Toreras Tied for WCC Tennis Lead

The University of San Diego is tied with four-time defending champion Pepperdine after the first day of the West Coast Conference women’s tennis championships Friday at Ft. Collins, Colo. All six USD singles players advanced to the semifinals of their flights: Laura Richards and Julie McKeon in flight A; Tracy Ishii and Tuck Kacharoen in flight B and Paula Hansen and Maddy Diekman in flight C.

The teams of Richards and McKeon, Kara Brady and Ishii and Kacharoen and Hansen all won their first round doubles matches. USD and Pepperdine have 45 points heading into the final day.

San Diego State reached the finals of the Western Athletic Conference Championships with a 9-0 victory over New Mexico at Ft. Collins, Colo. Eva Olivarez defeated Jenny Cook, 6-2, 6-0, at No. 1 singles and Sue Hawke defeated Megan Pye, 6-3, 6-0, at No. 2 singles. The Aztecs’ No. 2 doubles team of Tonya Johnson and Susheel Gulati defeated Staci Hurff and Pye, 6-0, 6-2. SDSU (11-7), ranked 16th nationally, will play Utah for the WAC title at 8:30 a.m.

Pepperdine leads USD, 54-51, after the first day of the WCC men’s championships at USD. The Toreros’ Fredrik Axsater, Ignacio Martinez, Kevin Bradley, Robbie Seward and Mark Huarte advanced into the third round in singles play. The doubles teams of Martinez and Tonatluh Cuevas, Bradley and Phil Hoffman and Axsater and Huarte reached the third round of doubles play.

At the Ojai junior tournament, three San Diego players reached the semifinals of the girls’ 16 division. Top-seeded Vanessa Rooks of Monte Vista High will face San Pasqual’s Molly Gavin in one semifinal. Mary Beth Maggart of Torrey Pines will face Brandi Freundenberg of Orange in the other. In the girls’ 16 doubles, Marisa Velasco and Amanda Augustus of Chula Vista reached the finals.

La Jolla’s James Conda and Jonathon Elsberry and Valhalla’s Patrick O’Neil and Jamie Saben will meet in the semifinals of the interscholastic doubles division. The Torrey Pines team of Erin Bohrnstedt and Alison McNellis reached the semifinals of the girls’ 18 doubles division. Serra’s Nikki Willete will play Stacey Jellen of Calabasas in the semifinals of the girls’ 18 singles division. Willette won by default over Page Bartlett of Mission Viejo in the quarterfinals.

In boys’ 16 singles play, Taryn Burgk of Del Mar advanced to the semifinals with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over La Jolla High’s Jonathon Gilula. San Diego’s Vo Chu lost in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, to second-seeded Jakub Pietrowski of Huntington Beach.

BASEBALL

Greg Quam’s grand slam keyed San Diego State’s six-run sixth inning in a 12-5 Western Athletic Conference victory over Colorado State at Ft. Collins. The Aztecs (31-11, 13-3) and Colorado State (18-31, 2-15) were tied, 3-3, going into the sixth.

Brad Gennaro went three for five, scored a run and drove in three more for SDSU. Teammate Patrick Mummy hit a solo homer in the first, doubled and drove in three runs.

Mike Saipe pitched his seventh complete game and got his seventh victory for USD as the visiting Toreros took a West Coast Conference game from San Francisco, 7-3.

Tony Moeder, Sean Gousha and Brady Clark all knocked in solo home runs in the first three innings for USD (23-21, 11-11). Saipe scattered nine hits, struck out nine batters and walked four others. USF is 12-32, 9-12.

SOFTBALL

USD split a nonconference doubleheader with visiting Cal State San Bernardino, winning the first game 6-3, then dropping the second, 7-5.

In the first game, USD scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth to rally from a 3-1 deficit and break its three-game losing steak. Brittany Volk and Madison graduate June Andrews had three hits apiece and Laura Cisneros had a triple for USD.

CSUSB scored four runs on six hits in the top of the seventh inning to rally for the victory in the second game. Volk had two triples in the nightcap.

TRACK & FIELD

Marla Runyan of the San Diego Track Club won the California Invitational heptathlon at Azusa Pacific with 5,231 points. Runyan won the 800 meters in 2.11.64 and the long jump in 19 feet, 2 inches.

Alicia Harasty of Point Loma Nazarene took ninth in the heptathlon with 4,417 points. Her best finish was in the javelin, where she was sixth with a toss of 115-10.