UCSD Women's Water Polo Posts 9-1 League Mark

Sarah Lizotte scored 11 goals in four games as the No. 20 UC San Diego women’s water polo team increased its Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) record to 9-1 with three wins over the weekend in Santa Clara at The Bronco in Sullivan Aquatic Center.

The Tritons beat Colorado State, 10-6, and Cal State San Bernandino, 11-6, on Sunday after splitting two matches Saturday beating Santa Clara, 9-8, in sudden death after losing to No. 7 San Jose State, 12-5.

With no conference matches remaining UCSD (14-16 overall) will finish with the second-highest win percentage in the conference behind No. 8 Loyola Marymount. LMU swept four WWPA matches at The Bronco to improve to 11-0 in conference play.

The Lions and Tritons will likely be the top two seeds for the WWPA Championships, scheduled to begin on April 29 at Cal State East Bay.

Lizotte scored three in Saturday’s games with San Jose State and Santa Clara and then scored twice and three times against CSU and CSUSB respectively on Sunday. Felicia Orozco scored the winning sudden death goal against Santa Clara.

Jessica Tran also tallied two goals in Sunday’s opener with CSU, co-leading a group of eight Triton goal-scorers. Hanalei Crowell matched Lizotte’s three goals in the closing affair with CSUSB, as the Tritons improved their all-time record to 16-0 over the Coyotes.

UCSD is searching for its first WWPA title after finishing second to LMU in 2010. The Lions and Tritons, who were also last year’s No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, will look to reunite in this year’s championship after LMU outlasted UCSD in the 2010 edition 13-10 for its second consecutive WWPA title.

The Tritons will finish their home season this Saturday at noon against No. 6 University of Michigan at Canyonview Pool. Prior to the match, Triton seniors Crowell, Orozco and Stephanie Sasaki will be honored for their years of service to the UCSD women’s water polo program.

BASEBALL

The 21st-ranked UC San Diego baseball team won three of four games over the weekend, including both ends of a doubleheader on Saturday against No. 16 Sonoma State in California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) play.

Both of Triton’s starting pitchers earned wins Saturday.

In the first game Guido Knudson improved to 4-3 on the season as he went 6.1 innings, giving up three runs (one earned) on six hits. He struck out six while walking two. Justin Burns tossed 2.2 scoreless innings to pick up his second save of the year in the 5-3 victory.

Four players had two hits apiece as UCSD totaled 10 in the game. Designated hitter Nick La Face went 2-for-4 with a run, two RBI and a double. Right fielder Kyle Saul had two hits and two runs.
 
 In game two, the Tritons led 9-0 after three and a half innings as they tallied four runs in the first and fourth innings and went on to win 9-7. Taylor Austin improved to 2-0 for the Tritons, giving up four runs (two earned) on four hits over 4.2 innings.  The Seawolves rallied with three runs in the seventh and final inning before UCSD reliever Elias Tuma put a lid on it to earn his third save.

UCSD first baseman Blake Tagmyer had a hit in the first game to extend his team-best hit streak to 11 games. However, he went 0-for-2 from the plate in the second game to kill the streak.
 
UCSD (24-12, 17-11 CCAA) won Sunday, 8-6. Tony York, the fourth of five pitchers used by the Tritons in the game, came on in the fifth and tossed three scoreless frames to earn his first win as a Triton. The junior transfer gave up two hits, struck out one and walked none.
 
Designated hitter Nick La Face and left fielder Aaron Bauman hit back-to-back home runs.

On Friday Triton ace Tim Shibuya struck out nine batters but it was to no avail as the UCSD lost to Sonoma State, 5-1.

Shibuya was the hard luck loser as he gave up just one earned run over seven complete innings of work. The righty from Wyoming scattered seven hits and walked none, but fell to 6-3 on the season. Shibuya retired the Seawolves in order in the first, third and fifth innings.

The Triton offense totaled six hits but had trouble scoring runs to support Shibuya, stranding eight runners on base in the game.

Senior Tagmyer walked twice and had the Tritons' lone RBI with a two-out RBI single that plated right fielder Kyle Saul in the top of the first inning.

First baseman Evan Kehoe was the lone Triton with multiple hits as he was 2-for-4.

UCSD returns home to host a four-game CCAA series against Cal State Stanislaus this weekend. Friday's opener will be under the lights at Triton Stadium with first pitch slated for 6 p.m. Saturday's doubleheader will start at noon and Sunday's final game is scheduled for 11 a.m.

 SOFTBALL
 
The No. 9 UC San Diego softball team defeated Cal State Stanislaus 7-2 and 6-4 on Saturday afternoon at Warrior Softball Field, taking three of four games in the series while increasing its lead to one and one-half games over Sonoma State for first place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.
 
The pair of wins improves the Tritons to 29-8 overall and 17-6 in CCAA play. SSU split its Saturday doubleheader with Cal State Monterey Bay, moving the Seawolves to 16-8 in conference play heading into the UCSD-SSU series at Triton Softball Field next weekend. Cal State Stanislaus drops to 19-28 overall, 12-20 CCAA.
 
Camille Gaito earned the win in both contests while improving her record to 21-1. Her 2011 win total is the third-most in a single season in UCSD history and is also a career high. She struck-out a career-high 10 Warriors in UCSD’s game one victory in which CSUS never really posed a threat.

The complete game was Gaito’s 17th this season, two away from matching her 2010 total.

Gaito earned another Worth/California Collegiate Athletic Association Pitcher of the Week award for the week of Apr. 4-10, it was announced Monday. The honor marks the second consecutive week and third time this season she has been honored. She also earned CCAA Pitcher of the Week for the week of Feb. 21-27.

CSUS would tag UCSD starter Tess Granath (6-5) for two runs in the opening inning of the second game Saturday, but the Tritons scored a pair of runs in their next at-bat to tie the game.

Granath gave way to Gaito in the top of the sixth to finish out the game. Gaito would give up a double to the first batter she faced, but steadied her nerves to retire the next three batters in the sixth.

Tied heading into their final at-bat, the Tritons  took advantage of a CSUS error, as Taylor Sepulveda scored from second on a  wayward throw from the pitcher’s mound.  Ester Strom added her third RBI of the game two batters later, singling to drive-in Imoto and make it 6-4.

The Warriors would put runners on first and third with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but Gaito got the next two batters to popout and groundout, respectively, to end the ballgame.

On Friday UCSD survived a seventh inning scare to eke past Cal State Stanislaus, 2-1 in the first game of a doubleheader. Gaito shut down the Warriors with a five-hit complete game, fanning eight.

UCSD compiled eight hits total with two each from the freshmen trio of Mya Romero, Sepulveda and Caitlin Brown.

Junior hurler  Granath was a hard luck, 3-2, loser in Friday's game two, taking the defeat despite giving up just three hits in a six-inning outing.

UCSD’s final home series of the season is this weekend against second-place Sonoma State at Triton Softball Field. Friday’s doubleheader will start at 1 p.m. while Saturday’s will get underway at 11 a.m. Prior to Saturday’s match-ups, UCSD will celebrate the team’s seniors for their years of service to the softball program.

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Sophomore outside Carl Eberts laid down a match-high 15 kills Saturday, but the 11th-ranked UC San Diego men's volleyball team lost 3-1 at No. 5 Long Beach State.
 
UCSD (9-19, 5-16 MPSF) came out firing and took the first set by a score of 25-17. However, LBSU (13-13, 11-10 MPSF) won the next three, 25-21, 25-17 and 25-20. It was the final road match of the season for the Tritons.
 
Eberts also had four digs and a block and totaled 15.5 points. Freshman Nick Iorfino posted 10 kills, four digs and three blocks, while Libero Chase Frishman recorded a team-high nine digs. Freshman middle blocker Sebastian Brady had a career-high seven blocks and freshman setter Mike Brunsting ran his assist total to 42, also a career-best.

On Thursday Eberts and Shane Veiga combined for 22 kills but UCSD was upset at un-ranked Cal State Northridge. Scores were 25-22, 25-19 and 25-18 at the Matadome.

The loss dashed any hopes of an MPSF Tournament appearance for the Tritons. With one league match remaining in the regular season, UCSD is 5-16 in the MPSF and cannot catch UCLA, which picked up the eighth and final tourney berth by virtue of the Tritons' loss.

UCSD closes out its season at RIMAC Arena on Saturday as it hosts UC Irvine at 7 p.m. Seniors Phil Bannan, Joel Davidson, Calvin Ross and Paul Spitsen will be honored as they’ll be suiting up for their final career matches.

MEN’S CREW

On the heels of a historic showing at the San Diego Crew Classic, the UC San Diego men’s crew team put together another strong effort on Saturday, sweeping all four of its races at the Newport Regatta in Newport Harbor.

With first place times in the Varsity Four, Novice Eight, Second Varsity Eight and Varsity Eight races, UCSD easily tallied the most points at the regatta and captured the Palmer Cup for the first time.

The Tritons not only won all four of their races, but they did so in convincing fashion. All three varsity boats were able to achieve open water by the halfway point and none of them faced much of a challenge from the competition.
 
 The Varsity Four was UCSD's first race of the day, with the Tritons easily beating out Orange Coast College and USC for the victory. UCSD posted a time of 7:02.5, which was well in front of OCC's 7:19.8.
 
The Tritons' Second Varsity Eight turned in a dominant performance as well, winning the race with a final time of 5:57.1. UCSD's Third Varsity, which was the only boat not to make the final at the Crew Classic last weekend, put on a great performance in its own right, taking second place in the six boat race with open water back to the next crew.
 
After a rough start off the line, the varsity boat was able to regain its composure and muscle its way back into the race by the 500-meter line. The unit made a huge push and surged ahead to take control of the race and cruise in for the win at 5:47.5. OCC finished second at 5:59.6, while UCI was third at 5:55.1.
  
The Novice Eight provided the closest race of the day as OCC jumped out to a five-seat lead and held the margin until the final 300 meters. The Triton freshman boat made a late charge to overtake the lead and went on to win the race in dramatic fashion at the finish line by a deck. UCSD came in at 5:48.5, while Orange Coast finished in 5:49.6.

Next up for UCSD is the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association (SIRA) Championship Regatta this weekend in Oak Ridge, TN.

WOMEN’S CREW

The UC San Diego women's crew team was back in action on Saturday, racing against Loyola Marymount on Belliona Creek. Due to a very low tide the crews were only able to race 1,500 meters, but the Tritons continued to improve and put pressure on LMU in each race.

The Lions won the Varsity Eight and Second Varsity Eight, while the Tritons earned a victory in the Varsity Four race. After a strong showing at the San Diego Crew Classic last weekend, UCSD's top boat continued to run strong on Saturday, closing to within two lengths of LMU. The Lions would take a slight lead halfway through, however, and never looked back.

In the Second Varsity Eight, the Lions eased out to an early lead and a race quickly developed between the Triton Second Varsity and Novice crews. The novice boat kept the pressure on and wound up passing their teammates in the final 300 meters.

The Varity Four optioned out of the Second Varsity race and came from behind to put LMU away in the final 200 meters of the varsity four. The Triton Novice Four finished in third place.

UCSD will return to Mission Bay this weekend to square off with Arizona State and UC Irvine in dual races on Saturday at 8:00 a.m.

 NEWS & NOTES

 After working its way into the Top 10 for the first time this year, the UC San Diego men’s tennis  team begins it final push towards the post-season with a home match, its first in 18 days, Wednesday against NAIA Concordia...With three weeks until the start of the NCAA Division II West Regionals, Coach Eric Steidlmayer's netters, undefeated at 15-0 in dual matches, are now ranked No. 10 nationally...They will face Point Loma in their home finale next week and a three-match tourney at Sonoma State the following week before finding out their NCAA fate.

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