Sports in Brief

Men’s tennis finds mixed success in spring opener

The men’s tennis team opened up its spring 2011 season this weekend at the Harvard Winter Classic in Cambridge, Mass., with mixed success over the two days of play.

Friday, the Colonials lost all of their doubles matches, but the team of junior Richard Blumenfeld and freshman Viktor Svensson found success on the court Saturday, defeating their Harvard opponents 8-3.

GW had more success in singles Friday, with Blumenfeld, Svensson and senior Christopher Kushma coming out on top in their respective matches. Saturday, however, the Colonials struggled in the singles competition, with only Blumenfeld winning his match.

GW next takes on the University of Maryland in College Park, Md., at 4 p.m. next Jan. 29.

Delima leads Colonials to third-place finish in Ohio

The gymnastics team scored 190.775 for a third place finish at a four-team meet in the Wolstein Center in Cleveland last Friday.

Several Colonials posted strong contributions throughout the meet, including senior Leslie Delima, who came off a record-setting outing in the home opener to place third in the All-Around, scoring 38.575, and tie for first place on the balance beam with a score of 9.775. Sophomore Kayla Carto and freshman Betsy Zander were also successful Friday, with Carto tying her personal record on the vault (9.750) for an overall eighth-place finish in the event, and scoring a 38.400 for a fourth-place finish in the All-Around. Zander placed fifth in the All-Around with a 36.825.

Next Saturday, the Colonials travel to Towson to take on the Tigers, who have won six consecutive East Coast Athletic Conference Championships. The meet is scheduled to start at 4 p.m.

Coronel resigns from post as volleyball head coach

After 11 years at the helm, volleyball head coach Jojit Coronel resigned Friday afternoon to accept an assistant coaching position at Texas Tech.

Coronel is the third-winningest coach in the program’s history with 176 victories and a .535 winning percentage. Under Coronel, the Colonials finished with better than 20 wins three times and scored a berth in the 2000 NCAA Tournament after earning GW’s only Atlantic 10 Championship during Coronel’s tenure. Coronel also earned his only A-10 Coach of the Year award in 2000.

“There are no words that can express how much GW means to me and my family,” Coronel said. “We are sad to leave a place we have called home for over 12 years. However, we are excited about the opportunity that is ahead of us at Texas Tech.”

Coronel will leave Foggy Bottom after a somewhat disappointing season in which GW went 6-1 to open A-10 play before dropping its final eight games to finish in seventh place in the conference, one spot short of qualifying for the conference tournament.