USD Running 2nd in WCC Tennis

After two days of the West Coast Conference Championships, the University of San Diego women’s tennis team trailed three-time defending champion Pepperdine by six points Saturday at Pepperdine.

In the semifinals, the Toreras were hurt by USD’s Tonya Fuller and Sakolwan Kacharoen losing their singles matches in Flight No. 1, where the top two players compete.

In Flight No. 2, Julie McKeon chalked up a victory while Laura Richards lost for the Toreras. In Flight No. 3, USD’s Kara Brady was a winner and teammate Laura Mannisto took a loss. Of the 12 semifinalists in singles, USD and Peperdine had six apiece.

In doubles, all three USD teams won: Fuller and McKeon, Brady and Richards and Kacharoen and Karen Lauer. Championship matches begin today at 9:30.

In her final home match, San Diego State senior Dorey Brandt won at No. 1 singles and led the 16th-ranked Aztecs (13-8) to an 8-1 victory over Nevada Las Vegas.

Brandt won 6-4, 6-1 over Sarit Shalev, a former USIU player. SDSU’s Eva Olivarez defeated Debbie Higa, 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2 singles, and Nicole Storto downed Becky Markosian, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 3. Brandt, Olivarez, Storto, Paige Hammond and Tanya Lauer won at both singles and doubles for the Aztecs, who lost only three sets.

Eydie Pitney and Christa Stutz were lone winners as Point Loma Nazarene dropped a 7-2 Golden State Athletic Conference match to Westmont. Pitney and Stutz won in straight sets at No.’s 5 and 6 singles. PLNC is 10-10, 1-2; Westmont improved to 8-9, 3-0.

With a 6-3 victory over Westmont, the PLNC men’s team ended its regular season undefeated in the Golden State Athletic Conference. The Crusaders (15-3, 8-0) swept Westmont in doubles and took three of the six singles matches. PLNC’s Hans Hoepstedt and John Norton won twice.

BASEBALL

USD’s 10-4 victory over host Loyola Marymount in the first game of a West Coast Conference doubleheader didn’t carry over into the second, which LMU won, 14-3.

In the opener, the Toreros snapped a 1-1 tie in the third inning and scored three runs on triples by Sean Gousha and Dan McAdoo, and a double by Tony Moeder. McAdoo and Moeder had three hits apiece for USD.

Four pitchers gave up 19 hits to LMU in the second game, where the Lions’ seven-run third inning proved too much for the Toreros (18-26-2, 10-16). LMU is 28-18, 18-9.

U.S. International shut down No. 15 Cal State Northridge over the final five innings, but the damage had already been done as the Matadors won for the fifth consecutive time over USIU, 10-3.

USIU’s Greg Shepard hit his first home run of the year and Mike Vallarelli his fourth, but both came with the bases empty. CSUN’s Scott Sharts hit his 21st homer, a two-run towering hit in the third.

Ken Kendrena (9-1) struck out nine for CSUN (33-12-1). John Bretza (1-6) yielded seven hits and 10 runs, four unearned, in 4 2/3 innings for USIU (11-31). Eric Dietrich and David Rios allowed zero hits over the final 5 1/3 innings.

Dal Jones’ two-out single in the bottom of the final inning, drove in the winning run and gave Azusa Pacific a doubleheader Golden State Athletic Conference sweep of visiting Point Loma Nazarene. Azusa Pacific (24-9, 10-5) won 3-2 after routing in the opener, 15-7.

Rodney Williams and Rich Miller had first-inning home runs in the first game for PLNC (15-25, 2-13). Williams went four for five, and Rich Miller had four RBIs, but Azusa Pacific outhit the Crusaders, 19-14.

SDSU split a WAC doubleheader with Wyoming, dropping the first, 6-5, then losing the second, 6-2. Scott Dennison went three for five with a triple, one RBI and three runs scored for the Aztecs (31-12, 9-4). Wyoming is 19-15, 7-7.

SOFTBALL

Back-to-back three-hitters by Hillary Savage and Staci Roper gave USD (25-11) a doubleheader sweep at Loyola Marymount (4-20).

Savage pitched the 9-0 shutout in the first game, then Roper helped extend USD’s winning streak to 11 with the 4-1 victory in the second. Melissa Reinard had a two-run triple in both the sixth and seventh innings of the first game.

San Diego State swept New Mexico in a Western Athletic Conference doubleheader in Albuquerque. Lisa Perettie went the distance in the first game, a 1-0, five-hit shutout. In the 10-inning second game, Michelle Wesson pitched 6 1/3 innings and picked up the victory. SDSU improved to 17-15, 4-2; New Mexico is 28-16, 7-3.