{"id":48722,"date":"2017-10-26T08:54:59","date_gmt":"2017-10-26T12:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=48722"},"modified":"2017-10-26T08:54:59","modified_gmt":"2017-10-26T12:54:59","slug":"ddn-story-chelsea-welch-set-to-spark-women-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2017\/10\/26\/ddn-story-chelsea-welch-set-to-spark-women-again\/","title":{"rendered":"DDN story: Chelsea Welch set to spark women again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Excerpt<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Wright State guard Chelsea Welch was named the preseason Horizon League women\u2019s basketball player of the year last week. Dayton Daily News file photo<\/p><\/div>\n

Wright State women\u2019s basketball coach Katrina Merriweather wishes she had five Chelsea Welches. She wouldn\u2019t have to worry about who would play the point or post because the 5-foot-9 Welch can guard all five positions and score from any spot on the floor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That\u2019s why the senior from Fairmont High School was named the preseason Horizon League player of the year last week. She led the conference in scoring with an 18.6 average last season, was fourth in steals at 2.1 and ninth in assists at 3.2.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cShe\u2019s got a great body, broad shoulders, and, obviously, at about 5-9 or 5-10, she\u2019s very versatile in that she can make a 3, so she\u2019s not just a driver,\u201d Merriweather said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cShe\u2019s also a very good defender. What she does for us, picking up the ball and the deflections she gets because of her size \u2014 she\u2019s really, really athletic. Every once in a while, she\u2019ll do something that makes you go, \u2018Wow.\u2019 She\u2019s really good on both sides of the ball, and that\u2019s what makes her so valuable to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Merriweather appreciates Welch even more for how she sets the tone with her attitude.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe best thing about Chelsea is she\u2019s our hardest worker. She\u2019s extremely humble, and you wouldn\u2019t be able to tell she was our best player (by the way she acts) in practice because she\u2019s in every single drill and every rep.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Raiders, picked second in the Horizon League preseason poll in a vote of coaches, media and sports information directors, return all five starters from a team that won a share of the league crown and finished 25-9 overall. Co-champ Green Bay was picked first.<\/p>\n

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Senior Lexi Smith, who averaged 12.8 points and 8.9 rebounds last year, was named preseason second-team all-league.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI would argue with anyone that Lexi is the most effective 5-foot-10 \u2018five\u2019 player in the country,\u201d said Merriweather, meaning a true center. \u201cShe does a great job rebounding, and on those nights when we\u2019re having a tough time shooting, she\u2019s the main reason we stay in games.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Junior Symone Simmons (9.9 points, 9.0 rebounds), junior Emily Vogelpohl (10.9 points, 3.1 assists) and junior Mackenzie Taylor (9.5 points) also are back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Vogelpohl had shoulder surgery in July and was held out of early contact drills, but she\u2019s back to full strength.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cShe looks awesome, especially in the open court. She\u2019s so fast with the ball in her hands. It\u2019s going to really help us push the ball in transition,\u201d said Merriweather, who was named Horizon League coach of the year after taking over for Mike Bradbury last season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cBut what we have to do before that is make sure our rebounding is on par. That\u2019s a big emphasis for us right now. As much fun as it is to run, you can\u2019t run if you don\u2019t get defensive rebounds.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Golf:<\/strong>\u00a0Bryce Haney, a sophomore from Wayne High School, finished fifth in the nine-team Cleveland State Invitational last week, and the Raiders were fourth overall.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Haney shot a 4-over-par 220 for the first top-five showing of his career. Teammate Chris Rossi, a senior from Fairfield, tied for sixth at 221.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Wright State concludes its fall season in the Dayton Flyer Invitational on Monday and Tuesday at NCR South.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Women\u2019s soccer:<\/strong>\u00a0Goalkeeper Maddie Jewell, a sophomore from Lakota West, helped the Raiders beat Oakland, 2-0, Saturday for their fourth win in six matches.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Jewell became the full-time keeper in the fifth game and has posted five shutouts in 10 outings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Sarah Colvin, a senior from Tipp City, leads the team in scoring with five goals and six assists, while Aaliyah Patten, a junior from Fairborn, is second with three goals and six assists.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Raiders, 8-6 overall and 3-2 in the conference, visit IUPUI on Friday.<\/p>\n

Read the original post at daytondailynews.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Excerpt Wright State women\u2019s basketball coach Katrina Merriweather wishes she had five Chelsea Welches. She wouldn\u2019t have to worry about who would play the point or post because the 5-foot-9 Welch can guard all five positions and score from any … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":48725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[715,730],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-wright-state-in-the-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48722"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48726,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48722\/revisions\/48726"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}