Osga's Hot Shooting Has UCSD Women on a Roll

Sophomore guard Emily Osga put together a pair of outstanding performances last week, leading the streaking Tritons to home wins over Cal State L.A. and Cal State Dominguez Hills. In two games, she averaged team-highs of 19.5 points and 7.5 rebounds, while also contributing 3.0 assists and 2.0 steals.

The former Patrick Henry High standout led all scorers with 17 points in UCSD's 69-65 win over the Golden Eagles on Thursday, finishing 7-of-12 from the field and 3-of-5 from the three-point line. She also hauled down a career-high 13 rebounds, dished out two assists and came up with two steals.

Osga followed that effort with one of the best shooting performances of her career two nights later against the Toros, finishing 8-of-11 from the floor and 6-of-7 from behind the arc en route to a game-high 22 points in a 74-45 triumph for the Tritons. She hit all five of her three-point tries and scored 19 of her 22 points in the first half to stake UCSD to a commanding 46-23 lead at the break. She went on to finish with two rebounds, four assists and two steals in just 25 minutes.

For the week, Osga shot 65 percent (15-23) from the field and converted 9-of-12 three-point tries (75 percent). She also averaged a team-high 30.5 minutes. 

Osga becomes the second Triton to earn California Collegiate Athletic Association player of the week honors this season after Chelsea Carlisle captured the award last week, her third career player of the week selection.

Carlisle had  13 points, four rebounds and eight assists against Cal State L.A. and eight points, six assists and three steals in limited action against Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Winners of six straight and eight of their last nine overall, the Tritons will look to stay hot when Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Poly Pomona come to town Thursday, Jan. 20 and Saturday, Jan. 22. Game times are 5:30 p.m. at the RIMAC Arena.

UCSD (10-7, 8-2) is currently two games behind league leader Cal State Monterey Bay.

SWIMMING & DIVING

Alex Henley and Matt Herman each won two events Saturday for the UCSD swimming and diving teams in competition at Bakersfield’s Hillman Aquatics Center.

Henley won the 100 backstroke (57.67) and the 100 butterfly (58.21) as the UCSD women defeated Cal State Bakersfield, 186 to 101, while falling to Fresno State, 169 to 129, and San Diego State, 183 to 111.

Herman won the 1,000 free (9:33.52) and the 500 free (4:41.29) for the Triton men’s team, which lost to host CSUB, 169 to 125.

In other top performances in women’s competition, freshman Emily Adamczyk won the 200 individual medley in 2:11.06. The squad of Amber Tan, Anju Shimura, Anji Shakya and Henley finished second in the 400 free relay.

In other top performances in men’s competion Alex Merrill finished first in the 200 free with a time of 1:43.60 while Sam Duimovich was  second in the 500 free (4:45.19) and Nick Korth and See Han Lee finished second and third, respectively, in the 100 breaststroke.

UCSD divers Tyler Runsten, Patrick Cohen and Luke Calkins finished in the three top spots in the one-meter competition.

Both teams will be back in action at home this weekend on Saturday,  Jan. 22, as the Tritons take on Cal Baptist at noon in Canyonview Pool.

MENS VOLLEY BALL

The UC San Diego men's volleyball team, which recorded an upset win over No. 7 UC Irvine on the road last week, jumped into Monday's AVCA Division I-II Coaches Poll at No. 15.

The Tritons (2-3 overall, 1-1 MPSF), who ranked among the nation’s top 15 every week during the 2010 season, are on the list for the first time this season. In the preseason poll and the Jan. 10 poll, UCSD received votes but not enough to make the top 15.

For the third straight week, USC took the top spot in the poll and garnered all 16 first-place votes. The Tritons will host the top-ranked Trojans this Friday, Jan. 21, at RIMAC Arena (7 p.m.).

Following USC in the poll are Stanford, UCLA, and BYU, with UC Santa Barbara rounding out the top five.

In that 3-1 upset win at UC Irvine, senior outside hitter Joel Davidson had 15 kills and seven digs and senior setter Phil Bannan had an outstanding all-around game as UCSD opened its Mountain Pacific Sports Federation season.

The Tritons came back from a set down to win three straight, including a grueling 30-28 victory in the fourth set.
 
The Anteaters had won the past five match-ups between the two squads, with the Tritons’ last win coming on Mar. 29, 2008 at RIMAC Arena. UCSD swept the series that year, also defeating UCI 3-1 in Irvine.
 
On Friday, for the fourth time in five matches, opposite hitter Shane Veiga led UCSD in kills,  but it wasn't enough as the Tritons were swept by No. 5 UC Santa Barbara at  RIMAC Arena.
 
Veiga posted a match-high 12 kills and added seven digs, but the Tritons hit just .194 (36-18-93) while UCSB swung at a blistering .407 (41-8-81) clip. The Gauchos also out-blocked the Tritons 9-3.
 
It’s been a solid start to the season for Veiga. The junior entered the year with just 22 career kills. He had 14 kills vs. No. 9 UCLA, 19 against No. 12 Cal State Northridge and 15 vs. Cal Baptist, all match-highs, at UCSB's Gaucho Collegiate Invitational.

Tickets for this Friday's match against USC, as well as all home matches, are available prior to the start of action at RIMAC Arena. UCSD students are free with a valid ID.

 MEN'S  BASKETBALL

Christian Hatch scored a game-high 26 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and Casey Ryan had 12 points and a career-high 20 rebounds as UCSD defeated visiting Cal State L.A. 76-73 in double overtime Thursday night at RIMAC Arena.

After letting an 11-point first-half lead slip away and missing a chance to win the game at the end of regulation, the Tritons rallied from five points down with 1:18 left in the first OT and went on to outscore the Golden Eagles 10-7 in the second extra session to pull out the win.

Last Saturday the Tritons  gave No. 7 Cal State Dominguez Hills all it could handle, but ultimately dropped a 57-49 decision in a California Collegiate Athletic Association affair at RIMAC Arena.
 
The Tritons cut a nine-point deficit down to just one with less than three minutes to play, but the Toros closed the game on a 9-2 run to pick up their 13th victory in 14 games this season.
 
The Toros are currently tied with Humboldt State for the top spot in the CCAA standings through 10 games.
 
“We're very disappointed with how things turned out, but we performed pretty much at an even level with the No. 7 team in the country and we”ll take a lot of positives away from that,” head coach Chris Carlson said. “We just need to dust ourselves off a little bit and continue to grow and get better. You have to be able to persevere in this league and we've got two tough games coming up next week.”

The Tritons, who  are 9-7 overall and 4-6 in the CCAA, return to the court on Thursday (Jan. 20) when Cal State San Bernardino pays a visit to RIMAC Arena. After taking on the Coyotes, the Tritons will square off with defending national champion Cal Poly Pomona at home on Saturday, Jan. 22. Both contests are scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

–Information provided by the UCSD Sports Information Office