College Notebook / Rick Hazeltine : UCSD Ready to Add to List of 1989 Titles

UC San Diego is preparing for its annual spring trophy dash, with as many as five teams advancing to NCAA Division III national championships.

The Tritons, who already have won national titles in women’s volleyball and men’s soccer and finished second in women’s soccer and men’s and women’s swimming, could be headed for their finest season.

UCSD has never won three national titles in a season. Leading the way this spring is the softball team, ranked No. 2 in the nation in Division III and headed for the three-team West Regional at Grand Rapids, Mich., where the Tritons are the top seed.

Host Calvin (25-5) plays North Central (27-5) of Naperville, Ill. Friday at noon (EDT) in the first round of the double-elimination tournament. The Tritons will play the loser at 2 p.m. and then meet the winner of the first-round game at 4. The 20-team tournament is divided into six regionals, with the winners advancing to the national tournament May 19-20 at Trenton State (N.J.) College.

Two years ago, the Tritons had missed on the regionals for three consecutive seasons. Lisa Bassi and Lin Adams became co-coaches before last season and revitalized the program, leading them back to the regionals, where they were eliminated.

UCSD is having its finest softball season; the Tritons are 34-7, including 23-2 against Division III teams. They have a 13-game winning streak, including six consecutive shutouts.

“As the old saying goes, ‘You’re only as strong as your weakest link,’ ” Bassi said. “We had glaring weaknesses at a couple positions that really hurt us last year.”

The Tritons apparently have shored them up. And pitching has remained a mainstay, with four quality members of the staff.

Dianna Moreno is only 5-feet but looms on the mound with a 12-3 record and 0.25 earned-run average. Kathy Fogg, a transfer from Golden West Community College, is 9-2 with a 0.88 ERA, and Stacie Sasaki is 9-1, including a no-hitter and two one-hitters, and an 0.66 ERA. Lynn Moreno is 4-1 with a 2.20 ERA.

“Last year we were just happy to be at the regionals,” Bassi said. “This fall we were talking of going to nationals and winning it.”

The UCSD women’s tennis team is in the midst of competing in the 10-team national championships at Claremont-Mudd College. The Tritons are seeded third behind No. 1 Gustavus Adolphus and No. 2 Pomona-Pitzer.

The men’s tennis team is seeded sixth in the 10-team regional at Kalamazoo, Mich., which begins Sunday. The Tritons are 14-10, 12-1 against Division III teams.

The men’s golf team is expected to get a berth in the 20-team national tournament at Lake Panorama Golf Course in Panora, Iowa, May 23-26. And the baseball team is battling three other teams for the two West Regional spots. The teams advancing to the best of three-of-five regional will be announced Monday.

Three of the top four ranked men’s college volleyball players in digs are from San Diego schools. Cesar Mata of San Diego State led the nation with 2.94 digs per game. UC San Diego’s Jeff Babcock was third at 2.91, and Nick Rothman was fourth at 2.78. Mike Schlegel of SDSU was 16th at 2.34. Mata was also ranked No. 10 in service aces with .333 per game.

UCSD won its second consecutive Pacific Coast Volleyball Conference title with a 3-1 victory over La Verne. Freshman outside hitter Nate Brown of UCSD was named the conference MVP. Babcock, a senior outside hitter, and junior middle blocker John Lim were also named to the all-conference team.

The U. S. International University baseball team didn’t set any records with its 22-32 record, but Kevin Tahan and Scott Coutts had record-breaking seasons for the Gulls. They have three records each this season, with five games remaining.

Tahan, who played two years at Stanford, set single-season records for home runs (16), runs (62) and RBIs (58). (Paul Sokolowski set the previous records for homers--12--and RBIs--53--in 1980, and John Ronis set the mark for runs--52--in 1987.)

Coutts set single-season records for at-bats (227), hits (85) and doubles (23). Bob Esquerra (1986) had set the previous mark of 17 doubles and Art Calvert the record for at-bats (222). Calvert (1984) and Ronis (1987) jointly held the previous hits record of 73.

Jon Carne has been named the U.S. International University women’s volleyball coach, replacing Kurt Donaldson. Carne played at San Diego State.