San Diego State Volleyball Team Makes Tournament Final

Defending champion San Diego State advanced to the men’s volleyball final of the fourth annual Hall of Fame Classic with a 3-1 semifinal victory Friday over Rutgers-Newark in Springfield, Maine.

The Aztecs, ranked third nationally, defeated No. 16 Rutgers-Newark, 15-5, 11-15, 15-6, 15-7, to advance to today’s final against No. 5 Penn State, a 3-1 winner over tournament host Springfield College.

Middle blockers Mike Mattarocci and Sean Clark and outside hitter Mike Schlegel each had 17 kills for SDSU (18-4). Max Jeanty had 25 for the Scarlet Raiders (10-16).

BASEBALL

San Diego State won its 12th in a row and remained perfect in Western Athletic Conference play, downing New Mexico, 6-2, in the first game of a four-game series at SDSU’s Smith Field.

Rick Navarro (4-2) yielded five hits in eight innings for the Aztecs (24-7, 5-0). Brent Ferguson (two for three, two RBIs), Derek Vinyard (two for four), Greg Quam (two for four) and Jason Ledford (two RBIs) led the offense, which scored four runs in the first inning.

Starter Pat Fettey (3-4) took the loss for New Mexico (14-20, 2-3).

Pepperdine ace Patrick Ahearne threw a one-hitter as the seventh-ranked Waves shut out the University of San Diego, 8-0, in a West Coast Conference game in Malibu.

USD (13-9-2, 6-11) did not hit fly ball in the game. Ahearne, who faced only one over the minimum to improve to 9-1, struck out nine and got the other 18 outs on grounders.

USD’s lone hit was a Tony Moeder single in the fourth. Pepperdine improved to 24-5-1, 13-3.

Craig Clayton struck out 19 and allowed just four hits to lead No. 20 Cal State Northridge, 6-1, over visiting U.S. International. Clayton (8-2) struck out every Gull starter at least once and seven at least twice. He walked four.

MEN’S TENNIS

UC Irvine’s Brett Hansen-Dent upset Jose Luis Noriega to lead the 13th-ranked Anteaters (15-5) to a 7-2 victory over the University of San Diego.

Hansen-Dent defeated Noriega, the nation’s 10th-ranked singles player, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6). Hansen-Dent then teamed with Carsten Hoffman in doubles to defeat Noriega and Kevin Bradley, 3-6, 7-6, 7-2.

WOMEN’S TENNIS

Point Loma Nazarene lost some close matches and fell to Occidental, 6-3. Monica Clancy, Kelly Massa and Sue Woodling won in straight sets at Nos. 1, 2 and 3 singles for the Crusaders, but Tiffany Puckett fell to Sighy Judd, 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6) at No. 4 singles. PLNC also lost two doubles matches in three sets.