USD’s Noriega Advances Easily in Clay Court Championships

Jose Luis Noriega continued his dominance on Carolina clay courts Saturday.

The USD senior defeated eighth-seeded David Decret of UC Santa Barbara, 6-1, 6-4, moving into today’s finals of the National Intercollegiate Clay Court Tennis Championships in Wilmington, N.C.

The victory improved Noriega’s record to 9-0 in the Carolinas. In 1989, he was 5-0 in winning the tournament when it was held in Hilton Head, S.C.

In Noriega’s view, the best might be yet to come.

“I’m in the final, but I still don’t think I’m playing my best tennis,” said Noriega, a senior from Peru. “I think I got luck in that (Decret) was kind of tired, and so was (Tony) Bujan (Friday). The last two rounds have been the easiest two matches.”

Saturday’s match began tight. With Noriega leading 2-1 and Decret serving at game point in the fourth game, Noriega began a stretch where he won 15 of 18 points to close out the set.

“My whole game is based on my forehand and I hit it deep and heavy,” Noriega said. “It was windy, so it was hard to keep the ball on the court and hard to hit winners.”

Noriega also felt he was stronger mentally than Decret.

“My concentration was a little steadier than his was,” Noriega said. “He wasn’t into the match in the beginning and I had an early break so that gave me so confidence. I had a good plan for the match: hitting the ball to his forehand with lots of topspin, because he has a really good backhand. He started missing some shots there and I guess his confidence went away.”

The third-seeded Noriega will face Mohamed Ridaoui of Mississippi in today’s final. Ridaoui, a qualifier, upset the top seed and defending champion, Patricio Arnold of South Florida, 6-1, 7-5, in Saturday’s other semifinal.

HOCKEY

Darcy Norton, the Gulls’ fourth leading scorer last season, was re-signed as a free agent. Norton, 24, a 6-foot-1 center, had 22 goals, 23 assists and 45 points last year. The Gulls, who will play their season opener Thursday at the San Diego Sports Arena, also added right wing Dmitri Kvartalnov of the Soviet Union to their 25-man training camp roster. Larry Floyd, the team’s 1990-91 scoring leader, had two goals in an intrasquad scrimmage that wound up a 4-4 tie.

CROSS-COUNTRY

The Point Loma Nazarene men’s team placed first among all colleges at the UC Riverside Invitational. PLNC, an NAIA school, finished with a 46-point total on the flat, five-mile course over the campus’ agricultural tracts and placed ahead of Division I programs such as UCLA and UC Irvine.

Robert Keter paced PLNC’s victory by placing ninth among all college runners with a time of 25 minutes, 2 seconds. Other PLNC finishers: Scott Lardner (15th, 25:24), Kenneth Jannson (19th, 25:38), Bryan Wallbank (21st, 25:39), and Doug Ravasdy (37th, 26:32).

Shannon Winkleman of UC Riverside finished first in 24:16.

USD also took part in the meet, but finished 20th in a field of 21 schools.

Francis O’Neill, a graduate of San Pasqual High who runs for Long Beach City College, was the fifth overall runner (24:48), and Clay Biddle, a Mt. Carmel alumnus who runs for UC Irvine, was 46th overall (26:42).

In the women’s five-kilometer race, PLNC was the top NAIA finisher and fifth overall with a point total of 129. UCLA placed first with 49 points.

Vanessa Couch (seventh, 18:06), Anette Ronnerman (12th, 18:21), and Guadalupe Ambriz (14th, 18:25) were PLNC’s top finishers.

The USD women placed 14th out of 18 schools.

Kira Jorgensen, who graduated from Rancho Buena Vista and now attends UCLA, was fourth at 17:58. Teammate Nicole Nugent was first at 17:06.

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

UC San Diego went undefeated to win the UCSD Invitational and had three players, setter Julie Fabian, outside hitter Heather Holtzclaw and middle blocker Elizabeth Tan, named to the all-tournament team.

The Tritons (14-2) were 4-0 in tournament play, with Southwestern (Texas), Colorado College and La Verne finishing 2-2 and Menlo College going 0-4.

UCSD had three-game victories against Southwestern and Colorado Saturday. Fabian, the tournament MVP, had 70 assists on the day. Tan, with 20, was the Saturday’s kill leader and Holtzclaw contributed 15.

Loyola Marymount took a 15-8, 15-5, 15-5 victory over visiting University of San Diego behind strong hitting performances from Deanna Doolittle (11 kills) and Stacy Trapp (10).

USD (8-8, 0-2) was led by Jennifer Lofftus’ six kills. LMU improved to 9-7, 1-1.

Point Loma Nazarene dropped an 15-11, 15-11, 12-15, 15-11 Golden State Athletic Conference match to Westmont College in Santa Barbara.

The loss gave the Crusaders an 8-8 overall, 2-3 District 3 and 1-3 GSAC record. PLNC plays CHC at home at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

MEN’S SOCCER

Dave Beck scored Point Loma Nazarene’s only goal, his first of the season, in a 3-1 loss at Grand Canyon College. PLNC fell to 1-6 and Grand Canyon improved to 6-2.