Happy Monday, and happy last week of January. Yes, already the final week of January. After a weekend when men's basketball managed a tough split on the road against the Arizona schools, let's find out how our other teams fared.
- Women's tennis opened their season with a 4-0 victory over San Diego at LATC. It was a strange score due to rain issues and the tournament format, so after UCLA took the doubles point, they won their first three singles matches played, and play was suspended, halting the match and giving UCLA the victory. Sophomore Robin Anderson, the number six player in the country, winning 6-1, 6-0 at #1 singles. On Sunday, UCLA downed Washington 4-0 and qualified for next month's USTA/ITA National Team Indoors tournament next month. Anderson again won 6-1, 6-0 over Grace Ysiadora at #1 singles, and Skylar Morton and Catherine Harrison each only lost three games in their respective matches. The team is ranked #2 in the country.
- The #3 Men's tennis team blanked Cal Poly on Saturday, 4-0 in the men's side of the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor's qualifying at LATC. Marcos Giron, the number 12 ranked player in the world, won the #1 singles point, 6-3, 6-4. Karue Sell won at #6 singles 6-3, 6-3 and Dennis Novikov won at #2 singles 6-4, 6-4. The men will play BYU tomorrow (BYU does not play on Sundays) for the right to move onto the indoors tournament next month.
- The #19/20 women's basketball team again struggled to win against an unranked Pac-12 opponent, but pulled out the win at home on Sunday against Arizona State, 54-50. The Bruins took the lead about halfway through the first half, but the Sun Devils kept it close, tying the game with about 8 minutes left. Thea Lemberger hit a 3 to put the team ahead for good. On the ugly side, the Bruins turned the ball over 23 times and only shot 41.3% from the field, but played good defense to preserve the win. Sounds like the men's team could learn from the women. Nirra Fields scored 13 to lead the Bruins. On Friday, the women defeated Arizona soundly, 73-57. Atonye Nyingifa scored 20 and hauled in 12 rebounds, notching her second double double of the season. The team is now 14-4, 5-2 in Pac-12 play, and take on Colorado and Utah this week at home.
- The fourth ranked men's volleyball team notched their first sweep of the season against the Pacific Tigers on Sunday in Stockton. The men were efficient, finishing off the Tigers in only 75 minutes. Gonzalo Quiroga led the team with 14 kills, an ace, and three block assists. Robart Page added 11 kills. The Bruins outhit the Tigers .402 to .227 and out-served them, six aces to none. The Bruins play next on Tuesday to face defending champions UC Irvine at 7pm, and it will air live on the Pac-12 Network. I hope all five of us can see it!
- The #3 women's water polo team improved to 7-0 with a 10-2 victory over UCSB on Sunday. The Bruins were led by freshmen India Forster and Alexa Tielmann with three goals apiece. Later in the day, the Bruins defeated Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 15-3 (unfortunately a write up is currently not available.) The Bruins travel to Stanford this weekend for the Stanford Invitational.
- The winning somewhat continued with the Track and Field team at the UW Invitational. The Bruins notched four individual event wins, with sophomore Kylie Price winning the 60m and the long jump, senior Sarah Toberty winning the mile, and Mike Woepse taking the pole vault. In the men's heptathlon, Dominic Giovannoni came in second and Marcus Nilsson came in fourth. The team next competes in two weeks at the Don Kirby Elite invitational.
Have a good week, Bruins. Let's go.