Feb. 2, 1998

USC Athletics Week in Review / Preview

Sport                      Record   Conf.Record     National Rank               Last Week 
Baseball                   2-0      0-0             5th (Base. Amer.)           2-0 vs. Long Beach State 
Men's Basketball           7-12     3-6                                         lost to Washington, 101-86              
                                                                                def. Washington State, 75-69 (ot)
Women's Basketball         8-10     3-6                                         def. Washington State, 57-48                
                                                                                lost to Washington, 67-60
Men's Golf                                          12th (Golfweek)             none
Women's Golf                                        20th (Rolex)                none
Men's Swimming and Diving  5-0      2-0             5th (Speedo)                none
Women's Swimming and Diving7-1      3-1             2nd (Speedo)                def. California, 185-113                
                                                                                lost to Stanford, 161-139
Men's Tennis               4-0      2-0             10th (Rolex)                def. Arizona State, 4-3                 
                                                                                def. Arizona, 7-0
Women's Tennis             2-2      0-2             26th (Rolex)                lost to Arizona, 7-2                
                                                                                lost to Arizona State, 6-3
Men's Volleyball           8-7      1-4             16th (AVCA)                 lost to San Diego State, 3-2    
                                                                                def. UC San Diego, 3-0
Season Complete             Record      Conf.       Finish                              National Finish Notes 
Women's Cross Country       6th         Penc 1      1th at District VIII Meet 
Football                    6-5         4-4         (t5th)                              Kelly, Claiborne All-Pac-10 1st team 
Women's Soccer              16-3-1      7-2         (2nd)   21st (Soccer Buzz)          Clark All-American 3rd team 
Women's Volleyball          23-6        13-5        (t2nd)  9th (AVCA)                  Marinkovic All-American 1st team
Men's Water Polo            21-7        5-3          (1st)                              2nd Cimerman All-American 1st team 

Baseball
USC opened the season with 16-4 and 9-5 wins against Long Beach State at Dedeaux Field this weekend. The second of the three games, Saturday's contest at Blair Field, was suspended due to rain in the fifth inning with USC leading 6-1. It will be resumed on Feb. 10 at 3 p.m. In the opening 16-4 win, senior third baseman Morgan Ensberg, junior outfielder Brad Ticehurst and junior DH Jason Lane had back-to-back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning. Senior Seth Etherton threw six scoreless innings for the win. In the finale, senior Jack Krawczyk earned his 27th career save, breaking the school,s all-time record. USC hit eight home runs in the three games.

Men's Basketball
The Trojans split two games at the Sports Arena last weekend, losing to Washington, 101-86, on Thursday but coming back and defeating Washington State, 75-69, in overtime on Saturday.

Junior forward Adam Spanich led all scorers with a career-high 35 points in the loss to the Huskies. USC struggled defensively again, giving up 100+ points in consecutive games for the first time since 1966. The Trojans, who trailed by as many as 31 points with 6:45 left, mounted a rally down the stretch and got to within 10 points in the final minute. USC then snapped its four-game losing streak despite shooting 37 percent from the field against the Cougars. Freshman point guard Kevin Augustine led the Trojans with 15 points and seven rebounds and freshman forward Greg Lakey had 14 points.

Women's Basketball
The Women of Troy defeated Washington State, 57-48, and then lost to Washington, 67-60, on the road over the weekend. Despite shooting just 27.8 percent from the field, the Women of Troy defeated the Cougars for their first road win of the year. They were aided by a 51-40 rebounding edge and only 14 turnovers to the Cougars, 24. Junior guard Kristin Clark scored a game-high 18 points, junior center Adrain Williams had a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds and sophomore forward Tiffany Washington just missed a double-double with 8 points and 10 boards. Then, in USC Coach Chris Gobrecht's return to Seattle, where she coached the Huskies for 11 years, she received a standing ovation prior to the game. USC kept it close with the No. 18 Huskies, once led 51-47, and tied the game with 2:26 to play, 58-58, before Washington pulled away. Clark had 18 points and freshman forward Tashara Carter had 17.

Women's Swimming and Diving
No. 1 faced No. 2 last Saturday at the McDonald's Swim Stadium, but top-ranked Stanford came away with a 161-139 victory over the No. 2 the Women of Troy. USC victories were posted by junior Dorte Lindner (1- and 3-meter diving) junior Lindsay Benko (200 free), freshman Alexis Binder (1650 free), sophomore Kim Black (500 free) and freshman Brittany White (400 IM).

A day earlier, USC defeated No. 8 California, 185-113. Black (100 and 200 free), Benko (200 back), Lindner (1-meter diving), White (200 breast and 200 IM), freshman Melissa Pavlik (500 free), junior Karen Campbell (100 fly), senior Natalya Chikina (3-meter diving) and sophomore Jamie Johnson (1000 free) had wins.

Men's Tennis
The Trojans opened up Pac-10 play with a pair of victories against the Arizona schools at Marks Tennis Stadium. USC pulled out a 4-3 win against Arizona State in the first match. After the Sun Devils won the doubles point, seniors Kyle Spencer and Fernando Samayoan and sophomores Patrick Gottesleben and Christoph Poehler won singles matches to help USC edge ASU. Then, it was much easier in a 7-0 victory against Arizona as USC won all nine matches.

Women's Tennis
The Women of Troy went on the road to start the Pac-10 season but lost to two higher-ranked teams, Arizona (7-2) and Arizona State (6-3). Sophomore Jacqui Boyd had singles wins in both matches, while junior Karolina Bakalarova and sophomores Veronika Safarova and Kara Warkentin each went 1-1.

Men's Volleyball
The Trojans lost their fifth in a row in a 15-12, 15-4, 9-15, 1-15, 12-15 loss to San Diego State at the North Gym on Wednesday. Freshman outside hitter Eli Fairfield had a career-high 23 kills and 13 digs and senior middle blocker Szilard Kovacs had 21 kills. After hitting better than .400 to win games one and two, USC,s hitting percentage declined sharply in the next three.

The Trojans then ended the losing streak with a 15-6, 15-8, 15-5 win over UC San Diego at the North Gym on Saturday. USC hit a season-high .563 as a team and was led by Kovacs, 16 kills and freshman outside hitter Ryan Thurlow,s 14 kills.

Morgan Ensberg, Baseball
Ensberg, a senior third baseman, started the season by going 6-for-9 (.667) with a double, two home runs, three runs scored and a team-leading seven RBI.

Brittany White, Women's Swimming
White, a freshman, won a total of three races against Stanford and Cal last weekend, including a 400 IM in which she swam 4:13.95, one of the best times in the nation this year.