Feb 19

Feb 19 USD Weekly Update | 2-19-18

Women’s Tennis

USD Women’s Tennis improved to 3-4 on the season with a dominant 4-0 victory over Cal Poly on Sunday. The Toreros made quick work of the Mustangs and did not drop a single set. USD took the lead in double play and did not look back. Daniela Morales won singles match 6-2, 6-2 while Nicole Anderson defeated her opponent 6-3, 6-0. The Toreros victory was secured by Gemma Garcia who won her match 6-2, 6-1. The Toreros will return to the tennis court March 2nd for their WCC opener against Santa Clara.

Men’s Tennis

Men’s Tennis faced off against Fresno State on Sunday and came away with a hard fought 4-3 victory versus the Bulldogs. The Toreros fell behind in doubles play losing two of the three matches and dropped the doubles point but out played Fresno State in singles play to pull out the close win.

The singles matches went back and forth and the final three singles matches all went to the third set, providing plenty to drama for tennis fans. With things tied up at two Gui Osorio came back to win his match 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 to put the Toreros on the verge of victory. In the final match Nico Borter won 7-5, 0-6, 6-2 to seal the win for the Toreros and bring their record to 4-2 overall. They will be back in action this Friday for a match versus crosstown rival San Diego State.

Softball

USD softball dropped both its games on Sunday on the final day of the Littlewood Classic in Tempe, Arizona. The Toreros lost 2-1 to Texas State and 7-0 to #19 ranked Arizona State as their record fell to 6-5. Despite a solid outing by starter Halle Kyler, who gave up two runs on only six hits, the Toreros offense was stifled only able to muster one run on four hits.

Against Arizona State, the Toreros fell behind early as the Sun Devils scored all seven of their runs in the first two innings. USD failed to make up the deficit as their offense struggled once again. The one bright spot in this game for the Toreros was the relief pitching of Delaney Heller who pitched the final 4 ⅓ innings giving up just four hits while also striking out four batters. The Toreros will be back in back in action this week as they travel to Fullerton for match-ups versus Dayton and UC Santa Barbara.

Baseball

The baseball team opened up their season last week with a pair of match-ups vs. Cal and Cincinnati. In the season opener, the Toreros fell vs. Cal 6-1 but bounced back versus the Golden Bears on Saturday and came away with an 11-8 win to split the series. On Sunday the Toreros once again split a pair of wild double headers vs. the Cincinnati Bearcats.

After coming back from a 4-2 deficit to tie the game in the 8th inning the Toreros ran out of gas in extras, giving up three runs in the top of the 10th to lose the game 7-4. In the second game of the double header the Toreros once again fought back from an early deficit. Jay Schuyler hit his first of two home runs with the Toreros down 3-0 heading into bottom of the 6th. Schuyler’s home run cut the Bearcats lead to 3-2. Schuyler came up again in the bottom of the 9th and replicated his feat, tying the score at 3 apiece.

Later on in the inning Brhet Bewley came up with runners on first and second, drove a base hit into left field, and won the game for the Toreros 4-3. With this win USD improved its record to 2-2 on the early season. The Toreros will be back on the field Monday night for an exhibition game vs. British Columbia and then will travel down I-8 for a showdown vs. San Diego State on Tuesday night.

Women’s Basketball

USD women’s basketball went 1-1 last week with losses on Thursday against Pacific but a win Saturday at BYU. On Thursday night, the Toreros got off to a strong start in Stockton hitting the first two shots of the game and going into the end of the first quarter tied at 10. A slow start to the second quarter found the Toreros down 23-12 but USD was able to limit the damage and only trailed by six at half.

In the third quarter, the Toreros went on a 20-4 run to take a 48-40 into the final quarter but the Tigers came back tying the game up at 54 with three minutes left. However Pacific made more plays down the stretch and came away with a 62-60 win. On Saturday in Provo, the Toreros bounced back with a huge road win. Led by Aubrey Ward-El 16 points the Toreros led for most of the game. Maya Hood (12 points) and Sydney Williams (10 points) also scored in double figures for the Toreros. Freshman Maya Pace lead the team with nine rebounds and also dished out four assists.

With the Toreros up nine, BYU went on a run to cut USD lead to 61-60 in the 4th but that was as close at the Cougars got. The Toreros locked it down defensively not allowing BYU to score again. USD women’s basketball regular season wraps up this week with a road match-up with Gonzaga before coming back home for senior day Saturday vs. San Francisco.

Men’s Basketball

Like the Women’s team, USD Men's Basketball went 1-1 last with with a loss at home to Pacific on Thursday but a fantastic home win on Saturday vs. the BYU Cougars. On Thursday night, the Toreros got off to a flying start vs. the Tigers leading 18-8 early but fell into a cold spell that lasted until midway through the second half. The Toreros found themselves down 17 in the second half and despite chipping away and cutting the deficit to five could not come all the way back, losing 67-55. The Toreros were led by Olin Carter III who scored 16 points but the team struggled from the field shooting just 38% (21-55), 26% (7-27) from three and 50% (6-12) from the free throw line.

Facing a tough test in a must in game on Saturday, the Toreros responded with their best performance of the season, a 75-62 win over third place BYU. Head coach Lamont Smith went with a different starting lineup in this one, benching his two leading scorers (Isaiah Pineiro and Isaiah Wright) and it paid dividends. Pineiro came off the bench to score 20 for the Toreros as USD upset the Cougars. USD led for all but two minutes of this contest and held BYU to 37% shooting from the field (20-54) and 13% from beyond the arc (3-22).

The Toreros took a 22-12 lead midway through the first half and extended that lead to 13 with 1:50 to play before halftime. The Toreros held off multiple runs by BYU and made clutch plays down the stretch. Isaiah Pineiro’s and one dunk with 30 seconds left put an exclamation point on a tremendous win for the Toreros.

USD now faces its toughest home test of the season, a Thursday showdown with #6 Gonzaga in a nationally televised game. The Toreros need to play like they did vs. BYU to come away with a win versus the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs defeated the Toreros 69-59 in Spokane on February 1st. Following Thursday's game, the Toreros will travel up to San Francisco for their regular season finale versus the Dons on Saturday.