Afternoon State Sports Briefs: UW's Taylor named finalist for new award

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MADISON - University of Wisconsin guard Jordan Taylor has been named one of five finalists for a new national award. The Badgers’ junior is up for the first-ever Eddie Sutton “Tustenugee” Award. Organizers say the award recognizes tenacity and unselfishness – both of which Sutton taught during his long coaching career.

Matt Howard of Butler is also a finalist, along with Kyle Singler of Duke, Derrick Williams of Arizona, and Jorge Gutierrez of California. Taylor was a second-time AP All-American this past season, and he led the NCAA’s Division-One with an assist-to-turnover ratio of three-point-eight-three. The Sutton award will be presented at a banquet May seventh in Tulsa.

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UW-Whitewater assistant men’s basketball coach Todd Skrivseth has been named the new head coach at Monmouth College in Illinois. The 38-year-old Skrivseth was one of 200 applicants for the post. He had been at Whitewater since 2001, and was most recently the Warhawks’ top coaching assistant as well as the athletic department’s recruiting coordinator. Skrivseth said he enjoyed his time at Whitewater, but he’s glad to be recruited as the head man at Monmouth in the Midwest Conference. The Fighting Scots were 2-21 overall last season, and 1-17 in league play. Monmouth has not won a conference title in men’s basketball since 1990, and they’ve only won seven in their 111-year history. Skrivseth has also been an assistant at UW-Stevens Point and Upper Iowa since graduating from Coe College in 1996.

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UW-Milwaukee was playing Wright State this morning for fifth-place at the Horizon League women’s tennis tournament in Indianapolis. UWM earned the sixth-and-final women’s seed – and they lost to Butler 4-0 yesterday in a first-round match. On the men’s side, UW-Green Bay was playing Wright State this morning in a second-round match in the winner’s bracket. Second-seeded Green Bay earned a bye in the opening, while Wright State advanced with a 4-3 win over Youngstown State. Both tournaments continue through tomorrow. Mark Thomas of Green Bay was named the men’s coach-of-the-year. Erik Finkenbrink, Craig Cox, and Paul Swanson of the Phoenix were all named to the all-Horizon League second team. Maddy Soule of Milwaukee was named the women’s newcomer-of-the-year, and she made the all-league first team.

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Brenda Volk of UW-Whitewater has become the WIAC’s all-time winningest softball coach. Volk earned her 385th coaching victory yesterday in a 9-1 rout of Platteville. Volk is in her 13th season at Whitewater, and her total record is 385-168-4. The victories surpass Faye Perkins of River Falls, who coached the Falcons from 1989-’97 and again from ’99-2007. Volk and Perkins are the only WIAC softball coaches ever to have more than 300 wins.

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In the Midwest League, the Beloit Snappers will try to even their series at Peoria this afternoon. The Snappers lost a weather-shortened seven-inning game last night, 5-4. The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers will play a double-header tonight at Western Division-leading Burlington. That’s after a rainout last evening. Cedar Rapids is one-and-a-half games behind Burlington in second. Beloit fell to third after their loss on Thursday night. Wisconsin is fifth in the division at one game below .500. Cedar Rapids hosts Quad Cities tonight. Clinton is at Kane County. East Division leader Lansing plays a double-header at West Michigan. Dayton is at Great Lakes. South Bend entertains Fort Wayne. And Bowling Green plays at Lake County.

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