SAN DIEGO COLLEGE NOTEBOOK : UCSD Men’s Volleyball Team Has Lost Matches, Not Respect

After two months and 15 matches, the UC San Diego men’s volleyball team has proven to be one of the finest in the nation. But when the Tritons visit Santa Clara Friday, they will be after their first victory of the season.

How’s that? What’s that? 0-15 ?

“That’s true were 0-15,” Coach Digger Graybill said. “but we’re one of the top teams around, and this is the best team we’ve ever had at UCSD.”

Others think so, too. UCSD still receives votes for the Tachikara Coaches top 20 poll after being ranked 20th in the preseason.

Perhaps an explanation is in order.

You see, UCSD is a Division III school (no scholarships) that plays primarily a Division I schedule. In fact, it plays one of the toughest schedules in the nation, including the Division I schools. Thus far, UCSD has played nothing but top 20 teams. It has lost them all, but every match has been close.

By comparison, imagine a school like Princeton playing basketball in the Big East.

“I keep telling (the players) I’m not as concerned with wins and losses but how well we’re playing,” Graybill said. “And we’ve been playing very well. We could be 0-15 and discouraged, when in actuality, we’re 0-15 and nothing but encouraged.”

A few weeks ago, UCSD, which has won the first game in eight of 15 matches, thought the drought was finally over when it led UC Irvine two games to one and 14-2 in the fourth game. The Tritons served for the match 11 times in that fourth game but came away empty. UC Irvine rallied to win the match in five games.

“That ranks as the most frustrating loss I’ve ever had,” Graybill said.

Things should get easier for UCSD beginning this weekend when it opens defense of its Pacific Coast Volleyball Conference title. The PCVC, started by Graybill three years ago, is comprised of the five non-scholarship teams in California.

Another problem UCSD faces is that there is just one NCAA Tournament, which is open to all teams. Graybill said there has been talk of having a second postseason tournament, but it is just that right now.

“We think we’re the best Division III team in the nation, but there is no way for us to prove it,” Graybill said.

University of San Diego pitcher Tom Cheek picked up his fifth save Saturday against Pepperdine and has won or saved 12 of the Toreros’ 14 victories. Cheek, a junior right-hander from Mt. Carmel High, is 7-3 with a 2.94 earned run average.

He also has 46 strikeouts in 49 innings and with 23 appearances is on track to break USD’s record of 35 set by Jim Westlund in 1987. At one game past the halfway point, USD is 14-17, 9-9 in the West Coast Conference.

Mark Ratekin, a Point Loma Nazarene senior third baseman/pitcher, continues to impress both at the plate and on the mound.

In the latest listings for the NAIA District III, Ratekin, whose 22-game hitting streak was snapped last week, was second in average (.472), hits (34) and home runs (four) and third in RBIs (23). Ratekin was also eighth in ERA (3.81).

PLNC infielder Craig Gastineau was third in the district in average (.439), and catcher Dave Swearingen second in stolen bases (11).

After 14 consecutive victories, USD’s men’s tennis team fell to No. 16 USC last week. No. 22 USD will take a 16-3 mark into this weekend’s prestigious Blue/Gray Tournament in Montgomery, Ala.

Individually, Jose Luis Noriega is ranked fifth in the nation, Dan Mattera 39th and J.R. Edwards 80th.

USD’s women’s team (8-7) has not fared quite as well but has played a difficult schedule and is ranked 17th. Things do not get much easier this week as the Toreras play host to No. 9 Pepperdine this afternoon, No. 1 Stanford Thursday and No. 12 Oklahoma State Monday. All matches begin at 1:30 p.m.

Jim Crakes, Point Loma Nazarene’s track coach for the past 30 years, returns from a six-month sabbatical today, and neither the men’s nor the women’s team appears to have lost a step in his absence.

In the men’s NAIA District III, PLNC runners have the top three 5,000- and 10,000-meter times led by Goshu Tadese’s 15:01.91 and 31:38.6. Sean O’Hare, who is second in the 5,000 at 15:16.92, leads the steeplechase at 9:29.4.

Ronnie Skold leads the long jump at 23-0, and Dan Raatjes the high jump at 7-2 1/2. Raatjes’ mark is just a quarter inch lower than his personal best last year when he was the NAIA national champion.

For the PLNC women, Aminda Sloan and Shawndel Reddic lead a group which finished second in the nation last year and won the Golden State Athletic Conference Championship two weeks ago.

Sloan, a freshman, has run the fastest 200 (26.11) and 400 (59.61) in the district. Reddic leads in the 100 hurdles (15.43) and the triple jump (34-11 3/4) and is second in the high jump (5-8).