Catching up with the Toreros
A quick recap over break with USD’s winter season athletes
JAREK MORGAN / ASST. SPORTS EDITOR / THE USD VISTA
While students took the much-needed break to recover from a challenging fall semester, some of our fellow Toreros were busy crushing it on the court, pool, and everywhere in between.
To catch students and faculty up to date on what was missed during winter break, here is a quick recap of some of the best moments for University of San Diego student athletes at the start of the year.
Women’s Tennis
The USD Women’s Tennis team competed in several tournaments, including hosting the Torero Tennis Classic. Teams came from all over the country to play in the Tennis Classic, which included athletes from USD, the University of Kansas, Stanford, the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), Texas Tech University, and Florida State University (FSU). 10 total players in the event were nationally ranked.
USD redshirt junior Solymar Colling won her individual match, defeating no. 22 ranked FSU senior Petra Hule, 6-4, 6-2. Colling was also paired with sophomore Elizabeth Goldsmith as they took down Kansas, 6-1.
The women’s tennis team will look to continue their winning streak as they take on Long Beach State on Feb. 12 at home.
Men’s Tennis
Much like their counterparts on the women’s side, the men’s tennis team fought in several key matchups and showed that they are continuing their winning traditions.
In their first action of the spring, the USD Men’s Tennis team defeated the University of California, Irvine (UCI) on Friday Jan 21, 6-1. USD won five singles matches, and added another two wins in the doubles matches to clinch the victory.
Fresh off his stellar fall season performance, earning him the number one ranking in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles division, redshirt senior August Holmgren and his doubles teammate, senior Gui Osorio, who is freshly back from injury, took down UCI in style, winning with a commanding 6-0.
The team will look to continue making headlines when they host University of California, Santa Barbara on Feb. 13 at the Skip and Cindy Hogan Center.
Swim and Dive
In the pool, during several key matchups, the women showed that their hard work in the off-season truly paid off. Facing off against cross-city rival San Diego State University, the team just barely fell short losing the meet 153-123. Junior Callie Johnson won two races, sophomore Mia Griffiths won another, and first-year Jane Riehs dominated in the three meter dive.
Johnson placed first in both the 100 yard fly and the 200 yard individual medley, recording times of 1:01.63 and 2:15.51, respectively.
Griffiths won the 500 yard free with a time of 5:25.44, with graduate student Adrienne Bilello and sophomore Emma Peters not too far behind with times of 5:25.90 and 5:33.38.
Riehs paced all divers competing with a final score of 238.28 in the 3 meter dive, followed by two other Toreros. Senior Isabel Busyn and first-year Kennedy Turner took the second and third place spots. Busyn had a score of 220.20 and Turner notched a 203.40.
The women will look to finish their season strong as they compete in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship on Feb. 16 in Los Angeles.
Women’s Basketball
The women’s basketball team started winter break with a last minute back-to-back contest. First up at the Jenny Craig Pavilion on Dec. 18 were the Arizona State University Sundevils. A game that was exciting from the opening tip ultimately came down to a few extra rebounds and some timely free throws, which gave the Sundevils a slight edge, 79-60. Senior guard Steph Gorman led all Torero scorers with 14 points and added a career high eight rebounds. Graduate guard Jordyn Edwards added another 13 points to go along with three steals and three assists.
After the conclusion of the game and with less than 24 hours notice, the team was informed that they would be traveling to Las Vegas, NV to take on the no. 11 team in the country: the University of Texas, Austin Longhorns.
USD replaced the University of Arizona in the Pac-12 Coast-to-Coast Tournament after Arizona cancelled due to COVID-19 protocols. The Toreros rallied from their loss to the Sun Devils, traveled to the T-Mobile Arena, and battled with guts, glory, and determination to play well on the big stage.
At the time USD (7-4) held their own against the Longhorns (8-1). The team had a total of 29 rebounds, 12 steals, and 14 assists. On offense, redshirt junior guard Kiera Oakry was the leading scorer with 16 points, followed by sophomore center Laura Eristrup, who added another nine points.
That Texas won with a final score of 74-58 was not indicative of how hard the Toreros competed from start to finish.
The Toreros triumphed in a 20-point victory over the Texas State University Bobcats to end their last non-conference game of the season. Still fresh off the last minute battle against Texas, the Toreros were determined to end their non-conference schedule with a win. San Diego defeated Texas State 78-58.
The team has since gone on to play in a very tough conference this season that earned head coach Cindy Fisher ESPN coach of the week in the middle of December. Coach Fisher’s ability to handle the difficult games with such grace was best shown by her team’s response to playing through adversity.
USD is back in action this weekend on Saturday, Feb. 12 when they travel to Malibu, CA, to take on Pepperdine University. The Toreros will be back at the JCP Feb. 17 when they battle with Pacific University.