Aug. 16, 2011

2011 World University Games Official Page

SHENZHEN, China - Stanford athletes continued competition Tuesday as Day 4 of the 2011 World University Games came to a close. The highlight of Tuesday's action was Cardinal swimmer Maya DiRado claiming Stanford's first gold, and second medal, with victory in the 400-meter IM.

Women's Basketball
USA Basketball rolled to a 3-0 finish of Group B play with an 85-33 rout of Great Britain Tuesday. The Ogwumike sisters, Nnemkadi and Chiney, once again were in the starting lineup and boosted the U.S. to a 53-17 halftime edge.

Nnemkadi Ogwumike went 2-for-5 from the field and hit both free-throw attempts in a six-point, five-rebounds effort. Chiney Ogwumike went 4-for-5 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from the line for 12 points to go along with three rebounds.

The U.S., winners of Group B, will advance to Thursday's quarterfinal round. There the U.S. will take on the second-place team from Group A, Finland, at 8:30 p.m. local time (4:30 a.m. PT Thursday morning).

Men's Swimming
Curtis Lovelace of Stanford competed in the 100-meter breaststroke, but failed to qualify for the final. Lovelace would end up with the 15th-best time of 1:02.52.

Women's Swimming
Maya DiRado claimed the first gold medal amongst Stanford athletes at the World University Games with a one-and-a-half second victory in the 400-meter IM. DiRado, who went wire-to-wire with the lead, was threatened by Japan's Miho Takahashi entering the final 50 meters, as Takahashi trailed by only 0.11 of a second, but DiRado finished with a strong kick to out-distance Takahashi and win the gold medal with a time of 4:40.79.

Stanford and U.S. teammate Andie Taylor finished sixth in that same final. Taylor was in second position after the opening 100 meters, but went down to fourth by the halfway point and finished sixth with a time of 4:46.40, off the bronze-medal pace by 3.10 seconds.

Men's Volleyball
The U.S. captured a Group D win with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-13, 25-20) sweep of the United Arab Emirates Tuesday.

Brad Lawson had three kills and an ace in the win while Kawika Shoji passed out 43 assists with nine digs and Erik Shoji made six digs.

The win puts the U.S. into a tie for second place with Thailand at 3-1 in Group D.

Women's Water Polo
The U.S. won Group B thanks to Tuesday's come-from-behind 12-10 victory over previously-unbeaten Russia. Trailing 9-7 entering the final period, the U.S. outscored the Russians 5-1 over the last eight minutes to secure the win.

Goalie Amber Oland made 11 saves in the contest, and was clutch in the final period as she anchored a U.S. defense that held the Russian offense to just a single goal.

Alyssa Lo and Pallavi Menon each netted a goal and assisted on another, while Lo made a pair of steals on defense.