Weekly Recap
Golf finishes second in Utah; men’s tennis are WCC champions
MARI OLSON / SPORTS EDITOR / THE USD VISTA
Three separate University of San Diego teams took on Brigham Young University (BYU) last weekend, while both men’s and women’s tennis wrapped up their regular seasons on high notes. Sherri Stephens, head coach of women’s tennis, led her final match on USD’s home courts on April 24.
Golf
In their final tournament before the West Coast Conference (WCC) championships, the USD Golf team competed at the Ping Cougar Classic, hosted by BYU, in Provo, UT, April 22 through 23.
Sophomore Andi Xu won the tournament while the team as a whole came in second out of 13 teams competing.
Xu shot 68, 68, 69 over the three rounds of golf in two days for a total score of 205, eleven under par, and tied with BYU’s Carson Lundell to make the pair co-champions of the event. It was Xu’s first collegiate win for the USD golf team.
Redshirt junior Harrison Kingsley was next for the Toreros, who shot a score of 210 to put himself at six under par and tied for seventh place.
In the team competition, the Toreros were in first place after the first two rounds. However, the BYU Cougars were able to rally for a 12-under par final round that secured first place for the hosts. USD finished second with a total score of 839, ahead of Colorado State University in third.
The tournament was a solid end to the regular season for USD Golf as they head into WCC championships this coming weekend. The Toreros will travel to Las Vegas, NV, to take on the other WCC teams playing for a place in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament, including a rematch with BYU.
Baseball
USD Baseball also traveled to Provo last weekend to take on BYU in their latest WCC series as the Toreros look for enough winning momentum to overtake Gonzaga University atop the WCC baseball standings.
Although the Toreros dropped the first game, they were able to rally and take the series, winning the next two.
In the first game on April 21, USD took an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. BYU answered immediately in the second, however, scoring four runs off of senior pitcher Garrett Rennie.
The Cougars kept piling the runs on, and by the bottom of the seventh inning the game looked firmly out of reach for the Toreros as BYU led 3-11.
A late rally from USD wasn’t enough to find the win, and the Toreros dropped the contest 7-11.
The Toreros turned it around in the second game, on Friday, April 22, defeating the Cougars 8-3. This time, BYU couldn’t hold onto its early lead after going up 1-0 in the first. The Toreros answered immediately with a five run second inning.
USD scored the rest of their runs in the seventh, when a bases-loaded double by redshirt junior Cody Jefferis scored the final three runs for the Toreros to give the team a solid 8-2 lead.
BYU got one back in the bottom of the eighth, but USD held on for the win.
The final game on Saturday, April 23, was a much tighter contest. The Toreros were able to hold off the Cougars for a 4-3 win on the day to take the series.
USD was up 2-1 after the second inning, and sophomore pitcher Brycen Mautz led the defense to try and keep the Cougars from scoring.
Sophomore Chase Meidroth homered in the fourth inning to score himself and first-year catcher Ariel Armas, putting USD up 4-1.
Although BYU had 14 hits over the course of the game, they couldn’t quite break through. Two more runs, one each in the sixth and seventh innings, brought the game back into reach for the Cougars at 4-3. USD worked hard behind Mautz and sophomore Ryan Kysar to take the game.
The Toreros nearly lost it in the bottom of the ninth, but Jefferis, Meidroth, and sophomore Kevin Sim combined for a clutch double play to end the inning and give the Toreros both the win on the day and on the series.
USD sits at 25-13 overall and 11-7 in conference after the games. This weekend, the Toreros will take on Santa Clara University at home on Friday, April 29 through Sunday, May 1.
Softball
USD Softball was the third team to play BYU this past weekend, taking on the Cougars at home on Friday and Saturday, April 22 and 23. The Cougars swept the Toreros, allowing USD to score only four runs over the three games.
BYU took Friday’s game 0-5, as the pitchers for both teams played all seven innings. The Toreros found only four hits over the course of the game as they struggled to get anything going.
Redshirt sophomore Courtney Rose gave up five runs on seven hits, walked eight, and struck out two during her 11th loss of the season.
The teams played a double header on Saturday. USD went ahead 2-0 in the first game, hoping to make a comeback in the series, but immediately gave up six runs in the next two innings to go down 2-6.
First-year Joecellia Roberts scored a two- run home run in the fifth to get the score back to 4-6, but the Cougars didn’t let the Toreros find any more and USD dropped the contest 4-7.
The second game on Saturday was stopped one inning early as the Cougars won 0-11. Two five-run innings in the third and sixth innings for BYU, along with a first-inning run scored on a USD error, gave the Toreros no chance of finding a way to come back.
USD is now 19-29 on the season overall, and 4-4 in conference. The Toreros will look to bounce back in the coming weekend as they take on Loyola Marymount University on April 30 and May 1 at the USD Softball Complex.
Men’s Tennis
In their second to last regular season matchup, the USD Men’s Tennis team extended their unbeaten conference record to eight as they took down the University of the Pacific Tigers 4-3.
Pacific won the first doubles set 3-6, but the other two USD pairs fought hard to beat their opponents and take the doubles point.
The Tigers were tough competition for the Toreros in the singles matches as the teams went back and forth.
Sophomore Blake Kasday went down on court 6 to tie the match at one, but redshirt senior August Holmgren took down Pacific’s no. 1 7-6, 6-3 to give the lead back to the Toreros.
Senior Alex Stater won his match 6-3, 6-4 before redshirt senior David Norfeldt dropped a point to make the score 3-2 in favor of the Toreros. When redshirt sophomore Sacchitt Sharrma dropped his point as well, the match came down to fellow redshirt sophomore Marvin Schaber on court five.
Schaber went three rounds against the Tigers, winning the first set 6-2 before dropping the second, 7-5. Schaber’s toughness won out, however, and he took the final set 6-3 to win the match for the Toreros.
In their final regular season match of the 2022 season, men’s tennis dominated Saint Mary’s College (SMC) in a 4-0 win, preserving their undefeated WCC record and securing both the WCC regular season championship and the number one seed for this weekend’s WCC tournament.
Sharrma and senior Will Davies, along with Norfeldt and Schaber, secured the doubles point for USD, each winning 6-4.
In the singles matches, Norfeldt crushed his opponent 6-0, 6-0, while Davies won 6-2, 6-2 and graduate student Gui Osorio beat the Gaels 6-4, 6-3. The three singles wins clinched the final regular season victory for the Toreros.
This weekend, men’s tennis will compete in the WCC tournament. As the number one seed, they have earned a place in the semifinal and will play either Gonzaga University or Santa Clara University on April 29.
Women’s Tennis
It was also the final regular season match for the women’s tennis team, and head coach Sherri Stephens’ final match at home before her retirement at the end of the season.
The Toreros took on the University of San Francisco, defeating the Dons 5-2 to mark the 442nd win of Stephens’ career with USD.
USD fought hard to win the doubles point, which was clinched by redshirt junior Solymar Colling and sophomore Abigail Desiatnikov when they won 7-5 over their USF opponents.
Colling secured another point towards the win for USD when she beat the Dons’ number one 7-6.
Junior Victoria Kalaitzis and first-year Claudia De Las Heras won their matches as well to put two more points into the Toreros’ hands, and sophomore Jordyn McBride rounded out the victory for USD on court five.
The Toreros finished 5-2 in the WCC over the season, and are also competing in the WCC championship tournament April 28 through 30.