USD Pulls Tennis Upsets: Men Top UC Irvine; Women Beat BYU

The University of San Diego men’s and women’s tennis teams took big steps toward NCAA berths Saturday with home victories over top 20 teams.

The 19th-ranked USD men (20-4) upset 14th-ranked UC Irvine, 5-2, behind singles victories by Jose Luis Noriega and Dan Mattera.

Noriega, ranked sixth nationally, defeated 17th-ranked Trevor Kroneman at No. 1 singles, 7-6, 6-2, and Mattera, ranked 47th, defeated Shige Kanroji, 6-0, 7-5. USD’s J.R. Edwards, ranked, 74th, was beaten by 38th-ranked Richard Lubner, 7-6, 6-1

USD freshman Kevin Bradley won at No. 5 singles and Noriega and Edwards upset 35th-ranked Kroneman and Lubner at No. 1 doubles. Then Bradley and Mattera clinched the match and raised their record to 15-0 with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Mike Roberts and Carsten Hoffman.

The 18th-ranked USD women won four of six singles matches and defeated 14th-ranked Brigham Young, 5-4.

Senior Aby Brayton, the Toreras’ No. 1 singles player, upset 25th-ranked Mary Beth Young, 7-6, 6-4. Junior Tonya Fuller and freshman Paula Hansen won at No. 3 doubles to seal the victory.

Tole Marinkovic defeated Yoram Baron at No. 1 singles, 6-3, 7-5, in San Diego State’s 6-0 victory over visiting U.S. International in a nonconference men’s match. Kerry Safdie beat Marc Shumaker, 6-4, 7-6, in No. 2 singles for 24th ranked SDSU (16-6)

The Point Loma Nazarene women defeated host UC Riverside, 6-3, in a nonconference match. Kim Wright at No. 1 defeated Gina Grossman, 7-5, 6-1, and Shannon Anderson defeated Heather Hodge, 6-3, 6-1. The two then combined to win at No. 1 doubles for PLNC (8-7).

The PLNC men defeated host Southern California College, 9-0 in Golden State Athletic Conference match. Hans Hogstedg defeated Jim Mansfield, 6-3, 6-2, at No. 1 single and Rob Pearson defeated Finn Bell, 6-0, 6-1. Pearson and John Norton then teamed up to win at No. 1 singles in two sets for PLNC (7-11, 4-2).

SOCCER

The Nomads dropped a 2-1 double overtime decision to the host San Francisco Bay Blackhawks in the Western Soccer League season opener for the two teams that met in last year’s league championship.

The Nomads won that one, 1-0.

San Francisco Bay scored first when Townsend Qin converted a pass from Steve Corpening in the 69th minute.

The Nomads tied it with less than a minute remaining when Lucas Martin connected on an indirect kick from Steve Black.

Simon Ireland broke the tie in to earn revenge from last summer’s championship game loss.

BASEBALL

Lou Skertich threw a two-hitter in the Toreros 3-2 first game victory to give USD a split of its West Coast Athletic Conference doubleheader with visiting Santa Clara.

Skertich went the distance in winning his fourth game against four losses. Freshman Kevin Herde from San Pasqual High drove home Jim Alexander with the game-winner in the sixth inning for USD (16-22, 11-10).

Santa Clara won the second game, 5-3, when Bill Enos hit a two-out two run homer of USD relief ace Tom Cheak in the ninth inning.

Point Loma Nazarene lost its ninth and 10th consecutive games against visiting Southern California College, 7-1 and 6-2, in a Golden State Athletic Conference game. PLNC fell to 12-20-1 and 1-10.

San Diego State won a doubleheader against host New Mexico in the Western Athletic Conference. The Aztecs (27-12, 9-2) defeated New Mexico, 1-0, in the first game and 5-4 in the night-cap.

In the second game, with the score tied, 4-4, at the top of the sixth, Brian Grebeck singled then advanced to third on two fielder’s choices. Grebeck scored the winning run a wild pitch. New Mexico is now, 16-18, 2-5.

SOFTBALL

Angie Straub, Tiffany Wasilewski and Marianne Stahl hit home runs for USD in its doubleheader sweep over visiting Loyola Marymount, 16-1 and 11-1, in a West Coast Athletic Conference game. Straub went two for three with four RBIs and Wasilewski went two for three with three RBIs in the first game. Stahl hit a grand slam in the second game for USD 20-16).

SDSU split a doubleheader with 10th-ranked Sacramento State, losing the first game, 1-0, and winning the second, 1-0. Tonya Chamberlain drove in the winning run for the Aztecs (12-22) in the second game, singling to left. Michelle Putnam, who tripled, scored from third.

Sara Ahern (2-12) went the distance to pick up the win.

Sacramento State is 27-18.