UCLA Olympic Sports Round-Up: Women’s Softball Keeps Perfect Record and Is Now #1

This is your Olympic Sports Round Up for the week of February 12-February 19, 2020.

#1 Women’s Softball

The UCLA women’s softball team stayed undefeated last weekend, first taking down then-#9 Alabama 7-0 on Friday. Sophomore Megan Faraimo held the Crimson Tide hitless through five innings, and two Bruins, Jenavee Peres and junior Briana Perez, each hit solo home runs.

In Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA started off dismantling the Liberty Flames 9-1, then took down the Georgia Bulldogs 8-3. In game one, Kinsley Washington hit her first home run of the season and junior Holly Azevedo preserved her perfect record, striking out six. Faraimo stepped in to pitch against Georgia and also kept her record clean, notching her fifth win of the season.

On Sunday, the tournament wrapped up with the first game resulting in a mercy-rule 15-2 win over South Florida for the Bruins. The second game against Florida State was much closer, with UCLA squeaking out a 3-2 win. In game one, UCLA got on the board with four runs in the first inning, but really poured it on in the sixth, bringing nine baserunners all the way around. Game two gave Bruin fans a scare, with Florida State scoring one run in both the second and third innings to take a 2-1 lead which they held onto until UCLA was finally able to score two at the top of the seventh for the win. This game was the first time UCLA was not leading early in the game, but the Bruins remain perfect at 11-0 for the season.

Track and Field

The Bruins were split between the Don Kirby Invite and the Husky Classic last weekend, and managed to bring home six top-10 finishes.

Alyssa Wilson had yet another record breaking weekend at the Don Kirby Invitational last Thursday, breaking a school record with a 22.98m (75-04.75) distance in the women’s weight throw. It is her second school record and fourth weight throw victory this season.

At the same tournament, Isaiah Holmes made his season debut and placed third in high jump with a clearance of 2.19m (7-02.25). Holmes also did well in the long jump, earning sixth place overall with a mark of 7.26m (23-10.00).

On Friday, Shae Anderson broke her own UCLA indoor 400m record with a time of 52.06 to win the event and become the first UCLA woman in history to duck under 53 seconds in indoor competition. As a team, the 4x400m squad of Anderson, freshmen Catherine Leger and Makenzy Pierre-Webster, and senior Meleni Rodney ran a time of 3:33.98, reaching #2 in the school history books.

Sophomores Kenroy Higgins II (6.66) and Myles Webb (6.73) finished in third and fifth place in the men’s 60m dash and sophomore Kenyla Miles finished fifth overall in the women’s 60m competition with a time of 7.46.

At the Husky Classic in Seattle, redshirt senior Colin Burke finished in third place in the men’s 5000m with a time of 13:47.77. Junior Christina Rice concluded with a fourth place finish in the women’s 5k, reaching a personal best 16:16.84.

Swimming and Diving

In UCLA’s final dual meet of the season, the Bruin swimming and diving team lost to Southern Cal, 181-119. Four Bruins notched three swim wins at the meet including freshman Stephanie Su in the 1000 free, freshman Rachel Rhee in the 100 breast, and senior Amy Okada in the 200 fly. Junior Ruby Neave brought home the 1M diving win as well.

#14 Men’s Tennis

The UCLA men’s tennis team traveled to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison Wisconsin last weekend and dropped their first two matches, but picked up a win in the third. On Friday, the Bruins fell to then-#4 Texas with a score of 4-2 score in the first round. In the loss, the doubles team of Govind Nanda and Keegan Smith upset #11 Christian Sigsgaard and Siem Woldeab.

On Saturday, UCLA lost to then-#7 Texas A&M 4-1, with sophomore Mathew Tsolakyan earning the Bruins’ only win of the day. On Sunday, UCLA was able to bounce back in a consolation match against then-#10 NC State, whom they blanked 4-0. Head coach Billy Martin logged his 600th win for UCLA.

#8 Men’s Volleyball

The UCLA men’s volleyball team picked up their first conference win against Concordia University Irvine, taking down the Eagles in a 3-1 match.

In set one, UCLA got out to an early lead and won the match 25-19, but Concordia was able to take set two, 25-17. The Bruins came back and won a close third set 28-25, and secured the match victory in set four with a 25-17 win.

On Sunday, UCLA picked up another conference win, downing Southern Cal 3-1. The Trojans took a close first set 25-23, but UCLA came back in set two with a 25-22 win. After that the Bruins never looked back, and notched wins in sets three and four, 25-14 and 25-19, respectively. UCLA outhit Southern Cal .391 to .212 and outblocked 10.5 to 1.0.

#7/8 Women’s Basketball

The UCLA women’s basketball team split the Oregon schools, losing to #3 Oregon 80-66, but bouncing back to defeat #15 Oregon State 83-74 in an overtime win. Against Oregon, Michaela Onyenwere once again scored over 20 points, notching 23 for the night and also tallied six rebounds. The Bruins had a slow first half, but managed to outscore the Ducks 38-32 in the second half.

When UCLA took on Oregon State, senior Japreece Dean hit the 1,000-point mark, scoring 22 points and adding 12 assists. The first quarter found both teams scoring slow and exchanging baskets, but UCLA was able to tie the game at 11 near the end. Things picked up for the Bruins in the second half, but Oregon State went on a 14-1 run and UCLA went into the locker room down by six at the half. The Beavers maintained their lead through the end of the third quarter, but UCLA gained momentum and tied the game by the end of regulation. In overtime, the Bruins took control of the scoring and went on a 10-0 run to defeat Oregon State 83-74.

Men’s Golf

The UCLA men’s golf team finished in seventh place in La Quinta, with junior Eddy Lai tied for tenth and UCLA tied for seventh as a team. UCLA is currently shooting 3 under par and Texas was first at -20 and Pepperdine was in second at -14.

Lai finished in a four-way tie for tenth at 4 under par.

UCLA’s Devon Bling finished in a ten-way tie for 21st while Bryan Wiyang Teoh ended in a five-way tie for 34th.


Go Bruins!