Offshore Lessons on the Volvo Ocean Race

Article by  Agathe Armand  Photo by Amory Ross/Team Alvimedica/Volvo Ocean Race

It has been a long leg for Team Alvimedica, and a slow, never-ending finish at sunset, in Abu Dhabi waters.

The Turkish/American boat did lead the race early on, stopped to assist Team Vestas Wind when their competitors hit a reef north of Mauritius, resumed racing and caught up with Team SCA and MAPFRE.

But they were finally overtaken by the Spanish team and ended the leg in a painful drift across the Gulf.

Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race

“This leg has had its ups and downs and we definitely need to work on our consistency,” admits Charlie Enright, the skipper.

“But we’ve got a good plan in place and we’ll work on the best way to achieve it.”

For the youngest crew in the race, this leg was all about learning. Learning about the race – four of them are rookies, learning about their boat, learning about their performance at sea.

“We’ve had a lot of time together and conversations naturally evolved from the fun things to our performance,” explains Amory Ross, the Onboard Reporter.

“We’re happy about boat speed. We know we’re competitive in a straight line; we just need to know where to point the bow. It’s not a personal problem or a chemistry issue. Our greatest attribute is we’re a young group of guys looking to improve.”

They’ve learned about the reality of the race too, and its ruthlessness.

“The Vestas incident is something that will stick with us for a long time,” sighs Mark Towill, who admits feeling “a bit mentally drained.”

Having suspended racing for 9.5 hours to provide assistance to the blue boat, the Alvimedica guys can now apply for redress.

“And we’ve just been bleeding miles to MAPFRE these past days,” adds Mark. “Yes, a little down, but excited to wrap this up and prepare for the next leg.”

Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race

Charlie and his eight teammates are now looking forward to debriefing properly in Abu Dhabi. Some are heading home; others are staying in the Emirates before the next leg.

“Part of us want to start Leg 3 tomorrow,” concludes the 30-year old skipper, “but it will be good to have some time to rest and reflect. We’re excited about where we are. It’s just a matter of refining some small things.”

Team Alvimedica finish time: 13 29 23 UTC / Elapsed time: 024d 21h 29m 23s

LSU Women's Hoops to Take on Louisiana Tech

Posted by Louisiana Gazette. Photo by:Steve Franz, LSU Athletics Staff Photographer
BATON ROUGE – The LSU women’s basketball team returns to the hardwood and faces off with Louisiana Tech Wednesday evening as the Lady Tigers play their final game before a 10-day break for final exams. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:02 p.m., and the game will be nationally televised by the SEC Network. Louisiana Tech (2-2) has split its opening four games on the season and collected road victories over Stephen F. Austin and Alabama A&M. The Lady Techsters are coached by Tyler Summitt, son of Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt. Whitney Frazier has garnered a team-leading 14.3 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. She has connected on 42.0 percent of her field goals. JaQuan Jackson has chipped in 10.8 points and 2.2 assists per game. “After our trip to Mexico, we wanted to get back to the United States. We’ve had three very intense practices since returning,” head coach Nikki Caldwell said. “We’ve been very competitive in our practice. We’ve seen a lot of great strides as far as getting better in some areas that have challenged us. I feel as though offensively we’ve done a nice job in being more efficient in the half court which is an area that we’ve struggled in. Defensively, we’ve really worked at changing up our defense and being very consistent on our full court pressure as well. We feel like that has been a strength of ours. We’re looking forward to finally getting back to action tomorrow against a very good Louisiana Tech basketball team.”

Volleyball Draws Oklahoma in NCAA Tournament

Article by Clyde Verdin Photo by Kyle Zedaker, LSU Athletics Student Photographer
BATON ROUGE, La. – After closing out the 2014 regular season winning 14 of their final 15 matches, the LSU volleyball team did not have to wait long to hear its name called Sunday night, earning a bid to the 2014 NCAA Volleyball Championship, traveling to Eugene, Ore., to take on the Oklahoma Sooners on Thursday, Dec. 4 at 6:30 p.m. in the first round.
Taking place on campus sites Dec. 4-6, the Tigers are in the part of the bracket that leads to Minneapolis as one of the four predetermined sites for the regional semifinals and finals, but first will head to the Pacific Northwest as the host Ducks will welcome the Tigers, Sooners and Santa Clara Broncos for the first two rounds of competition.
“It’s always great to hear your name called and it pops up on the screen,” head coach Fran Flory said. “This is a very tough regional with some very strong teams, and we are looking forward to the challenge. We are very familiar with them and it should be a very good group of matches.”
LSU, finishing third in the Southeastern Conference with a 19-8 overall record and 14-4 league mark, will meet the Sooners, the second place team out of the Big 12 Conference with a 20-10 mark and 10-6 conference record. The last time the two teams faced off against one another was in 1999, as the Tigers currently hold a 7-3 all-time record against OU in program history.
The winner of the LSU-Oklahoma match will face the winner of the 10th-ranked Ducks and Broncos, which will take place at 9 p.m. that night. This side of the bracket also features No. 7 North Carolina, Hampton, Costal Carolina and Southern California, as the winner of that sub-regional will be waiting in Minnesota in the first of two matches there.