head of the Trojans. Before joining Mount Olive's staff, Goodridge sent time at Springfield College as the assistant men's and women's assistant coach and as the head coach of Florida State's men's club team. Goodridge graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Sport Management from Florida State in 2006 and received his Master of Arts in Sport and Fitness from University of Central Florida.
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A Former Lees-McRae College cyclist received a big honor this week. Carla Swart, a standout cyclist for the Bobcats, will compete for South Africa in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India on October 3rd through 14th. Swart joins 13 other cyclist and 16 other teams to represent South Africa in the 19th Commonwealth Games. The South African Commonwealth Games' teams were formed with the 2012 Olympics, which will be hosted in London, according to the South African Olympic governing body. While riding for the Bobcats, Swart was the first collegiate cyclist in the history of USA Collegiate Cycling to win the individual national championships in all four cycling disciplines; track, mountain bike, cyclocross and road, in the same season. She accomplished this feat during the 2008-2009 academic year.
Lees-McRae, just a day after announcing 159 student-athletes made the President's Honor Roll list, have more good news. Athletic Director Craig McPhail announced that the college has hired Phillip Greene as the Community Relations Manager for Athletics. Greene, a good friend of ours at MTN, has spent the past year as the sports editor and photographer for the The Avery Post in Newland, N.C., and as a Youth Minister at Elk Park Christian Church in Elk Park, N.C. He is a graduate of Milligan College where he majored in Communications with a concentration in television and radio broadcast. Greene will do a little bit of everything for Lees-McRae's Athletic Department including: managing the department's travel schedule, game day set up, community events during athletic contest and assisting the Sports Information Director with feature stories, photos, public relations and Lees-McRae Honors Night. From all of us at MTN, congratulations Phillip!
Lees-McRae College recently got some very encouraging news after the Conference Carolinas announced their 2010 Spring Presidential Honor Roll. The Bobcats had 159 student-athletes on the list, which is the second highest student-athletes honored in the conference. The conference as a whole had 1401 student-athletes named to the 2010 Spring Presidential Honor Roll. To be eligible for the honor, the student-athletes had to maintain a 3.0 GPA or better for the previous semester and have participated in either a conference or non-conference sponsored sport. The student-athlete must have been in attendance at the member institution for at least two full-time semesters. The Conference Carolinas Presidential Honor Roll is awarded twice a year once for the fall and once for the spring academic semesters and is based on meeting the criteria at the end of the previous semester. For the 2010 Spring Season, Pfeiffer University led all league members with 168 student-athletes represented. They were followed closely by Lees-McRae College with 159 and Belmont Abbey with 146 honorees.
Colette Montgomery recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 boards, but it wasn't enough as the Lees-McRae College Lady Bobcats fell to Belmont Abbey 61-45 Monday night. With the game knotted at five apiece, the Crusaders went on a 17-2 run to take a 12-point lead with just over 10 minutes to play in the half. Candace Flowers knocked down a three for the Bobcats with 43 seconds on the clock to cut the lead to six, but the Crusaders responded with a three to take a 31-22 lead into the half. Coming out of the locker rooms, the Crusaders extended the lead to 36-22 with 18:11 left in the half. The Bobcats cut the lead to eight, but pushed the lead back to 14 and then increased it to 19 before they finished the game with a 61-45 win. The Lady Bobcats will return to action Thursday as they host Pfeiffer at 5:30 p.m.
Despite Daniel Sepokas 21 points, the Lees-McRae men's basketball team fell 81-67 to the Belmont Abbey Crusaders Monday night. Lees-McRae never led during the game with The Abbey taking a six point lead, at 12-6 at the 13:57 mark. The Bobcats would claw within one a minute later, but the Crusaders quickly extended the lead to 16 points with a 17-2 run. The Abbey would close the half up 39-26. After the half, the lead was pushed to 50-30 at the 16-minute mark, and then to a game-high 28 points, with just over seven minutes to play in the game. Lees-McRae again would scrap back and close the lead to 77-66 with 1:47 to play, but the Crusaders finished the game up 81-67 for the win. Adam McFerran chipped in with 17 points in addition to Sepokas' 21 for the Bobcats, while Tyshawn Good registered 21 for The Abbey. Lees-McRae will next host Pfeiffer Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
The Lees-McRae men's volleyball team opened their inaugural season with a 3-0 (21-30, 33-35, 20-30) loss to George Mason over the weekend. George Mason won the first set 30-21, but Lees-McRae made them earn the second set pushing the match past the 30-point mark. Mason took the second set 35-33 and finished the match with a 30-20 third set win. Leading the way for the Bobcats was outside hitter, Jeremy Evans, who had 12 kills on 27 attempts. Raphael Vieira followed with nine kills, and Steven Bunning had eight kills. Juan Ramirez passed out 30 assists, and Justy Tevid had a team-high seven digs. The Bobcats will return to action in the Daytona Beach Tournament with a match against Johnson and Wales at 3:30 p.m. on Friday.
Kendrick Easley scored 30 points for Mount Olive College as the Trojans defeated Lees-McRae 90-73 over the weekend. Lees-McRae transfer Adam McFerran scored 20 points to lead the Bobcats. His 20 points in 24 minutes is a career-high since transferring from Wheeling and Jesuit where he scored 28 points his freshman season. Up 4-2 with 16:31 on the clock, the Trojans went on a 10-0 run 13:44 remaining in the half. The Bobcats would close the gap to 18-14, but Mount Olive went on a 12-0 run gave the Trojans a 30-18 lead three minutes later. A Sam Youse three closed the Trojan lead to seven, 33-26, with a little less than four minutes to play in the half, but Mount Olive used a 9-2 run to take a 42-28 lead with 1:48 left in the half, and the Trojans would carry a 13 point lead, 46-33, into the locker rooms. Mount Olive came out of the half and pushed the lead to 53-37, with 17:27 on the clock. A minute later the Trojans took their largest lead of the game at 72-50, and held onto to win 90-73. Lees-McRae will travel to Belmont Abbey tonight for their next game at 7:30 p.m.
The Lees-McRae Lady Bobcats cut an 11-point deficit down to one in the final seven minutes and had a chance for the winning basket, but a missed shot on the final possession ended the rally as the Bobcats fell to Mount Olive 59-58 over the weekend. Lauren Casey's basket with 52 seconds left pulled Lees-McRae (2-12 overall, 2-8 Conference Carolinas) within a point and a Mount Olive turnover gave the ball back to the Bobcats with 32 seconds remaining. Lees-McRae attempted the game-winning shot in the closing seconds, but the attempt was off the mark and Trojan forward Brittany Miller pulled down the rebound as Mount Olive held on for the win. Collette Montgomery posted a double-double for Lees-McRae with game highs of 16 points and 11 rebounds. Lees-McRae will travel to Belmont Abbey tonight with tip-off set for 5:30 p.m.
Colette Montgomery scored 17 points and grabbed nine boards but it wasn't enough as the Lees-McRae Lady Bobcats fell to the Queens Royals, 68-52 last night. The game went back and forth and was tied at 12 until Queens' Jacquia Winstead responded with a bucket that sparked a 12-0 run by Queens to take a 24-12 lead with 10:31 on the clock. Three minutes later, the Lady Bobcats cut the lead to six, 24-18, on a Jazzmin Tate field goal, but again the Royals responded this time with a 7-0 run to push the lead back to double-digits. Queens took their lead to 15 with 2:27 left, but Lees-McRae closed the gap to 37-27 at the half. After the half, Queens took their largest lead of the game at 22 points with 3:39 on clock, but the Lady Bobcats finished the game on a 6-0 run to give the game the final score of 68-52. Casey and Jessica Blair had eight points apiece for the Bobcats, while Marissa Hudley had a game-high 21 points and collected nine rebounds for the Royals. The Lady Bobcats will return home tomorrow at 2 p.m. in Williams Gymnasium against the Mount Olive Trojans.
The Lees-McRae College Bobcats couldn't overcome a big second half by Queens as they fell to the Queens Royals, 77-58 last night. The half started with the two teams trading the lead over the first 10 minutes until a Jeremiah Henry field goal and a Sepokas three gave the Bobcats a five-point lead. However, the Royals would regain the lead on a Daniel Bailey field goal and then go on a 10-0 run over the final 2:23 in the first half to take a 39-29 lead into the break. After the break, Queens didn't allow Lees-McRae back into the game as they extended their lead to 16 points and then put the game out of reach three minutes later with a 66-49 lead. The Royals ended the game up 19 points, at 77-58, to earn the win. Sam Youse paced the Bobcats with 15 points and was followed by Daniel Sepokas, who had 10 points. Baily led all scorers with 24 points and 15 rebounds. The Bobcats will host Mount Olive tomorrow for their next game in Williams Gymnasium at 4pm.
