THUNDER BAY – Looking forward to the weekend, the Lakehead women’s volleyball team goes on the road looking for their first win of the regular season, the Thunderwolves wrestling team will grapple at the McMaster Invitational, and both Lakehead basketball teams will go south of the border this weekend.
Here is your Lakehead University Sports Preview:
Women’s Volleyball – Games times are Friday at 6 pm versus Guelph and Saturday at 4 pm versus McMaster.
Coach Chris Green sees this weekend as an opportunity to put his young team up against some of the best in the OUA, “Guelph will be looking for their first win of the season and will be hungry at home to do so,” Green noted on Wednesday. “We have to work on our young players seeing the game in a more efficient manner. We play very tough teams this weekend and thus we will have a great opportunity to see how the girls will apply the video and practice ideals for this week. Guelph is a team who has strong outside attack and play strong defense. This will test our offence out.”
Green adds, “McMaster has a strong veteran team who have all facets of their game running smoothly. They are one of the best in OUA. Again we will look to provide our best in playing these teams as a great test for our young squad.”
Friday 6 pm @ Guelph;
Saturday 4 pm @ Guelph, and
Sunday 1 pm @ McMaster.
There is currently no webcast planned for either game, but check www.thunderwolves.ca closer to game time for possible updates.
Wrestling – Eighteen Thunderwolves (9 men, 9 women) will be wrestling at the McMaster Invitational this Saturday, November 5.
This will be the first road trip for many of the young Thunderwolves. Coach Brock Curtis is looking to make this tournament a growing experience for his team, especially the women, “This will be the first time that we send a full roster for our women’s team to this tournament, which should make a difference in the team standings,” Curtis mentions. “I also expect some good results for our more senior wrestlers like Preston Mikulasik [heavyweight], who is making his return to OUA competition, and this is a well attended tournament in terms schools outside the OUA as well.”
Men’s Basketball – Game times are Friday at 8 pm (Eastern) versus U-Wisconsin Stout and the same time Saturday against Hamline.
This will be the last set of exhibition games for Scott Morrison’s team. “With this weekend representing our final tune up before the OUA schedule we are looking to cut down on some of our mental errors and give 40 minutes of effort each night,” Morrison remarked on Wednesday. “We are not familiar with the opponent so our focus will be on executing our systems to the best of our ability.”
The last time the Thunderwolves made this trip (2008) they won the UW-Stout game and lost to Hamline.
Injuries report: Michael Thorne-Finch and JR Alexander are out with injuries, Yoosrie Salhia and Nathan Wainwright are probable but have missed practice time this week.
Links for Fridays game:
Live stats
Webcast (tentative): http://athletics.uwstout.edu/sports/2009/7/10/webcasts.aspx?tab=livewebcasts
Women’s Basketball – The ladies will finish up their 17-game exhibition season with 3 more, 1 against Bemidji State and 2 versus Minot State.
Jon Kreiner wants to make the most out of this weekend prior to the OUA schedule commencing: “Bemidji St. and Minot St. will be our final tune up and will provide us with an opportunity to play two NCAA Division II schools. Bemidji is a small, quick and athletic team that will play up tempo while Minot is a very big team that can really shoot the ball. We will be looking to tune up our offense and clean up our defense. We will need to be physical, contain penetration and play smart post defense”.
Game 1: Lakehead vs Bemidji Nov 3 @ 7:30 central time
Game 2: Lakehead vs Minot Nov 4 @ 7:00 central time
Game 3: Lakehead vs Minot Nov 5 @ 4:00 central time
Links to Thursday’s game: www.bsubeavers.com
Links to Friday and Saturday’s games: www.msubeavers.com