Men's Volleyball Stuns Stanford; Baseball Now No. 1

The UC San Diego men’s volleyball team continued its streak of stunning upsets over the weekend, sweeping No. 4-ranked and reigning national champion Stanford Friday night at Stanford’s Maples Pavilion.

Scores were 25-21, 30-28 and 25-16 as the Tritons took down the Cardinal for the first time since 2006.

The win put an end to Stanford's (8-3, 5-3 MPSF) 18-match home winning streak. The Cardinal had not been swept at home since Apr. 17, 2009. It was the first time in 39 meetings that UCSD (6-8, 3-5 MPSF) had defeated Stanford at home.

UCSD put down 50 kills with just eight errors in 88 attacks. Five Tritons hit better than .400, led by senior middle blocker Calvin Ross, who went 7-1-10 for a .600 attack percentage. Outside Carl Eberts continued his solid play, contributing a match-best 15 kills with four digs, a block and 15.5 points. Eberts has recorded double-digit kill totals in five of his last six matches.

Junior opposite Shane Veiga had 11 kills, four digs and three blocks for the Tritons. Phil Bannan paced the offense with 42 assists. He also added five blocks as the Tritons out-blocked the Cardinal 10-3. Stanford was held to a .182 (41-23-99) attack percentage.

UCSD has now upset three MPSF teams this season. On Jan. 12, the unranked Tritons won 3-1 at No. 7 UC Irvine. On Jan. 28, No. 15 UCSD edged 11th-ranked Hawai'i in five sets at RIMAC.

The last time UCSD beat a team ranked higher than fourth? The Tritons did it twice in 2010, defeating No. 3 UCLA in February and No. 3 Pepperdine to close out the season in April.

Earlier in the week, the visiting Tritons were the upset victims as they lost to No. 15 Pacific, 3-1, at the Alex G. Spanos Center.

The loss snapped a hefty six-match win streak against the Tigers that UCSD had accumulated over the past three seasons.
 
Scores of the match were 25-22, 25-19, 23-25 and 25-21 in favor of Pacific, which hadn't beaten UCSD since Mar. 9, 2007 in Stockton.

There were 29 tie scores in the match, including 11 in the opening set and 10 in the third frame.

The Tritons return home to host a pair of MPSF matches this coming week. On Friday, No. 2 Long Beach State visits RIMAC Arena for a 7 p.m. match. UCSD then takes on Cal State Northridge on Saturday, also at 7 p.m.

The UC San Diego softball team is off to its best start in nine years after sweeping a four-game series with San Francisco State over the weekend.

The Tritons beat the Gators 8-0 in five innings on Friday before taking a 7-3 decision in the second game at Triton Softball Field. On Saturday UCSD's 7-3 and 2-0 wins over SFSU improved the Tritons' record to 9-1, their best start since 2002 when the squad started 13-1. UCSD remains a perfect 4-0 in California Collegiate Athletic Association play.

Camille Gaito (5-0) and Tess Granath (4-1) each won a pair of games. Gaito has allowed a single earned run this season and has struck out a team-high 27 opponents.

Sarah Woofter leads the team in batting with a .444 average while Mya Romero is hitting .370. Both players have .556 slugging percentages.

UCSD will head to Cal State Monterey Bay this weekend for a four-game set with the Otters. Friday's doubleheaders kick off at noon while Saturday's contests start at 11 a.m.

BASEBALL

Following its four-game series sweep over No. 17 Mesa State this past week, the UCSD baseball team is ranked No. 1 nationally in Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's most recent poll, released Monday.
 
The Tritons, now 7-1 on the season, topped the poll with 480 points. They were ranked second in CBN's previous two polls, which were released on Feb. 7 and Dec. 20 (preseason).
 
Florida Southern (7-0) was second with 458 points and Georgia College & State (5-2) was third with 454 points.
 
Southern Indiana (1-2), which defeated UCSD in the 2010 national title game, dropped all the way to 13th in this week's poll after owning the top spot since the preseason. The Eagles opened their season by dropping two of three games against Armstrong Atlantic State University.
 
The Tritons stifled a ninth-inning rally by Mesa State to hold on for a 7-6 victory Sunday at Triton Ballpark, giving the Tritons a sweep of its four game series with the school from Colorado Junction.

Elias Tuma came on in the ninth to pick up his second save after Mesa State, trailing 7-3, scored three runs. Starter Greg Selarz (1-1) took the win for the Tritons as he threw 6 2/3 innings and surrendered just one run on seven hits.

UCSD was lifted by a stellar offensive day by second baseman Blake Tagmyer. He went 3-for-4 with three runs scored, two RBI and a stolen base, finishing just a double shy of hitting for the cycle.

Tagmyer's line-drive home run to right field in the first inning was the first of his season and second for the Tritons this year.

On Saturday, Jonah Northrop  made his first collegiate hit count in a big way as he knocked in the game-winning run in the 11th inning to give the Tritons a 3-2 victory over Mesa State in the second game of a doubleheader.

UCSD starting pitcher Guido Knudson went seven innings, giving up one run on eight hits while striking out seven. Tuma (1-0) came on in the eighth and gave up an unearned tying run, but ended up winning his first game of the season. Neither pitcher gave up a walk.

In the first game, Daniel Simmons (2-0) pitched a complete-game two-hitter, striking out seven and walking two. He retired the side in order four times, including in the first three innings when he had five strikeouts over that span.

First baseman Nick Horn went 2-for-3, while Scott Liske got his first collegiate hit, a double to left field in the sixth as a pinch hitter.

It was the first shutout of the season for UCSD and its first since May 13, 2010, when the Tritons blanked Hawai'i Pacific, 12-0. Simmons was a part of two combined shutouts back in 2007.

For his efforts, Simmons was named the Wilson/CCAA Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday. He has a 0.00 ERA through 14 innings of work, scattering just five hits with 11 strikeouts.

On Friday, Tim Shibuya (2-0), a senior out of Jackson, Wyo., went six solid innings, giving up no runs and scattering five hits to win his second game in as many starts. The All-American walked just one while striking out eight, one short of his career high.

After eight non-conference games to start the season, UCSD will open its CCAA slate against Cal State East Bay this weekend (Feb. 18-20) at Triton Ballpark. UC San Diego is looking for its third consecutive CCAA regular-season and tournament titles.
 
Friday's series opener will be under the lights, starting at 6 p.m. Saturday's doubleheader begins at noon and Sunday's single game is set for 11 a.m. Tickets for all home games are available at Triton Ballpark one hour before first pitch. UCSD students are admitted free with a valid ID.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Chelsea Carlisle scored 17 points and Emily Osga recorded her third career double-double with 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds as UC San Diego women’s basketball won its sixth straight game, beating Chico State 71-60 in its  final regular-season game at RIMAC Arena.

On Thursday, Carlisle scored 19 points and dished out five assists while
Lauren Freidenberg scored 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting and grabbed seven boards as the Tritons outlasted Cal State Stanislaus, 76-68.

UCSD is now 16-9 overall and 14-4 in California Collegiate Athletic Association play, moving into third place in the conference standings with four games remaining. The Tritons are currently three games behind league-leading Cal Poly Pomona in the loss column and own a one-game cushion over fourth-place Cal State San Bernardino.

The Tritons will now hit the road for four straight to wrap up the 2010-11 regular season, beginning with matchups at Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal State L.A. next week. UCSD defeated both squads in mid-January.

Christian Hatch’s career-high 28 points weren’t enough as the UC San Diego men’s basketball team lost 71-66 to Cal State Stanislaus on Thursday at RIMAC Arena.

On Saturday, the junior center had his team-high ninth double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds, but it came in a 60-56 loss to Chico State in the final home game of the season.

Casey Ryan, who was honored during a special Senior Day ceremony prior to the game, finished with 16 points and seven rebounds in his final appearance at RIMAC Arena, while Justin Brue scored 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting.

UCSD is 10-14 on the season and 5-13 in the CCAA. The Tritons will now close out the regular season with four straight on the road, beginning with dates at Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal State L.A. on Friday and Saturday. 

 The No. 17 UC San Diego women's water polo team beat Maryland on the final day of the Triton Invitational before falling to No. 12 UC Santa Barbara Sunday afternoon at Canyonview Aquatic Center.

The Tritons finished the weekend 2-2, beating the Terrapins 9-5 before dropping a 12-7 game to the Gauchos. UCSD is 6-4 overall on the year heading into Friday's matchup with defending Western Water Polo Association champion No. 6 Loyola Marymount.  The Lions beat the Tritons 13-10 in that title game last year.

No. 3 UCLA defeated LMU 12-9 on Sunday evening in the Triton Invitational championship match. The Tritons split its pair of games on the first day of the Invitational, falling to No.14 Hartwick 11-4 before taking down Santa Clara 12-10.

And the Tritons opened Western Water Polo Association play on Friday evening against Cal State East Bay by taking down the Pioneers 8-6.  Freshman Katherine Biehle scored with 33 seconds remaining in the third quarter to break a 6-6 tie, and Habalei Crowell sealed the win, sending home the only score of the final period with 4:47 remaining. Melissa Bartow was outstanding against Maryland, coming up with 10 saves. Crowell and Natalie Peng each had two goals against Maryland on Sunday and Crowell scored six goals on the day on Saturday. 

The Tritons return home to host a pair of MPSF matches this week. On Friday, No. 2 Long Beach State visits RIMAC Arena for a 7 p.m. match. UCSD then takes on Cal State Northridge on Saturday, also at 7 p.m.

TENNIS

The No. 14 UC San Diego women’s tennis team swept Hawai’i Hilo 9-0 in its final match of the Grand Canyon Invitational on Sunday afternoon.
 
Samantha Yeung, Cindy Dao and Katie Mulloy failed to give up a break in each of their singles matches, limiting their opponents to a point or less in each of their straight-set wins. Taskeen Bains defeated Anna Hamlin 6-3, 7-5 and Jacquelyn Davis downed Kelsey Daquio 6-1, 6-4. The lone Triton to extend to a third set was Haley Perrotte who won 6-2, 4-6, 10-6 over Lindsey Shin.
 
Bains-Perrotte and Davis-Dao both won 8-3 in the doubles competition while Mulloy-Roxanna Pourmirzaie prevailed by a score of 8-1.
 
UCSD finished the GCU Invitational with a 2-1 record after defeating Dallas Baptist on Thursday and falling to Hawaii Pacific on Friday.

In that 5-4 win on Thursday, Cindy Dao won the final singles match of the day, beating Leah Rhutt of Dallas Baptist, 6-4, 6-4 to give the Tritons their winning point.

--Compiled by Sandy Bergin from releases issued by the UCSD sports information office