Weekly Recap
Women’s tennis dominates Ivy Leaguers; men’s tennis rolls through top ranked teams
MARI OLSON / SPORTS EDITOR / THE USD VISTA
As the spring season continues to roll on, University of San Diego athletics continue to secure victories. Men’s tennis took on some of the top teams in the nation, while the golf team traveled to Tucson, AZ, to compete in the University of Arizona’s National Invitational Tournament (NIT). Softball and women’s tennis came up against important opponents as well. Keep reading for updates on your favorite athletes and teams.
Golf
The USD Golf team played in the Arizona NIT on Thursday and Friday, March 18 and 19. The Toreros finished 11th overall as a team, while redshirt junior Harrison Kingsley put up the best individual performance for USD, also finishing 11th.
Oklahoma State University dominated the tournament, finishing in first after all three rounds, while hosts University of Arizona finished fifth. Crosstown rivals San Diego State University finished 14th overall.
Kingsley put up scores of 68, 70, 70 over the three rounds to finish eight below par. Graduate student Mason Gilinski also finished in the top 40, at 39th place with a score of 214, two below par.
USD’s next opportunity will be this weekend at the Goodwin, hosted by Stanford University at the Stanford Golf Club. The Toreros will compete from Thursday, March 24 through Saturday, March 26.
Men’s Tennis
Men’s tennis started off a big weekend on a high note with a decisive win over no. 59 University of Wisconsin on Thursday, March 18. The team entered the weekend with a higher spot in the rankings after their 4-0 week over spring break, now sitting one spot up at no. 26.
The Toreros secured the doubles point over the Badgers, and five out of six singles matches went USD’s way as well.
On Friday, the winning streak continued as the Toreros beat no. 27 University of Utah 4-0. Fifth-years August Holmgren and Gui Osorio, and senior Will Davies and redshirt sophomore Sacchitt Sharma propelled USD to the first point of the afternoon.
Holmgren, ranked no. 6 in the nation, Osorio, and redshirt senior David Norfeldt rounded out the victory in the singles matches.
The two victories extended USD’s winning streak to six and put their record at 12-2 so far this season.
The Toreros finished out the weekend against no. 10 Harvard University, coming up with a big 4-3 victory that took over three hours to complete.
Holmgren and Osorio, along with Davies and Sharma, secured the first point for USD on Sunday afternoon in doubles.
Osorio gave the first singles point to the Toreros, beating Harvard junior Harris Walker in two sets. Davies, who hasn’t lost a match since March 5, gave USD a 2-1 lead before Harvard tied the score at 3.
The match came down to no. 6 Holmgren versus Harvard sophomore and no. 23 Henry von der Schulenburg on court 1. After a long set, Holmgren and the Toreros came out on top, defeating von der Schulenburg 6-3, 7-6, 6-2.
USD Men’s Tennis looks to continue their success and their seven game winning streak in a West Coast Conference (WCC) match against the University of Portland at home on Friday, March 25.
Softball
USD Softball traveled to Norman, Oklahoma, over the weekend to take on five different teams in the Triple Crown OKC tournament. The Toreros finished 1-4 over the five games.
USD started the tournament with a 7-6 extra inning win against Sam Houston University. Tied at five after seven innings, the teams played three whole extra innings with no change to the score.
In the 11th inning, the Toreros finally found a way through, scoring two runs when pinch hitting redshirt junior Lauren Hendrickson hit a two-RBI double to give the Toreros the victory.
Later the same day, USD took on the University of Iowa resulting in a 4-6 loss. On Saturday, the Toreros’ momentum didn’t pick up, with losses to both the University of Houston (2-9) and the no. 1 team in the nation, the University of Oklahoma (0-11). The game against Oklahoma ended after five innings.
In the last game of the tournament, USD took on the University of Indiana, dropping the contest 0-5 to the Hoosiers. The weekend’s games puts USD’s record at 14-21 for the season so far.
The Toreros will look to bounce back this weekend in a three game road series against the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, March 25 through 27.
Women’s Tennis
USD Women’s Tennis was successful in an important match against no. 38 Columbia University on Friday, March 18, narrowly defeating the Lions 4-3.
The Toreros, currently ranked no. 40 in the nation, won the doubles point with first-year Claudia De Las Heras and redshirt sophomore Elizabeth Goldsmith leading the way.
USD and Columbia split the singles matches evenly. Sophomore Jordyn McBride provided the final win to push the Toreros to victory.
The next day, USD continued their winning streak against another Ivy League team. The Toreros dominated Dartmouth University, putting up a 7-0 win.
De Las Heras and Goldsmith continued their doubles winning streak as USD took the first point, and were the first two singles points on the board for the Toreros as well.
Their teammates backed them up, pushing through to win all six matches en route to the shutout victory. USD Women’s Tennis is on a 4-game winning streak, and both wins from the weekend put their record at 10-3 for the season, including going 8-0 at home.
Next up for the Toreros are a couple of road WCC contests against the University of Portland on Friday, March 25 and Gonzaga University on Sunday, March 27.
Women’s Basketball
San Diego left it all on the court against New Mexico but fell short 73-69 at University Arena in Albuquerque, New Mexico in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament over the weekend.
Senior guard Kiera Oakry led the Toreros with 17 points, seven rebounds, and two assists. Also leading on offense was junior guard Ayanna Khalfani with 12 points, redshirt senior forward Kendall Bird with 11 points, and redshirt senior guard Erica Martinsen with nine points. Oakry and Martinsen each shot 100% from the free throw line.
On defense, San Diego collected 43 rebounds. Leading the Toreros’ defensive efforts for the second consecutive game was Bird with nine rebounds. In the fourth quarter alone, San Diego grabbed 15 rebounds. The Toreros also totaled four steals and had two blocks.
The Toreros finished their season with a record of 17-15. Graduate guard Sydney Hunter finished as the team’s leading scorer averaging 11.4 points a game. Hunter also led the team in rebounds averaging 6.4 boards a game. Fellow graduate guard Jordyn Edwards led the team with four assists a game, and senior guard Steph Gorman added 2.6 steals a game.
USD will look to bounce back next season and get the work done during their offseason to come back even stronger.