Sports Shorts

By Mike Bushnell

Published Feb. 1, 2008

Tennis beats Saint Louis

The MU tennis team had an easy time notching their first win of the season, beating the Saint Louis Billikens 6-1 at the Green Tennis Center. Freshmen Jessica Giuggoli, Kaitlyn Ritchie and Maureen Modesto both won in straight sets. This was Giuggoli’s first match at MU since transferring from Kentucky after the fall semester this year. Saint Louis’ lone win came thanks to freshman Hailee Elmore, who beat MU sophomore Kaitlin Dunham in three sets, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4. Despite the ease with which the Tigers took care of the Billikens, coach Blake Starkey didn’t seem too impressed. “First off, we have a lot of things to work on,” he said in a news release. “It is a good SLU team an we won, but no matter which school you play, the No. 1 and No. 2 singles players are going to be pretty good. But I saw a lot of things we need to work on, and I know we won, but I’m not exactly happy with the way we played.” The Tigers will face UM-Kansas City on Friday in Columbia.

Football honored at halftime

The MU football team paraded their Cotton Bowl trophy at mid-court Wednesday during halftime of the men’s basketball team’s 66-62 loss to Nebraska. Big 12 associate commissioner Ed Stewart was on hand to award senior safety William Moore and senior tailback Tony Temple the Cotton Bowl’s offensive and defensive Most Valuable Player awards, respectively.

Temple turning pro

Temple also announced this week that he will drop his appeal for a medical redshirt and focus his attention on the 2008 National Football League Draft. “It’s time to move on and focus on doing what I need to do to make a positive impression for the next level,” Temple said in a news release. “I feel good about looking into the extra year. It was worth a shot, but I don’t want anyone spending any more time on it, and I feel I’m ready to take the next step. Coach Pinkel and I decided before last season that we should approach the 2007 season like it was going to be my last, and I’m glad we did it that way,” he stated. Both coach Gary Pinkel and Temple had said this past fall that they thought getting the redshirt was a long shot. Temple was the first running back in school history to run for more than 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons.