UCSD Women's Volleyball Off to Fast Start

UC San Diego's 24th-ranked women's volleyball team began its season going a perfect 4-0 at the Waikiki Beach Invitational in Honolulu.

Hillary Williamson and Lauren Demos combined for 28 kills as the Tritons won their season opener Thursday, a 3-1 victory over host Hawaii Pacific. Scores were 25-14, 21-25, 25-10 and 25-19.

On Friday UCSD picked up its first upset victory and first sweep of the season, blanking No. 13 Seattle Pacific at Chaminade's McCabe Gym. Set scores were 25-16, 25-21 and 25-21.

Williamson had a match-high 18 kills. Freshman middle blocker Lauren Demos and senior outside Katie Condon each posted nine kills and Condon had a match-high 16 digs. Senior setter Roxanne Brunsting had 34 assists and 15 digs, the same dig total as senior libero Janessa Werhane.

On Saturday the Tritons posted a 3-1 victory over Northwest Nazarene and a sweep against co-host Chaminade.

Williamson equaled a career-high with 20 kills and completed her first double-double of the season by adding 12 digs. Brunsting finished one kill short of a triple-double with 25 assists, 15 digs and nine kills. Lauren Demos, a freshman middle blocker, finished with 12. Condon recorded a double-double with 12 kills.

Scores against Northwest Nazarene were 25-27, 25-11, 25-19, 25-22 at Hawaii Pacific's St. Andrew's Priory.

An 11-block effort at the net provided a spark for UCSD in a tight 25-21, 25-17, 26-24 win against Chaminade.

Julia Freidenberg had six blocks to help the team to its best showing up front this season. Williamson had four blocks while Demos added three.
 
Williamson continued her torrid play and led the Tritons in kills, this time with 10, also another match-high. Brunsting had 12 digs and Condon, Williamson and Brittany Lombardi each totaled nine.
 
The Tritons return to the mainland to host CCAA opponent Cal Poly Pomona on Friday at 7 p.m. at RIMAC Arena, the team's home opener. San Francisco State visits La Jolla for a rare Sunday match at 1 p.m.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Anne Wethe knocked in a header off a corner kick from Hayley Johnson and Sarah McTigue added a goal as the No. 2 UC San Diego women’s soccer team posted a 2-0 win at No. 10 Seattle Pacific on Saturday night.

Less than seven minutes into the second half, dead-ball specialist Johnson found Wethe in the six-yard box, and she placed the ball inside the left post with her forehead.

“We had created a number of chances in front of the net and finally we got a goal that turned out to be the game-winner,” said UCSD coach Brian McManus.

Just over three minutes later, Gabi Hernandez found an open McTigue at the edge of the box. McTigue, who fired a match-high five shots on the evening, placed the ball into the lower left corner for the final goal of the night.

The win over SPU (1-1-0) is UCSD’s second in as many contests against the nation's 10th-ranked team. The Tritons took down the Eagles 1-0 in the Sweet 16 of the 2010 NCAA Tournament.

The Tritons opened their season with a scoreless tie on Thursday at Western Washington.

UCSD out-shot the Vikings, 21-8, striking eight shots on frame compared to just a single shot on target by WWU.

Freshman Cassei Callahan registered six shots in her Triton debut while Johnson, McTigue, Wethe and Rachel Leslie got off three shots apiece.

UCSD returns to action on Friday when the Tritons will travel to Los Angeles to face No. 22 Cal State L.A. UCSD’s first home contest is on Sept. 25 against Cal State San Bernardino at noon.

MEN’S SOCCER

UC San Diego men’s soccer team fell in its first home contest of the season, 1-0, to St. Martin’s on Saturday evening at Triton Soccer Field.

Against the run of play, Austin Kelley pounded home a rebound off a deflection by Triton goalkeeper Josh Cohen in the 83rd minute. Cohen came out to punch away a dangerous cross from SMU’s Tony Armitage and then made a quick save on Kelley’s first attempt.

However, the ball dropped right back to Kelley’s feet, giving the senior a second crack from about 16 yards out. UCSD defender Harris Rabin got his foot to the shot, but it deflected into the top corner of the side-netting.

The Tritons opened their season Thursday with a 2-1 win over Cal Baptist in Riverside.

In that game Adam Zernik converted a free kick just a minute before halftime to provide the difference.

Gavin Lamming opened the scoring for the Tritons, punching home a goal off a corner kick in the 31st minute. However UCSD would surrender a penalty kick less than a two minutes later, and Willie Rupert converted to make it 1-1.

The Tritons earned a free kick when Kian Malek was fouled off the left edge of the box, about 22 yards out. Zernik struck the dead ball with a right boot, curling a shot far-post to make it 2-1 just before the break.

Goalie Josh Cohen had to make only two saves thanks to a strong effort from the Triton back line.

The Tritons will be back in action on Friday when they travel to Los Angeles to take on Cal State L.A. at 4:30 p.m. UCSD’s next home contest will be against Cal State San Bernardino on Sept. 25 at 2:30 p.m.

MEN’S WATER POLO

The No. 12 UC San Diego men's water polo team went 3-1 in its own Triton Invitational, dropping its only match to No. 8 Loyola Marymount, 7-6, on Sunday afternoon in Canyonview Pool.

Brian Donohoe  scored a pair of goals and Matthew Michalki tallied a goal to bring the Tritons within one with 1:26 left to play, but UCSD could not pull even with the Lions (4-0).

Michalko was one of four Tritons to score multiple goals in Game 1, a 14-4 win over Redlands.  Donohoe, Danny Lorch and William Brown tallied  two scores apiece. David Morton stopped 11 shots in goal.

Graham Saber scored two goals as the Tritons went on to beat Air Force, 9-4, in Game 2. David Higginson  scored his first career goal a minute into the final period, providing the exclamation point in that victory.

In Game 3, Saber scored three unanswered goals in the first quarter of UCSD’s 15-6 win over Cal Lutheran.

Lance Curtis  matched Saber's hat trick with three second half goals. Nine Tritons found the back of the net and David Morton stopped 10 shots in goal.

The Tritons will be back in action Saturday when they travel to face Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

CROSS COUNTRY

As they do seemingly every year at this time, the UC San Diego cross country teams opened the season with a bang on Friday as both squads came away with team victories on their home course.
 
The Triton women had five of the top seven finishers to record a commanding victory over Point Loma Nazarene, Cal State L.A. and Cerritos College, while UCSD placed seven runners in the top 10 en route to a 15-point win over the Falcons and Sea Lions on the men’s side.
 
“The primary goal for today was to see where we’re at coming into the season and both teams ran well,” fifth-year head coach Nate Garcia said. “We definitely have some things we’ll need to work on going forward, but for this point in the year, I think we performed well, so we’re pleased with where we’re at.”
 
UCSD turned in a dominant effort in the women’s race, recording two of the top three times and seven of the first nine spots overall. Sophomore Chia Chang, who was named the team’s Freshman of the Year after leading the Tritons in three races during her rookie campaign, picked up right where she left off, finishing first overall with a time of 15:12.9 in the 2.5 mile race.
 
She finished nearly a full 13 seconds in front of the second place competitor, Breelan Matranga of PLNU.
 
Finishing behind Chang was freshman Michelle Le Roux, who looked very strong in her first collegiate race. The Rancho Bernardo High School product clocked in at 15:30.0, which was good enough for third place overall. Senior Aaryn Kobayashi was the first of five consecutive Tritons to come in after that, finishing fifth at 15:47.9.
 
Freshman Melissa Le Roux, who is Michelle’s twin, finished sixth with a time of 16:04.7 and junior Jackie Sikkema rounded out the scoring for the Tritons with a seventh-place time of 16:05.3. Newcomers Alia Bales (16:05.7, 8th) and Dani Brabender (16:06.2, 9th) also finished in the top 10.
 
UCSD finished with a total of 22 points on the day, easily outdistancing Point Loma (55), Cal State L.A. (63) and Cerritos (96).
 
While no Triton finished higher than fourth on the men’s side, the team was able to utilize its pack strategy to push through for the victory. UCSD claimed spots four through 10 in the four-mile race, finishing with a total of 30 points. Cerritos tallied 45 points to finish second, while Point Loma took third with 59.
 
Junior Matt Lenehan hung back early, but made an impressive late charge to cross the finish line first for UCSD with a time of 22:01.3. He finished behind Cerritos’ Daniel Herrera (21:24.6), Point Loma’s William MacNeil (21:51.8) and Cerritos’ Munir Kahhsay (21:53.5), who took first through third, respectively.
 
Sophomore Kellen Levy was the Tritons’ second-highest finisher, clocking in at 22:04.2, which put him in fifth place. Fellow sophomore Mario Flores finished sixth at 22:10.0, while sophomore Ryan Lok and freshman Daniel Hauptman finished seventh and eighth with times of 22:14.9 and 22:15.3.
 
The Tritons will be back in action this weekend when they take part in the annual Asics/UC Irvine Invitational on Saturday. The race, which will feature a number of Division I opponents, is slated to begin at 8:30 a.m. at the Anteater Recreation Center Field on the UCI campus.

NEWS & NOTES

UCSD baseball coach Eric Newman has wasted little time getting organized.  Three new assistant coaches are already on board. Joining the Triton staff will be Rob Avila, formerly the head coach at Division II Palm Beach Atlantic (FL), Sergio Brown, most recently the head recruiter at D-I power Cal State Fullerton and prior to that at UC Irvine, and former major leaguer Morgan Ensberg, an all-star for the Houston Astros, who will be a volunteer coach at UCSD. Newman has indicated he may try to add one more coach at a later date.

 
Vaun Lennon, an outside hitter for the UC San Diego men's volleyball team, is currently in Canada to compete at the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball Swatch Junior World Championships. Lennon, who played in 40 sets for the Tritons as a freshman in 2011, is teaming up with Parker Kalmbach out of Pepperdine.

--Compiled from press releases issued by the UCSD sports information office