Athletics Roundup: Spring Sports Awards; NCAA Tennis; Rowing; Baseball

The 2018-19 academic and athletics year is winding down, but University of San Diego spring sports teams and individuals are now receiving worthy recognition for their efforts in West Coast Conference play and in the classroom.

While the men's and women's tennis conference player and coach selections were named a few weeks ago, the newest Torero honorees are known for softball and women's rowing and there are additional academic honors for all spring sports athletes.

USD held its annual Celebration of Excellence on May 13 with awards focused on the entire 2018-19 season. Furthermore, on May 16, a number of USD scholar-athletes were feted at a luncheon hosted by USD President James T. Harris that also covered the entire year.

Here’s a list of the newest accolades for Torero student-athletes:

Women's Rowing: Three Toreros earned All-WCC Team honors: Kadee Sylla, Clare Adams and Kira McPohlin. A total of seven Toreros were named to the academic teams: Clare Adams and Ellen Schroeder were on the All-WCC Academic first team while Isla Blake, Alexia Chilimidos, Gillian Duncan, Kira McPolin and Nicole Moore were honorable mentions.

Men's Tennis: Two Toreros were named to the All-WCC Academic Team: Gui Osorio (first team) and August Holmgren (honorable mention).

Softball: Two Toreros were named All-WCC, Sara Silveyra is a first-team selection while Sophia Bjerk is a second-team pick. Also, seven Torero softball players received All-WCC Academic recognition. Two first-team selections were Delaney Heller and Taylor Spence while five -- Madison Casiano, Halle Kyler, Shannon McKeon, Savannah Shields and Silveyra -- were honorable mentions.

Women's Tennis: Three Toreros were All-WCC Academic Team picks as Kati Kukaras was a first-team selection and Daniela Morales and Maria Tyrina were honorable mentions. Also, Kukaras and USD women’s tennis assistant coach Nadia Abdala were recognized with regional awards from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Kukaras won the Cissie Leary Sportsmanship Award and Abdala was named the ITA assistant coach of the year.

Baseball: The baseball All-WCC teams, both for sport and academics were named. Ripken Reyes was the lone All-WCC First Team selection to highlight seven players honored for their play. Jeff Houghtby was a second-team selection and Adam Kerner, Shane McGuire, Chris McCready and Chris Murphy were honorable mentions. Cody Jefferis was an All-Freshman team selection. Academically, Reyes and Adam Kerner were recognized for their academic prowess. Reyes was a first-team selection and Kerner was honorable mention.

Tennis: Men's, Women's Teams

Four USD tennis players — freshman Solymar Colling from the women's team and junior Gui Osorio and the doubles team of junior Joel Gamerov and sophomore August Holmgren — will compete in the opening round of the NCAA Individual Championships at the USTA National Campus facility in Orlando, Fla. Colling and Osorio have singles matches on Monday while the doubles competition begins May 21. There are NCAA matches each day leading up to the May 25 national championship matches.

Colling's opening singles match is at 10:30 a.m. Pacific time (1:30 p.m. Eastern) against Louisiana State University's Eden Richardson. Interestingly, Colling defeated Richardson when USD and LSU met in a first-round NCAA Tournament match May 4. USD lost the team match 4-2, but Colling at No. 1 beat Richardson 6-3, 7-5. The Colling-Richardson winner will face the winner between Northwestern's Clarissa Hand and Wake Forest's Emma Davis in the second round on May 21. Here is the women's singles bracket.

Osorio's first match takes place at 9 a.m. Pacific time (noon Eastern) as the West Coast Conference Player of the Year will oppose Baylor's Matias Soto in the 64-player singles bracket. The winner advances to meet the winner between Harrison Scott of University of Texas and William Blumberg from University of North Carolina in a second round match on May 21. Here is the men's singles bracket.

The Holmgren-Gamerov doubles team is vying in a 32-team field. Their first match is May 21 against Notre Dame's Richard Ciamarra and Tristan McCormick. The winner plays the winner of USC's Brandon Holt-Riley Smith or Texas A&M's Juan Aguilar-Barnaby Smith in a second-round match on May 22. Gamerov and Holmgren lost 6-2 to USC's Holt-Smith duo in a NCAA Tournament team match on May 4. Here is the full men's doubles bracket.

Women's Rowing

The USD women's rowing team finished in a tie for second place at the West Coast Conference Championship on Lake Natoma near Sacramento on May 18. Gonzaga, with 40 points by way of winning two of the four races, emerged as WCC champion for the fifth straight year and 18th overall. Gonzaga will represent the WCC in the upcoming NCAA Championship races.

USD and Loyola Marymount were tied with 34 points. LMU won the two varsity four races early before Gonzaga won the two varsity eight races. The Toreros finished second in the varsity four, varsity eight and third in the second varsity eight.

Men's Rowing

The USD men's rowing team battled in the Western Sprints on Lake Natoma on May 18 in an attempt to qualify for the upcoming IRA National Championships.

The USD Varsity Eight team was comprised of Haley Aker (cox), Lucas Stroud, Owen Chase, Jack Crabtree, Max O'Toole, Brennan McManus, Nathan Shah, Sean Kenney and Luke Walbeck.

Unfortunately for USD, the team was unable to secure one of two spots available for IRA. UC San Diego swept three races to advance and Santa Clara also qualified for nationals. Gonzaga also competed in the four-team event.

Baseball

The USD baseball team's season concluded on May 14 on a high note, defeating Cal Baptist of Riverside, 5-4, in a nonconference game at Fowler Park. The win gave the Toreros a sweep of the two-game, home-and-home, season series.

USD led 5-2 when Cal Baptist got a two-run double in the seventh inning to make it 5-4. Cal Baptist also threated in the ninth inning before the Toreros shut the door and got the win.

USD's offense collected 11 hits, led by Adam Kerner with three and Cody Jefferis and Jordan Abushahla with two apiece. USD took a 2-0 lead in the first inning and made it 3-1 in the second. Cal Baptist got a run back in the top of the third. Single runs by USD in the fifth and sixth did just enough to pull out the win.

Pitching-wise, the Toreros used six pitchers. Cade Brown, who came into the game in the third inning and went two innings, allowing two hits and an earned run, a walk and getting a strikeout, got the win. Nate Walker pitched the ninth and struck out two to earn the save.

USD's final season record is 32-21 overall. The team went 14-13 in West Coast Conference play.

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