While we’re still in the middle of the college basketball season, spring sports are breaking out.
Tennis and water polo seasons opened last week, swimming and indoor track have been active for several weeks and the opening of the baseball season is less than a month away.
The University of San Diego, which is currently the eighth-ranked team in the nation, opened its men’s tennis season with 5-2 wins over 16th-ranked Baylor and 19th-ranked USC. The latter victory was USD’s first win over the Trojans in Los Angeles since 2006 and came against the team that eliminated USD from the NCAA Tournament last season.
Seniors Oliver Tarvet and Stian Klaassen, sophomore Adrien Berrut and freshman Manvydas Balciunas of the Netherlands all won both their single matches over the weekend. Balciunas and Klaassen also swept their two doubles matches.
Defending regional champion USD hosts an ITA Kick-Off Regional Friday and Saturday at the Hogan Tennis Center. The winning team advances to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships Feb. 13-16 in Texas.
And San Diego State’s 21st-ranked women’s water polo team opened by winning three of its four matches in the Titan Invitational at Cal State Fullerton, the only loss coming to sixth-ranked Long Beach State. Mimi Stoupsas led the Aztecs with 19 goals over the four games. The Aztecs open their home season Saturday at 1 p.m. against second-ranked USC.
More tennis
San Diego State heads to its ITA Regional in Athens, Ga., after losing 5-2 at 17th-ranked UCLA. The Aztecs’ men’s team (1-4) lost three in the Bay Area – 4-1 at No. 4 Stanford, 4-0 at No. 15 California and 5-2 at Santa Clara.
USD’s women defeated UC San Diego 5-2 in the season opener for both teams.
Basketball
Both the San Diego State (8-0) and UC San Diego (6-0) women’s teams remain undefeated in their respective conferences, while both the Point Loma Nazarene men’s and women’s teams have climbed into second place in the PacWest Conference standings with identical 9-2 records.
Forward Andrew Nagy had double-doubles in both games as the PLNU men (14-3 overall) scored home wins over Biola (81-61) and Azusa Pacific (80-62) to stretch their winning streak to six straight. Nagy had 46 points, 21 rebounds and seven assists in the two games. Jaden Matingou (St. Augustine High School) had 29 points, seven rebounds, 13 assists and three steals over the two wins, while Andrew Hommes had 25 points and six rebounds and James Lifgren had 22 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
Tijuana native Izzy Navarro (Cathedral Catholic High) passed the 1,000-point milestone for her intercollegiate career as the PLNU women improved to 13-4 overall with home wins over Biola (76-64) and Azusa Pacific (80-55). The Sea Lions women have won five straight games.
• Chris Carrillo (La Jolla Country Day) scored 28 points over two games as Cal State San Marcos split at home, defeating Cal State Los Angeles 87-62 before losing 85-77 to Cal State Dominguez Hills. CSUSM (9-6, 6-4) got 30 combined points from Max Tengen, 24 from Aaron Ragen and 23 from Micah Boone in the two games.
The CSUSM women (6-9, 3-7) lost twice to extend their losing streak to four straight games. Forward Kaity Haan has taken over the Coyotes’ lead in scoring (15.2 points per game), rebounding (8.5 per game) and assists (55 total).
In junior college basketball, San Diego City College’s men (6-0, 13-5) will host Palomar College (5-1, 13-5) Friday night in a game for first place in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference standings.
MiraCosta College (19-0, 3-0) remains the only undefeated women’s team in the California Community College Athletic Association. The Spartans have eight players averaging 6.4 points a game or more, led by Kayla Palpallatoc (Morse High) and her 11.5 points per game.
The Spartans are being pursued by Palomar (4-0, 13-6) and San Diego City (3-1, 11-8), who meet Friday night at Palomar.
Indoor track and field
Nadia Miechowicz turned in the second-fastest women’s indoor 400-meter time in Cal State San Marcos history over the weekend, clocking a converted time of 57.04 seconds at the Nevada Indoor Invitational.
Alyssa Jones had the program’s fifth-best high jump (1.57 meters), Kristin Jones had the sixth-fastest 200 (26.12) and Adriana Hewitt tied for the seventh-fastest 200 (26.16).