With every generation a question arises, that thus defines that generation and gives its people a reason to ponder their existence and purpose in this world. Each generation has its own unique question. What is ours? Simple, are you Team Jacob, or Team Edward?

The Twilight craze has taken over our generation and has become a pop culture phenomenon that has taken the nation by storm. I remember the first time I saw a Twilight book, it was at Borders and when it caught my eye there were only two issues of the book on the shelf and those two were in the back of the store. The cover caught my eye and I picked it up and flipped through its pages, reading the first chapter and being hooked forever. That was back before the Harry Potter nerds and pre-teen crazies latched onto it and turned the franchise into something I was almost ashamed to be a fan of. Well, almost.

Being the dedicated fan that I am I still got my tickets to see New Moon opening night at midnight. I also went to last years Twilight opening at midnight. Needless to say the series has grown a bit. At the opening of Twilight, there were maybe four or five theaters open at the Regal for midnight viewing. This year’s New Moon had more than double that and the Evans 20 theater opened up a couple of theaters as well. I opted out for the Evans theater just because of the fewer number of shows playing in order to avoid the mass hysteria.

After sitting in the theater for an hour and a half before the movie started and another 30 minutes in the popcorn line I honestly still had that original twinge of anticipation, the same kind I had when Breaking Dawn was released, the same when Twilight opened in theaters.

With all that said I had high hopes for New Moon and I came out of the experience neither disappointed nor exuberant. Of course any book to movie production is going to have to leave out a few elements of the book and change a few things to help better illustrate the story in cinematic form, trust me I’m aware of that fact and I’m okay with it. Oddly enough, New Moon flowed really well to me and I think they got it pretty close to the book. Of course not everything is going to be perfectly matched up with the book (if you want shot for shot accuracy go rent The Watchmen) and I know all those super obsessed girls out there that read the book three times in the same week that the movie came out will argue with me, but I think it was a fairly decent adaptation.

Really, the only issues I had with the movie was Kristen Stewart’s performance as the main character, Bella Swann. Stewart’s acting grates my nerves on an epic scale. Her whole twittery, “I can only say three words at a time,” lip-quivering acting is painful and a disgrace to Bella’s character. Seriously, now people, could we have not found someone with acting skills? Is it so much to ask?

I did have my reservations about the whole Jacob werewolves’ scene, as I was not sure if they were going to be able to pull off the proper CG to make them look real. To my surprise the wolves in the film looked real enough to me and blended well with their backgrounds. Despite seeing the part of the film where Jacob jumps over Bella while changing into a wolf in a trailer it still gave me goose bumps when I saw it on the big screen. Not because I’m some giddy school girl obsessed with the next teen heartthrob, but because of how seamless the transition was for Jacob and the fact that he was going to battle against one of his own for his Bella.

Before the movie came out the majority of my Twilight friends were die-hard Team Edward people and with good reason. Sure Edward leaves Bella for a few months but only because he wants to keep her safe. Edward and Bella, to me, are our generation’s Romeo and Juliet, except we lose the poison and suicide and get vampires and werewolves. After New Moon, I think there are going to be a lot more Team Jacob fans out there now. The film shows Jake’s take on things in a more visual manner than the books did and dare I say it, I found myself sympathizing with him especially in the final scene of the movie where Bella tells Jacob that Edward was always the one for her.

Another thing I noticed that was different from the Twilight movie premiere and the New Moon premiere was the fact that there was less screaming, more middle aged women, more dudes, more people in tacky home made costumes.

People will always either love or hate book-to-movie films but I believe that die-hard and loyal fans will appreciate the film rendition of their favorite books at least to some degree. I enjoyed New Moon, even if Stewart was probably the worst choice for Bella. Nevertheless, I digress.

In honor of the 10th anniversary of the cult classic film “Fight Club,” a couple members of the Bell Ringer decided to step out on the town in order to learn some different fighting techniques. Sophie Baconnet, a senior journalism major, picked up the foil and learned fencing (see page 7.) While Sophie was playing with swords, I hit the mats for a fist-pounding, body-slamming round of Kempo Karate at Fagliers Kempo Karate.

Kempo Karate, or Kenpo as it was originally called, is a style of Chinese martial arts that made its way into American culture though Hawaii. Its roots can be traced all the way back to the Chinese Shaolin monks and made its way into American culture via James Mitose, a Hawaiian who traveled to Japan in 1916 and learned Kosho Ryu Kempo. He passed his knowledge onto William Chow, who further developed the style and called his style Kenpo Karate. Most karate fighters wear the traditional white gi, a more sporty style of gi, but Kempo fighters wear a black gi in order for a more war-themed art of fighting.

Jason Faglier started fighting Kempo back in 1990 and opened his own school on Peach Orchard Road in 1996.

Faglier’s style, he said, is a more street self-defense style with elements of the popular Muay Thai style. Muay Thai, aka “The Art of Eight Limbs,” is a popular fighting style using the hands, shins, elbows and knees and originated in Thailand where it’s the national sport.

I have been watching UFC with my brother and we have been getting into mixed martial arts together and since then I have been trying to find a place where I could get into the sport. When a friend of mine told me her boyfriend fought Kempo and could get me in for lesson, I leapt at the opportunity. Chuck Liddell, arguably one of the most popular fighters in the UFC, is a light heavyweight champion that has a long history in Kempo karate and is currently tied with Tito Ortiz for the most UFC fights at 22.

When I stepped into Faglier’s I knew I was in for a workout. I joined in on an adult kempo class lead by Faglier himself and fell into rank. Not knowing what to wear I stuck out like a sore thumb in my running shorts and cut off T-shirt. The rest of the class was wearing the traditional black gi.

The class started with light stretching and running before everyone paired up for the individual training sessions. The sessions consisted of Faglier showing the class what maneuver he wanted them to work on and then the fighters working on it while he walked around and helped. The atmosphere was very family-oriented and I could feel the bond between everyone in the school.

Luckily enough for me I was paired with Justin Johnson, a brown belt student and student instructor. I have never taken one martial arts class ever and I felt that I picked up on what was going on well. I accredit this to the way Faglier taught, repeating each technique with the aid of Johnson so that all the students could see and understand what he was doing. He took special precautions to make sure that I knew what was going on and what he expected of me.

The thing that stuck out to me the most about my lesson was the absence of aggressive techniques. During my hour-and-a-half session, everything I learned was defensive. Well I should say that all the techniques start as defensive techniques, but due to Kempo’s fluid style of combat, they flow into aggressive takedowns.

For example, the first technique I learned was a string of attacks following a block. When an assailant throws a punch at your face you are supposed to grab and deflect the blow while simultaneously stepping into the person and throwing an elbow across their temple. That attack is followed by two more different elbow attacks and then your opportunities for attacks only increases.

“It takes a lot of discipline,” Faglier said of Kempo. “It takes a lot of conditioning and a high level of skill. Most importantly, you have to have the will to fight.”

Faglier’s style also has elements of Filipino and Chinese grappling and fighting and contains many types of martial arts. The school also teaches how to fight with sticks and knives because they are weapons more likely to be found in the streets.

Faglier has six students that have gone on to fight MMA and offers classes for different age groups ranging from children all the way up to adults.

“Pace yourself and be devoted,” Faglier said about beginning Kempo. “You have to learn all aspects of fighting: the mental, the physical and the spiritual. Gaining different belts and moving up the system is a way for the fighter to become a better version of himself.”

Four days after my lesson, I am still feeling the affects of just an hour-and-a-half on the mats. What I learned in the school is both practical for situations in which you might find yourself being attacked but can also be used for sport.

After only one session, I am sold on Kempo karate and I plan to enroll in Faglier’s school after the start of the year. The tight bond between the fighters and the actual lessons I learned in the school are things that only make the world of Kempo karate more appealing to me. For me, Kempo karate will be a way for me to get into better shape and open doorways into competition fighting, something I have been interested in for years.

If you were like me and are interested in getting into mixed martial arts, I implore you to look into Kempo karate, and if you were looking for a good school to start at I would suggest Faglier’s. Hopefully I’ll meet you on the mats.

So with fighting on the brain and Fight Club celebrating its 10th anniversary, I will leave you with my all time favorie Tyler Durden quotes: “No, it is not. How much can you know about yourself, you’ve never been in a fight? I don’t wanna die without any scars. So come on; hit me before I lose my nerve.”

Vigilante films have become a large genre in the filmmaking business for a good reason. There is something within in every human that is pleased when we see bad guys punished and “justice” done.

We seem to overlook the fact that many of these “heroes” are acting outside of the law and in many cases breaking the law themselves while in pursuit of what they call “justice.” We overlook it and we do not care. When someone breaks the law and then manipulates the system that has been put in place to punish them, it angers us for a good reason. American cinema has taught-even ingrained into us-the notion that the bad guy is supposed to lose and the good guy, no matter what he is doing, should win.

Vigilante films are not quite a dime a dozen yet, but they are growing in number and popularity each year. Don’t believe me? Ever watched a super hero movie, especially a Batman movie? Batman is the quintessential vigilante super hero and even with his dark persona, he is still favored by audiences.

“Robin Hood,” “The Watchmen” and “Death Note” are some of the more popular vigilante stories told. They often share the same premise for how justice is carried out in the minds of the heroes. Robin Hood steals from the rich and gives it to the needy, which is theft. The Watchmen punish criminals or wrong-doers with violence and sometimes, deadly force. In the Japanese cartoon, “Death Note,” the main character, believes that killing bad guys will lower crime rates. He kills criminals and bad guys with a notebook given to him by an angel of death, which is murder. Each of these characters all break the law in different ways in order to try to fix the system and to change things for the better.

While watching these films, we find ourselves cheering them on and wanting the “good guys” to win, as if the fact that they are breaking the law is not as bad as the people they are punishing. The paradox of the situation resides in the fact that human nature doesn’t necessarily care if the law is broken, just as long as the ones breaking the laws that hurt innocent people are punished.

In “Law Abiding Citizen,” the vigilante theme is present in a powerful and moving way. Gerard Butler produced the film and stars as Clyde Shelton, an inventor who loses his family when two men break into his home and murder his wife and daughter. Shelton’s world is further crushed when Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) decides to make a deal that would let the murderer go free after a few years in jail. Rice is an up-and-coming attorney with a 96% success rate who will not take cases that he is not positive that he can win.

Ten years later, Shelton shows back up on the scene when he exacts his revenge on the released murderer and all hell breaks lose. Shelton then takes the law into his own hands, committing crime after crime in order to bring the flawed justice system crashing down around Rice. “I’m going to bring the whole system down on your head, it’s going to be Biblical,” Shelton tells Rice during an altercation between the two when Rice, desperate to stop the killing, confronts Shelton.

An alteration in this story is that Shelton is not acting out of vengeance, but in a way to change the system that lets killers go free

The film is ingenious in the ways that it forces you to support Butler’s character. After seeing what happens to his wife and daughter in the first few minutes of the movie, you cannot help but support his struggle. You cheer him on. You clap when he brings a corrupt politician down. Shelton is comical in his toying with Rice, offering “deals” for his confession and the location of people he intends to kill. In exchange, all he wants are things like his ipod, a nice mattress for his jail cell and a steak dinner.

I will not lie. This is a good movie, nay, it is a great movie. Yeah, it blurs the lines between right and wrong, but it’s a refreshing film compared to the cookie-cutter crap that Hollywood is putting out these days. It’s a film that challenges you and forces you to think for yourself. It’ll make you dig deep inside where people don’t like to go and will make you ask yourself questions that most people don’t like to be asked.

Is the justice system skewed? Should we exact harsher punishments on criminals? Is it okay to break the law in order to stop someone else from breaking the law? All of these are questions that are not easily answered, but are still questions that need to be asked. The line between good and evil, as well as the line between right and wrong begin to blur, and will leave you asking yourself whether or not you would have supported Shelton or fought against him.

While Shelton doesn’t exactly get the results he wants, he succeeds in his overall mission of changing the system, even if it is just with one lawyer. At the end of the movie, Shelton tells Rice he will make one more deal with him and Rice replies, “I don’t make deals with murderers.” In this regard, Shelton is pleased, because he has changed and affected the judicial system in a way that will not soon be forgotten.

As an afterthought, I believe the final scenes of the film were disappointing, and that scares me. I won’t tell you what happens, but my response and the response of the group of people in the movie scared me a little bit. I will say this of the final scene though: It is heartbreaking, beautiful, breathtaking, right, wrong, tragic and victorious all at the same time.

“Law Abiding Citizen” is commanding and powerful. It demands our attention and forces us to examine the quality of our judicial system in a way that is both entertaining and frightening.

So just when I thought that fantasy sports couldn’t get any better, well, they did. And it’s not due to some new great invention, or great new software, or anything like that. In fact, it’s been here all along, ever since the beginning. I just hadn’t noticed it before. What is it you may ask? None other than the auction draft.

Now hardcore fantasy players might be laughing at my total newbness right now but I never took the time to look into what the auction draft was or even how it worked. But, being a purveyor of all things fantasy, when co-worker and co-fantasy sports enthusiast Wes Mayle pitched the idea at me I decided to give it a try. Now I’ll be honest, at first I didn’t like the way it sounded. You get $200 at the beginning of the round. Coaches take turns nominating players up for the bid and once chosen the rest of the coaches jump into a free-for-all bidding for that particular player. Whoever bids the highest, wins that player to their roster.

I’ve always been a snake draft player myself and this new way sounded way too deep for my liking but now that I’ve taken part in an auction draft I’m not sure I’ll ever go back.

Wes and I jumped into an open league in order to both get our feet wet into this new and strange style of drafting. To give it an added bonus we decided to make it an NBA draft, which is not my particular forte. I know next to nothing on players and did very little research before beginning, a mistake that may or may not be a costly one.

I let the rounds go through one or two players before I decide to jump in on something I like but I pulled out my money quick when I saw Kobe Bryant come up. I may not know much about basketball players and their stats but I know Kobe. I mean, who doesn’t know Kobe? I decide to go after him and end up winning him for $75, not bad right?

The draft goes on and more players I’ve never heard of get bought up for excessive amounts of money but I decide to wait it out until I see another familiar name come up, Steve Nash. I grab him for $50, which I think back on now may have been a bit much. As the nominations and bidding goes on throughout the night every time I see a big name player come up I do my best to grab him. My roster fills out much like the 96′ Olympic team, which is what I hear from fellow coaches in the league throughout the night.

Kobe Bryant, LAL SG, $75
Steve Nash, Pho PG $50
Shaquille O’Neal, Cle C $6
Kevin Garnett, Boss PF $34
Vince Carter, Ori SG $20
Jeff Green, OKC SF $3
Jason Richardson, Pho Sg $1
John Salmons, Chi Sg $1
Paul Millsap, Uta PF $3
Mike Conley, Mem PG $1
Mike Bibby, Atl PG $2
Andrew Bogut, Mil C $2
Richard Hamilton, Det SG $1

Despite what the other coaches in the league have told me I feel confident in my draft picks. Did I choose the best players in each category that would maximize my points for the week? Nope, but I did choose a team that I could recognize and a team I knew could score decent points for me. In the first week match up I went up against Wes and lost 3-4-1 which I didn’t think was too bad at all seeing as he’s the guru when it comes to fantasy sports and I’m just the young padawan.

I think I may end up sticking with fantasy football in the long run, just because I feel I know a bit more about it and I watch more football than basketball anyways. But I do think that from now on I’ll be choosing the auction draft style, it’s just more fun and entertaining. It turns the draft from taking turns into an all out eBay grudge match. And I like that.

It’s a shame. It really is. It’s a shame that Augusta State students aren’t lining the walls in the Maxwell Performing Arts Theater when those doors open for student productions. It saddens my heart when I walk into the lobby and see teachers with sign in sheets for students so that they can receive extra credit for their attendance.

Our school puts on great quality plays and students should leap at the opportunity to support their fellow classmates. We’ll be the first ones to throw on blue t-shirts and paint our faces for a basketball game but we can’t spare the time to sit down and (quietly) cheer on our Jaguar Thespians? Yet here we are, grudgingly attending plays for extra credit or a class grade when in fact what we find is not such a dull or boring event.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t know what to expect going into You Can’t Take it With You, the latest ASU Theatre presentation, a modern remake of the 1936 play that ran for 837 performances, but what I found was a pleasant and comedic experience. I accompanied my freshmen sister who was going because it was a requirement for a class she’s in and she grumbled all the way to the door. Lets just say the walk back out to the car after the play she was singing anther tune.

The original play, written by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, premiered at the Booth Theater on December 14, 1936. Director Carolyn Cope took the play in a slightly different direction from its original form when she updated it to the present time and set the location of the play in Augusta, Georgia. The comedy centers on the two very different worlds of two different families and the drama that ensues when the daughter of one family and the son of the other fall in love and plan to wed.

I sat down with Rebekah Bearden, a junior theater major, halfway through the showings and got to know more about the play and all the work that went on before and during it.

“In general, the play is your typical comedy,” Bearden said. “It shows an eccentric family and a much more conservative family, who are brought together by marriage. Chaos ensues, and is righted by a meeting of the minds.”

Auditions were held back in mid September and rehearsals began just two days later. The play was been translated into a film in 1938 staring James Stewart and Jean Arthur and has also undergone a television adaptation that ran in 1984 and was produced by PBS.

“As far as the adaptation goes, I think it’s a huge success,” Bearden said. “At first, we weren’t sure that it would work. We knew ASU always does period pieces, and so when Carolyn said we were bringing it to today, we were more than a little hesitant about its success. But it resonates so well. ”

The play is a lighthearted comedy with a strong message to those caught up in the everyday hustle and flow of trying to make ends meet. Its overall plot sends a strong warning out to anyone who may let work dictate and control his or her lives.

Bearden plays Penelope Sycamore, the mother of Essie and Alice and daughter of Martin Vanderhof, also known as Grandpa throughout the story. The entire Sycamore household is a thriving colony of chaos and madness, with each member having his or her own crazy quirks and hobbies. Grandpa is an avid snake collector who frequents the zoo and commencements. Penelope is part painter, part screenplay writer with the majority of her works being highly suggestive and erotic. Her daughter Essie is a ballerina dancer in training who moonlights as a candy maker. Her husband Ed delivers those candies for her and plays his piano. Mr. Sycamore, Penelope’s husband, builds fireworks in the basement and works on erector sets. And the list goes on and on.

The only semi-normal one of the bunch is daughter Alice, who falls in love with her co-worker Tony Kirby. The only problem with that is that Tony comes from a highly conservative rich family that thrives on “normality.”

When a “mix-up” occurs and the Kirby family arrives at the Sycamore house a day early for a dinner party the Kirbys get an inside glance at just how crazy the Sycamore household is.

The climax of the play occurs when Grandpa stands up to Mr. Kirby (Tony’s father) and tells him to go out and enjoy his life instead of doing what he “thinks” he has to do in life.

“It’s a good lesson for all of us material individuals that sometimes, all you need to do is sit back, and as Grandpa says in the show, learn that ‘life is sort of beautiful if we let it come to us,’” Bearden said.

The true comedic genius of the play lies in the interactions between it’s duos of characters, whether its Ronald and Donald with their quirky antics, or Alice and Kolenkhov with their ballet lessons, the play offers much in the way of laughter.

“The cast and crew are awesome. We are very fortunate to have such a talented, professional group of people to work with, and everyone has contributed so much to this production. The collaboration has been amazing,” Bearden said. “Everyone contributes. And there has been so much worthwhile stuff going into this show. It’s awesome. And it’s been a great learning experience, too. You meet different types of people and see all different backgrounds represented, and yet we all come together to create something beautiful for the audience. It’s wonderful.”

Bearden thinks the first two nights productions went well due to responsive crowds and the fact that the timing and flow of the shows went very smoothly.

Despite the fact that the original play was intended and written for the Depression Era, the Director, Carolyn Cope went to lengths working with the history department in order to make sure the play remained accurate in order to present a strong message for the audience.

Watching the Sycamore family is an eye opening experience and forces you to wonder what life would be like if we just took some time to relax and do what makes us happy in life. The Sycamore household is full of people who put their hobbies and individual qualities at the forefront of their being and the mess that comes out of it is a beautiful and humorous occurrence. Perhaps there is something to be gained from letting our freak flags fly and putting our personal hobbies before our work.

Now see there? Look at what all we learned today! We cannot undervalue the importance of our theater guild here on campus because it is both beneficiary to the actors and the audience. I wish for the day where teachers don’t have to bribe their students into going to the Maxwell Performing Arts Theater, prostituting extra credit as a means to cause intellectual stimulation.

It is a shame. However, the Augusta State rendition of You Can’t Take it With You is not one.

If you had told me that I would be undefeated after two weeks when I was signing up, heck when I was learning about fantasy football I would have laughed, but here I am, the fantasy football newbie sitting as the only undefeated player in my division. You may ask how is this possible? Did you concoct some master strategy? Did you pour over pages and pages of literature concerning top draft kits? My answer to each of those questions is simply, nope.

When chief reporter Wes Mayle was trying to get me to play fantasy football, I was a bit hesitant. I had heard of fantasy football and fantasy sports of course but I had never taken the time to sit down and found out what it was all about. For all I knew it could have been a mix between dungeons and dragons and ESPN. Once Mayle sat me down and took me to church on the basics of this glorious game I knew I had found something good.

Once I had been taught the basics Mayle set me loose on my own to dive deeper into the world of fantasy football. I read a little bit on ESPN.com, picked around at a draft kit or two, even doing a mock draft. When it all came down to draft day I felt I was ready and the fun began.

When the dust finally settled I looked at my team and felt confident at my selection:

QB- Ben Roethlisberger
RB- Steven Jackson
RB- Steve Slaton
RB/ WR- Bernard Berrian
WR- Marques Colston
WR- Brandon Marshall
TE- Chris Cooley
D/ ST- Falcons
K- Adam Vinatieri

Now mind you I am not NFL expert or anything and my draft was based solely on the athletes points from last season but I felt a warm tingly feeling when I compiled my final roster. This was my team and I was ready. To add to my overall sense of accomplishment I won my first game right away because we did not register until after the first week. So not only did I feel good about my team, I also already had a win under my belt. I had come a long way from that first mock draft where I was nearly booed out of the chat room for picking Knowshon Moreno in the first round.

Then came week two.

It started innocently enough. I signed into my ESPN account hoping to check the projections for week twos game when I was struck with panic and utter terror. ESPN was telling me that I was going to lose my second game and lose it by a lot, 52 points to be exact. All of a sudden, my happy little team did not look so hot and my week one win high was deflated. I sweated out the entire week double checking it every day hoping and praying there had been a mistake. Sunday afternoon rolled around and the 52-point underdog was given another surprise.

I logged on to find that my opponent had tallied up only 62 points and that I had 76 points with my kicker’s game yet to finish. My jaw dropped. How could this be? I was supposed to be dusted and I ended up winning week two 87-62. Now 87 points is nothing to phone home about but a win is a win especially after I had spent a week freaking out about a stupid projection. I’ve decided to quit worrying so much about the projections and focus more on performance.

Week two was won by Colston who single handedly posted up 21 points and by Vinatieri my kicker from Indiana who helped finish out my week with 11 points. Big Ben had an average week, quarterback wise, putting up 16 points against Chicago. Roethlisberger may have been a strange pick to most but he is an average fantasy football quarterback who is known for exceeding and that is why I chose him: consistency.

Week 3 looks like another typical week for me, being out matched and under projected but I am not going to let it get to me this week. It is still early on in the season but week two taught me not to sweat the small stuff and to just let my boys play.

The Lady Jags cross country team is off to a positive season after taking first place at the Peach Belt Conference Pre-Conference Meet and then taking third in Athens in the very muddy and harsh UGA Stampede.

Freshmen biology major Holly Keeper made her collegiate cross country debut when she took second place at the PBC meet finishing the race in 24:17.44 and ahead of her fellow teammates. ASU took four of the top six individual times at the meet. Keeper was awarded the Peach Belt Conference’s Runner-of-the-Week after she helped lead the Lady Jags to a team total of 25 points.

“It’s an awesome feeling and it was unexpected, I mean I thought I would do well just not that well,” Keeper said. “I guess it was unexpected because I’m a freshman.”

In their second meet of the season, the Lady Jags headed to Athens where conditions left much to be desired from the runners.

“We were expecting to see some good stuff in Athens but due to the bad weather we all ran about a minute to a minute and a half slower than they should have,” Head Coach Adam Ward said. “The rain was just brutal.”

Ward says that running those kinds of conditions is more psychological and requires a bit more tactics than in fairer weather.

“Don’t run right behind people because you sink into the place where someone else just ran. The mud would just reach up and grab you,” Ward warned about the muddy terrain. “It’s mentally hard to prepare for conditions like that and we don’t usually see weather like that.”

Once again, Keeper led her new teammates with a 19th place finish with Savannah Sutton and Sophie Bacconnet finishing at 24th and 25th respectively. Despite the conditions, ASU took third place, being defeated by host Georgia and then Emory.

“Its good to see the girls in really good spirits on a high from the good momentum,” Ward said. “Just seeing all that hard work paying off from the summer is great.”

Ward’s fairy young team this year (only two seniors) had a bit of a bruised ego after the Athens race because they felt they did not really get their chance to truly compete due to the messy conditions.

The Lady Jags placed third in their home meet Saturday September 26 where the girls had to once again run in less than perfect conditions. The Ladies were beat out by Berry and Florida Tech. They travel to Louisville, Kentucky for the Greater Louisville Classic October 3rd and then in the Florida State Invitational in Tallahassee, Florida a week later.

“We’re trying to improve and develop,” Ward said about the home meet. “This is more of a chance for us working on not being afraid of top competitors, I’m telling the girls ‘These girls may be a bit faster but we can still run with them.’”

The Lady Jaguar volleyball team was defeated by the Lander Bearcats Wednesday September 23 three games to one. Head Coach Sharon Bonaventure attributes the loss to the girl’s inconsistency to play hard. The Lady Jags lost the first two games and then the last one, winning the third game 25-15.

Jessica Howard, a senior health and physical education major, posted 15 kills and one assist and says the girls just didn’t play up to their standards.

“Overall we didn’t play like we should, like we normally do and we weren’t playing our game,” Howard said. “We just didn’t come prepared to play like we should have.”

Bonaventure has led the girls to an 8-7 season so far including the most recent loss at Flagler in Augustine, Fla. The Lady Jags are now 1-3 in the conference. She claims that the loss against Lander was due to one thing: inconsistency.

“We were inconsistent across the board and that’s what hurt us,” Bonaventure said. “Game three we ruled the whole game, now that’s us and that’s how it should be the entire set. When we decide to not to play that’s what’s going to happen and we didn’t decide to play so we came out flat.”

The Lady Jags started the season off with four wins but have only won one game of the three played at home so far.

“We’re doing well and every game is going to be a battle any given night and any team can knock someone off in the conference,” Bonaventure said. “Today was doable for us but luckily we get to play Lander again so hopefully we can take it back to them.”

Bonaventure says she still wants the girls to have fun on the court but says they still need to work on their communication amongst themselves. She says she has been trying to break the habit of silence that comes about when the girls are down.

Despite the loss Lagi Roberts, a sophomore psychology major, posted a double-double in the game, meaning she hit the double digits with her 17 kills and 12 digs. Ashley Zappitell, a sophomore setter raked in 47 assists throughout the game.

Despite winning the third game by ten points the Jaguars lost their foothold in the final game and despite a timeout from Bonaventure the girls just could not stop the Lander charge.

“We can’t give them room to breathe, if you relax it gets crazy,” Bonaventure said. “We came out in the fourth game and came back flat. When you dig yourself into a hole its hard to get out of it. When we’re on our game we should be able to control the tempo.”

The Lady Jaguars will get another chance to defeat Lander late next month on the Bearcats home turf. They also are set to play USC Aiken Thursday night at 7 o’clock.

The Lady Jaguar volleyball team was defeated by the Lander Bearcats Wednesday September 23 three games to one. Head Coach Sharon Bonaventure attributes the loss to the girl’s inconsistency to play hard. The Lady Jags lost the first two games and then the last one, winning the third game 25-15.

Jessica Howard, a senior health and physical education major, posted 15 kills and one assist and says the girls just didn’t play up to their standards.

“Overall we didn’t play like we should, like we normally do and we weren’t playing our game,” Howard said. “We just didn’t come prepared to play like we should have.”

Bonaventure has led the girls to an 8-7 season so far including the most recent loss at Flagler in Augustine, Fla. The Lady Jags are now 1-3 in the conference. She claims that the loss against Lander was due to one thing: inconsistency.

“We were inconsistent across the board and that’s what hurt us,” Bonaventure said. “Game three we ruled the whole game, now that’s us and that’s how it should be the entire set. When we decide to not to play that’s what’s going to happen and we didn’t decide to play so we came out flat.”

The Lady Jags started the season off with four wins but have only won one game of the three played at home so far.

“We’re doing well and every game is going to be a battle any given night and any team can knock someone off in the conference,” Bonaventure said. “Today was doable for us but luckily we get to play Lander again so hopefully we can take it back to them.”

Bonaventure says she still wants the girls to have fun on the court but says they still need to work on their communication amongst themselves. She says she has been trying to break the habit of silence that comes about when the girls are down.

Despite the loss Lagi Roberts, a sophomore psychology major, posted a double-double in the game, meaning she hit the double digits with her 17 kills and 12 digs. Ashley Zappitell, a sophomore setter raked in 47 assists throughout the game.

Despite winning the third game by ten points the Jaguars lost their foothold in the final game and despite a timeout from Bonaventure the girls just could not stop the Lander charge.

“We can’t give them room to breathe, if you relax it gets crazy,” Bonaventure said. “We came out in the fourth game and came back flat. When you dig yourself into a hole its hard to get out of it. When we’re on our game we should be able to control the tempo.”

The Lady Jaguars will get another chance to defeat Lander late next month on the Bearcats home turf. They also are set to play USC Aiken Thursday night at 7 o’clock.

The Lady Jaguar tennis team welcomes Victoria Lindquist, a native of Sweden and a long time player of the game who is excited to be at Augusta State University.

Lindquist has been playing tennis for 12 years now and got started when she went to watch one of her friends play tennis one day and then decided that she wanted to play.

“I don’t know why I like it (tennis. My dad played soccer when I was a kid, so I’ve always been watching soccer and playing soccer,” Lindquist said about her beginnings in tennis. ” It was different to play tennis, and when I had to choose, I chose tennis and I thought that it was more fun.”

Lindquist said she enjoys being a Jag; she says and likes the style of more team-based tennis than in her native Sweden’s more individualistic style.

“I get to play with different people, not the same people all the time,” Lindquist said. “Here you play in a team all the time. In Sweden, we play for clubs which are not really teams. I did go to a tennis school to practice but it’s more like you’re alone. Here it’s more like a team, and so far I like it better as a team.”

The more team-based tennis is a plus to Lindquist because she likes having people cheering for her, but at the same time she likes the fact that when she messes up, it’s her fault and not anyone else’s.

Lindquist said she finds her joy in the game by getting lost in its intensity,

“It’s nice that you’re running a lot but you don’t really feel it because your concentration is on hitting the ball and you don’t know you’re getting tired until afterwards.”

The 19-year-old freshman business major plans to spend her four years playing for the Jaguars, and upon graduation she plans to move back to Sweden.

“I want to work (ski patrol) in the Alps, skiing and working. I think doing that for one season would be fun,” Lindquist said about life after college. “For a dream job, I think it would be fun to be working like they do on “CSI,” that’d be fun or interesting.”