LAURA BEAN/The Arka Tech: Camila Roca is 15-6 in singles play and 4-1 with doubles partner Tamara Bell.
The Arkansas Tech women’s tennis team (17-3, 5-1 GAC) will head into the Great American Conference Tournament on Friday and Saturday in Bentonville as the No. 2 seed seeking a title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Tech has a first round bye and will play the winner of No. 3 East Central and No.6 Henderson State on Friday at 3 p.m. If the Golden Suns win, they will play the winner of No. 1 Southeastern Oklahoma State and either No.4 Southern Nazarene or No. 5 Harding on Saturday at 2 p.m. for the title.
The Golden Suns most recent win came on Sunday in an 8-1 rout over Harding in Little Rock, which put SEOSU, East Central and Tech in a three-way tie for first place until a blind draw on Tuesday morning determined the team’s seeding in the GAC Tournament.
Head coach Abby Davis said her team has met its goals so far, but it’s not finished yet.
“Our goal at the beginning of every year is to win the regular season, make it into the conference tournament and win it and make the NCAA tournament,” Davis said. “We feel like once we make the NCAA tournament, anything after it is icing on the cake.”
Davis said expectations have been high, and the Golden Suns have risen to the occasion in all but one of its six crucial conference matches. A 5-4 loss to SEOSU (15-6 overall) in the season’s first conference matchup didn’t stop Tech from winning its last five matches.
Vandella Suico (16-4 overall) leads the Golden Suns in conference play this year with a 5-0 singles and doubles GAC record.
Tech’s No. 1 and No. 2 doubles teams — consisting of Olga Leyshyna and Bohdana Sardak and Tamara Bell and Camila Roca respectively — are both 4-1 in conference.
Overall, Leyshyna has the most wins for Tech this year with a 21-5 record. Sardak has gone 19-6, Roca is 15-6, Bell is 14-9 and Laura Sanchez is 13-8.
Currently, Tech is ranked No. 4 in the Central Region. Davis said seven teams from each region will qualify for the NCAA tournament after conference tournaments conclude.
Laura Bean/The Arka Tech: Morgan Vaughan delivers a strike during a game at Chartwells Women’s Sports Complex.
Arkansas Tech (34-15, 20-12 Great American Conference) dropped three games against Henderson State (34-10, 24-6) on Sunday and Monday in Arkadelphia.
The Golden Suns sit in the fourth spot in GAC standings behind No. 1 Henderson State, followed by Southeastern Oklahoma State and East Central. The Golden Suns have clinched a berth to the GAC Softball Tournament Championships with one conference series — Southern Nazarene — remaining on the schedule.
Henderson State was no match for the Golden Suns in the first game of a doubleheader on Sunday, as the Tech outscored the Lady Reddies 9-2. Morgan Vaughan (9-3) earned a win with allowing only two runs on two hits, one walk and seven strikeouts in seven innings pitched.
Both teams remained scoreless until the top of the fifth inning, when Shanna Davidson homered with two outs. Whitney Robinson followed with walk, and then Alex Edinger doubled to left field. A dingle by Jalissa Gum to left field scored Robinson for a 2-0 Tech lead.
The Golden Suns added another run in the top of the sixth inning. Miranda Dupree homered with two outs to give Tech a 3-0 advantage. However, the Lady Reddies managed to score two runs in the bottom of the sixth, starting with a a no-out double to left and followed by a walk, sacrifice bunt and single.
Tech answered with six runs in the top of the seventh to secure a 9-2 win. Robinson lead the inning with a walk, followed by a single to left by Edinger. Although Gum grounded out, she advanced Robinson and Edinger to scoring position.
Samantha Herweck bunted and advanced to second to score Robinson, and then Kambri Hill reached on an error to score Edinger and Herweck. Ashley Savage flied out for two outs in the inning, but back-to-back homers by Dupree and Vaughan gave the Golden Suns a sizeable advantage. Edinger finished the inning with a flyout.
Tables were turned in the second matchup, however, as Henderson State beat Tech 10-1. Victoria Huie (11-5) was given the loss after six runs were scored on eight hits over 1.2 innings of work. Mary Moran allowed one run on one hit in 1.1 innings pitched, while Davidson allowed three runs on one hit in one inning pitched.
Henderson scored one run in the first, five runs in the second, one run in the third and three runs in the fourth. Davidson homered for the Golden Suns in the third inning.
The Lady Reddies continued to overpower the Golden Suns in Monday’s doubleheader, outscoring Tech 5-2 in the third game of the series. Vaughan (9-4) was given the loss, as she allowed five runs on nine hits and five errors.
Henderson State held the Golden Suns in the top of the first and tacked a run to the scoreboard in the bottom of the first. A walk, bunt and single scored one run for the Lady Reddies. Another run was added in the bottom of the second, as a runner who reached on an error later scored off a single for a 2-0 Henderson State lead.
Both teams went scoreless in the third inning, but it was Tech’s turn to add some runs in the top of the fourth. Janie Knowles led off with a single and was advanced to second with a groundout by Hill. A walk by Savage put into runners in scoring position after a passed ball. Vaughan drew a two-out walk, and when Davidson was hit by a pitch, Knowles scored. Robinson walked next to score Savage, giving Tech a 2-2 tie.
Henderson State struck in the bottom of the fifth with three more runs, starting when the first two batters were hit by a pitch. Runs were scored on a wild pitch, groundout and passed ball, giving the Lady Reddies a 5-2 advantage.
Although the Lady Reddies left three on base in bottom of the sixth, the Golden Suns failed to score in the final frame, stranding Alexa Wimberly to end the game.
The Lady Reddies finished the series with a 2-1 win over the Golden Suns. Huie (11-6) was credited the loss, as she allowed two runs on five hits in 5.1 innings pitched. Vaughan struck out one and hit one batter in less than one inning of pitching.
Both teams were held scoreless until the bottom of the third inning, when a Lady Reddie singled and stole second with two outs. A homer drove in two runs for a 2-0 Henderson State lead.
Tech attempted a comeback in the top of the sixth. Vaughan doubled to left field with no outs and was advanced to third on a groundout. With two outs, Dupree singled to left field to score Vaughan. Knowles drew a walk, but Davidson struck out swinging to strand two.
Although Tech managed to hold the Lady Reddies in the bottom of the sixth, the Golden Suns failed to score in their last at bat to lose by one run.
The Golden Suns faced the No. 11 University of Alabama-Huntsville on Wednesday before a final home series against Southern Nazarene on Friday and Saturday to finish GAC play. The GAC tournament will begin Wednesday in Bentonville.
The Golden Suns nearly swept the Great American Conference Championships Sunday through Tuesday at the Hot Springs Country Club, earning four top-five finishes and the overall win.
Tech outshot its conference competition by 50 strokes, finishing at 892 for a first-place team win. Henderson State claimed second place in the eight-team field with a combined 942.
Rebecka Surtevall, Megan Jeffery, Caroline Fredensborg and Taylor Kline all carded top-five finishes in the 46-player field. Surtevall cut seven strokes off her round one and round two scores to earn second place, shooting 69 on the final round for a combined 221. Jeffery finished one stroke back at 222 for third place, and Fredensborg finished three strokes back at 224 for fourth place. Kline tied for fifth place with a 225 total. Jessica Sachs tied for 17th place with a 243.
Harding’s Brittany Marquez earned medalist honors with a 216.
Twice during the tournament, the Golden Suns set a new GAC Championship 18-hole scoring record, carding a 6-over 294. Surtevall, Jeffery, Fredensborg and Kline were honored on the All-Tournament Team.
The Golden Suns finished the spring regular-season with a fourth-place finish at the St. Edward’s Spring Invite, fourth-place finish at the Diffee Ford Lincoln Invitational, 10th-place finish at the Barry Invitational and first-place finish at the Holiday Inn Express Central Region Invitational.
The NCAA will release the NCAA Division II Central Super Regional field at 2 p.m. on Monday.
The Central Super Regional will be played at Hillcrest Country Club in Bartlesville, Okla., on May 4-6.
Fire and meat. Is there a pairing more quintessentially human than fire and meat?
The hunks of whitetail tenderloin in front of me just came off the grill. Seasoned with garlic, salt, pepper, cumin and just a dash of crushed red pepper, they were every bit as mouth-watering delicious as they looked. Seasoning, coal fire and a soaked piece of hickory working in concert underneath the hood of my old grill crafted a masterpiece of flavor that my — and your — prehistoric ancestors would call overkill. But it tasted like perfection to me.
Nobody really knows how and when we started cooking, but somewhere back in our murky past meat found its way to fire after the kill and it was good. Taste was the reason back then, and a good reason at that. The sense of taste tells an animal what to eat. If something tastes good a creature will eat more of it. This was before junk food threw our perceptions out of whack by going overboard on the tastes we crave. So it only makes sense that taste was the original goal for cooking, and our taste buds were right. Cooked meat is better for us.
Cooking unravels proteins and loosens muscle fiber in meat, which makes for easier chewing and digestion. My taste buds tell me that grilled venison is far superior to venison prepared any other way. We eat deer meat prepared by different methods, but tenderloin is almost always reserved for the grill.
Backstrap tenderloin is good eating without the spices. I sometimes eat a bare hunk as homage to a simpler time and to experience the clean, nuanced flavors that set some of humanities taste preferences in motion. But many folks can’t seem to get past the “gamey” taste of deer compared to beef. I think the idea that venison’s taste needs to be tamed comes from an unfair comparison. Venison is not beef, and shouldn’t be compared to beef any more than pork should be compared to beef.
Venison’s flavor comes from a variety of influences. The conditions surrounding the hunt are important. A deer run half to death, it’s muscles loaded with lactic acid, won’t please your palate like a deer shot while peacefully browsing. Age and sex of the deer matter, too. Many eaters of deer say there is no difference in taste between buck and doe. I said the same thing a few years ago. I was wrong. There is a subtle contrast; one isn’t better than the other, only different. And, of course, the younger the deer the more tender the meat. At least one young doe is on my wish list every season. But far and away the most powerful influence on taste is what the deer ate. This is where the connection between hunter and hunted turns into a shadowy bond between biology and an almost spiritual awareness. It has to do with a topic I’ve talked about a few times before — a sense of place.
I’ve eaten deer plumped up on corn and soybeans, their hams covered with a thick layer of fat, and their taste was both mild and rich. Domesticated is the best description.
Domesticated is a good description of the land they fed on as well. Crops grown in neat rows with pockets of trees breaking the monotony of fields here and there. They were wild deer but they were eating cultivated food, and there’s nothing wrong with that. If your local whitetails gorge on grain, then enjoy. But, to me, it didn’t really taste like deer. It was a much different taste than venison from the southern Ozarks and River Valley of western Arkansas that my family usually chows on.
My local whitetail herd eats greenbrier, honeysuckle and grass through the summer; acorns and assorted soft mast in the fall; and back to honeysuckle and winter greens in a few scattered food plots for winter.
A deer’s diet is diverse, and there are countless other bits of vegetation browsed throughout the year, but those are the staples. You can taste this through the deer’s flesh. Energy from the sun and nutrients from the soil cycling through the vegetation, through the deer and to you with every morsel.
Each bite tinted with notes of what that deer ate. It all blends together into a flavor unique to the specific home of the whitetail now cooked and transformed into meat. I always say I can pick up hints of acorn and persimmon from the first venison steak of the season.
I might be reaching a bit. That woodsy flavor might be because the smell of an autumn hardwood ridge is in my nose nearly every day but to me, the deer tastes like an October morning in the forests of my Arkansas home. It tastes like where I’m from.
The next time you’re seated at the dinner table with a venison steak in front of you, take a moment of reflection for the meal, the hunt, the deer and for the place. And when you take that first bite, savor the flavor. Savor the sense of place resting on your plate.
Another school year is almost completed, which means we can finally get reacquainted with free time. We can retire our notebooks, pull out our controllers and tackle that huge backlog of games that has been collecting over the school year.
However, it is easy to lose sight of what is coming up when you are focused on what has been left behind.
The first AAA game is the highly anticipated “The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.” The Witcher 3 is an action role playing game from Polish developer CD Projekt Red. It comes from hit series, “The Witcher,” which has been around for several years, in video game, tabletop and even fantasy novel format.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt releases May 19 on Xbox One, Playstation 4 and PC.
Shortly after is Nintendo’s new IP in “Splatoon.”
“Splatoon” is an intriguing game- it is a way for Nintendo to cash in on the popularity of military shooter games, while making it family friendly and having that certain Nintendo charm.
“Splatoon” is a third-person shooter, where you control children equipped with guns that shoot paint at each other. The point is to cover the entire level with the paint of your team, while covering up your opponents.
It sounds ridiculously crazy, but Nintendo is the company that gave us an Italian plumber that eats mushrooms and stomps on turtles. “Splatoon” releases exclusively on the Wii U on May 29.
This summer will be packed with great games on a weekly basis, it would be impossible to cover them all. Good luck with finals, and get ready to play some games.
Every now and then, the president will present a State of the Union address to discuss problems and concerns within the country and to present possible solutions.
For some reason, I feel like music deserves the same treatment, and as the semester winds down, I have some thoughts, concerns and solutions.
The problem most industry experts would blame for the decline of sales and interest is Internet piracy (illegal downloading). Certainly, this is a major problem, and it does prevent a lot of music from being made.
Often times, people think that musicians are rich, and they don’t need the money.
Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Sure, Beyonce and Kid Rock may not miss your $10, but think about the artists that tour in clubs or theaters. Many of them are very well-known, but they can’t be called rich, by any stretch.
I won’t get into the name game, but I do know artists that struggle because the number of people that have their music doesn’t equal the number or records sold. Make no mistake, nobody gets rich from record sales alone, but it certainly does matter.
Many iconic artists are now taking the bull by the horns and handling the entire record-making process themselves. Some have their own labels, and some make deals with smaller, independent labels. Either way, these artists have a limited budget and are left with the bill for
studio time, manufacturing and distribution, let alone paying for studio musicians or outside engineers.
This can often amount to tens of thousands of dollars that are at stake, and if the “fans” download the record, rather than buying it, that artist is left in debt and unable to record another record until the money is scraped together, usually from constant touring.
But is illegal downloading really the big problem?
Think about it. How many times have you burned a CD, or emailed music to your best friend to hear? That’s still a loss of record sales.
From what I’ve seen, the problem is that the industry has successfully fooled the public into thinking that they’re hearing the best of what’s out there. It’s to the point that some record labels actually own and operate radio stations. You can see where there might be a slight bias in the programming.
This is why I’ve always said that you have to dig to get to the good stuff. We’re in the worst period for formulated music since the 80s, and the industry’s not letting up. They’ve found a handful of artists that work, and they’re creating more clones as we speak.
So as we all go our seperate ways for the summer, I urge you to give this some serious thought. Think about the artists that you use to listen to.
The only reason it takes this much effort is because we’ve let it get this bad. It can be changed.
Through a competitive application process, 150 Tech students were chosen to be the first to work with and welcome incoming freshmen in the fall.
This is the largest group of orientation leaders chosen for the program. The program has had to grow with the ever-increasing numbers of freshmen enrollment. Jenny Butler, assistant director for Campus Life, said there would be 75 small groups of freshmen with two orientation leaders per group.
“Because the freshmen class keeps growing, we have to grow as well,” Butler said. “We don’t want the group sizes that the freshmen are placed in to be so large that they aren’t going to meet anybody. So we keep trying to add small groups so the numbers stay relatively manageable.”
The application process consisted of a group and a individual interview. The group interview was with 50 to 75 people at a time. There were six stations that were used to see how well the applicants worked in a group. The individual interview was 20 minutes of questions. The panel took into account the applicant’s GPA and checked if students had had any disciplinary sanctions while at Tech. Scores from both interviews were added together in choosing the orientation leaders for the upcoming year.
“We try to get a good balance of personalities that would connect with a wide variety of students,” Butler said. “Our freshmen class is made up of athletes and bookworms and everything in between, so we try to get that make-up in the orientation leaders.”
Returning orientation leaders were chosen a month in advance to help with recruitment efforts and to take part in the selection process. This year there are 41 students that will be returning as orientation leaders.
As orientation leaders Butler said students will have sessions that they will present to freshmen over predetermined topics during Welcome Week. Some of the sessions include information about the Jerry Cares Campaign, knowledge about meal plans, policies and procedures, an overview of the student handbook and rules to follow and how to get involved on campus.
“The orientation leaders will go through some pretty intense training just to make sure they know all the information,” Butler said.
Klay Rutherford, a junior English major from Maumelle, said he decide to apply to help freshmen get acquainted.
“I’ve changed my major way more times than anyone else I know, so I pretty well know my way around the university and feel like I can bring something new to students who don’t know yet,” Rutherford said. “Of course, the pay and opportunity to move-in early is a nice incentive to apply.”
An orientation leader is a paid position. Leaders receive a $450 check for their work, which begins Aug. 19.
One of Tech’s annual fundraisers came to a close the week before spring break. On March 19, the Tech Loyalty Fund Phonathon concluded its sixth week of calling friends and alumni of the university.
“We have spoken with almost 4,000 friends and alumni over the course of six weeks,” said Rachel Bullock, coordinator of the TLF phonathon.
Student callers update contact information and inform them of updates that are happening on the Tech campus.
“Phonathon is sometimes the only time someone hears from Arkansas Tech after they graduate,” Bullock said.
However, the six weeks of calling doesn’t allow student workers to reach out to the alumni database, which has over 20,000 people.
“In our 25 nights of calling, we were only able to reach a little over 20 percent of our callable database,” Bullock said. “I’d like to expand the effort to an academic year-round event so we can reach out to more of our friends and alumni.”
While the entire database isn’t reached, the phonathon plays a vital role in Tech’s fundraising.
“Currently, we have received a little over $20,000. This number will be increasing as we receive more pledges,” Bullock said.
Tech’s new band director, Dan Belongia, will bring his experience and family to Russellville to start his position June 1.
Many of Tech’s qualities persuaded Belongia to choose this position.
“Tech has a national reputation for its historic band program and department of music,” Belongia said. “Also, the River Valley is so very beautiful. I hoped to find an opportunity to work with great colleagues and dedicated students in a community that would provide a wonderful home for my family. Tech is it.”
Belongia said his attraction to the community aspect of band drew him into joining and what kept him in band is the band directors who mentored him. These band directors were mentors in music and in life.
“I am also inspired by the repertoire,” said Belongia. “The modern wind band repertoire is continually evolving with new works from world class composers. The possibilities and experiences with this ‘art music’ transcend daily life and provide connections to beauty.”
Christopher Nam, sophomore music major from Conway, said that he can’t wait to see what Belongia will accomplish.
“It’s really cool to be able to experience music from different directors,” Nam said. “The same song can be very different depending on who is conducting. It’s something that is unique to music, which is why I love it.”
Belongia said he hopes to build upon the historic quality of Tech’s band by providing daily opportunities for students to improve as musicians. This includes hosting concerts and performances that serves the Tech community and established alumni.
Belongia’s first job directing a band was in 1996. Since then he has worked at six different schools ranging from middle school to college. His last position was the associate professor of music and associate director of bands at Illinois State University.
Dr. Robin E. Bowen outlined four areas of emphasis for her presidency during her inauguration as the 12th president of Arkansas Tech University at Tucker Coliseum on Friday.
Bowen cited distributive leadership, grit, collaboration with the community and social justice as four aspects of the Arkansas Tech culture that she hopes are strengthened during her tenure as chief executive officer for the institution.
Below, in part, are Bowen’s thoughts on those four areas of emphasis:
On distributive leadership: “Each of you, faculty and staff, are experts in your own areas. You are the ones who see the day-to-day implications of what we do and how we do things on this campus. You are also the most knowledgeable regarding how we can better do things. Good ideas come from across the university. The vision for and the future of our university needs your expertise, your knowledge. The distributive leadership model results in enhanced leadership capacity across the university and a shared commitment to improving the university so that it can be everything it can be.”
On grit: “Students, you are our partners in this educational process. Ultimately, the passion, the perseverance and the grit must be your own. Most of our students do have grit, but we haven’t always challenged our students to apply that grit to their studies. Students, you have grit. Many of you have lived lives that required you to develop grit. We must make you understand that this excellent trait you possess, many of you through hardship, will serve you well at the university. We need to make sure you understand that your ability to learn is not fixed. It can and it does change with effort.”
On collaboration with the community: “The community first gave this institution life in 1909, and it is the community that will help Tech grow. I am impressed by the abundant goodwill toward Tech. I am encouraged by the collaborative efforts of the mayor and other city and state elected officials, as well as the (Russellville Area Chamber of Commerce), in making the city, the state and the university stronger. I know that I am very fortunate to have landed in such a wonderful community. Life is good in the Arkansas River Valley, but there is still much to do. Together, we must find ways to make our community even stronger. I am encouraged by the development of North El Paso Avenue, and I hope we can all work together to make that corridor a cultural center that can become our town’s version of Dickson Street.”
On social justice: “We must continue to pursue Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of judging each other by the content of our character rather than the color of our skin. And we must extend our definition of diversity and inclusion so that we accept others regardless of gender, who they love and their relationship with a personal God. We must move beyond tolerance to respect, and we must celebrate diversity in all its forms.”
The inauguration was attended by more than 1,000 individuals. It was an assembly that included two members of the U.S. Congress — Senator John Boozman and Congressman Steve Womack — a number of state and local dignitaries, approximately 250 members of the Arkansas Tech faculty as well as students, staff, alumni, community members and representatives of Bowen’s family.
Womack was among several speakers who brought greetings for Bowen. Others to offer well wishes from the podium included Jim Ed Gibson, Pope County judge; Randy Horton, Russellville mayor; Bruce Sikes, chancellor at Arkansas Tech-Ozark Campus; and the presidents of the faculty senate (Dr. David Ward), staff senate (Brandi Collins), student senate (Katie Frazier) and alumni association (Truman Hill) at Arkansas Tech.
Additional speakers included Dr. Larry Large, president of the Oregon Alliance of Independent Colleges and Universities; and Dr. Robert Antonucci, president of Fitchburg State University (Mass.).
The Arkansas Tech Symphonic Wind Ensemble performed “A Commemorative Fanfare,” an original composition by Philip Parker, professor of music at Arkansas Tech. The piece was commissioned in celebration of the inauguration.
Eric Burnett, chairman of the Arkansas Tech Board of Trustees, served as master of ceremonies. He presented Bowen with the Arkansas Tech chain of office immediately before her inaugural address.
The Arka Tech 