April 14, 1997

The Week in Review/Preview

Sport                  Overall   Conference     Nat'l Rank           Last Week
Baseball                31-15       12-12       17th (Coll. Base.)   def. Cal State Fullerton, 8-5
                                                                     1-2 at California
Men's Golf               ---         ---         3rd (Golfweek)      1st at Cleveland Golf SW Invitational
Women's Golf             ---         ---        25th (Rolex)         4th at California Women's Collegiate
Men's Tennis            14-4         5-3        17th (Rolex)         def. Pepperdine, 5-2
                                                                     lost to UCLA, 6-1
Women's Tennis          7-13         0-8        33rd (Rolex)         lost to UCLA, 7-2
Men's Track and Field   6-1          ---        13th (Trackwire)     competed at 3 different meets
Women's Track and Field 7-0          ---         6th (Trackwire)     competed at 3 different meets
Men's Volleyball       12-11         9-9        10th (VB Mag.)       0-2 at Hawai'i
Women's Water Polo     11-15         0-6 (5th)   8th (coaches)       5th at MPSF Championships
Season Complete
 
                           Record  Conf. Finish    Nat'l Finish      Notes
Men's Basketball            17-11    12-6 (t2nd)      ---            first NCAA berth since 1992
Women's Basketball           20-9    13-5  (3rd)      ---            reached second round of NCAAs
Women's Cross Country         ---           6th       ---            Emebet Shiferaw an All-American
Football                      6-6     3-5 (t5th)      ---            def. Notre Dame, 27-20 (OT)
Women's Soccer               15-5     4-3 (t4th)      ---            Isabelle Harvey Pac-10's top scorer
Women's Swimming & Diving     9-1     4-1  (2nd)      1st            first-ever national championship
Women's Volleyball           21-9    12-6 (t3rd)     13th (AVCA)     reached round of 16 in NCAAs
Men's Water Polo             23-3     7-1  (1st)      2nd            Cizmic, Zagar first team All-Americans
This Week
Monday: 
    Women's Tennis, vs. UNLV, Marks Tennis Stadium, 1:30 p.m.
Tuesday:    
    Men's Tennis, vs. Washington, Marks Tennis Stadium, 1:30 p.m. -- FOX Sports West 2 delayed
    Men's Volleyball, vs. Long Beach State, North Gym, 7 p.m.
    Baseball, at Loyola Marymount, 2:30 p.m.
Friday: 
    Women's Tennis, vs. Stanford, Marks Tennis Stadium, 1:30 p.m.
    Men's Tennis, at Stanford, 1:30 p.m.
    Baseball, at Arizona, through Sunday (7 p.m. on Fri. and Sat., 1 p.m. on Sun.)
    Men's Golf, at Thunderbird Invitational at Arizona State, through Saturday
Saturday:   
    Women's Tennis, vs. California, Marks Tennis Stadium, 12 p.m.
    Men's Tennis, at California, 12 p.m.
    Men's Volleyball, at MPSF Championships, TBA
    Track, at Mt. SAC Relays, through Sunday

Baseball
USC struggled at California last weekend, losing 2 of 3 games. In the opener, 3 Golden Bear pitchers combined to limit USC to 2 runs on 8 hits as Cal topped the Trojans, 3-2. Freshman catcher Eric Munson was 2-for-3 with his ninth home run. Senior lefthander Randy Flores pitched his second complete game of the season (and 20th of his career) in the loss. Sophomore outfielder Brad Ticehurst was 3-for-5 and senior first baseman Greg Walbridge was 2-for-4 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI to lead USC to a 5-2 victory over Cal in the second game. Junior righthander Seth Etherton (6-2) went 6.2 innings to pick up the win while junior righthander Jack Krawczyk recorded his ninth save. Cal won 7-5 in the finale, though senior Jason Brown hit his fifth home run of the season.

Men's Golf
The Trojans won their third tournament of the season last week, winning their own Cleveland Golf Southwestern Intercollegiate at the North Ranch Country Club on Tuesday. The Trojans shot a total of 853, 11 strokes better than Pepperdine. Four Trojans placed in the top 10: senior Chad Wright (third, 209, 4-under-par), senior Roger Tambellini (fifth, 213), senior Brian Hull (tied for eighth, 215) and freshman Nick Webb (tied for 10th, 216). USC has not finished lower than second in all 5 of their tournaments this spring. Two of the previous 3 team champions at the Southwestern Intercollegiate have gone on to win the NCAA championship.

Women's Golf
The Women of Troy placed fourth at the Peg Barnard California Collegiate, hosted by Stanford, over the weekend and were led by sophomore Johanna Josefsson's fourth-place tie. USC shot a 614, while San Jose State won the event. Freshman Linda Ishii tied for 12th, junior Ida Danielsson tied for 22nd, senior Leanne Wong tied for 33rd and junior Danielle LaVoie tied for 35th.

Men's Tennis
The Trojans lost to No. 1 UCLA, 6-1, on Friday at Marks Tennis Stadium. The only win was posted by freshman Patrick Gottesleben in singles. Earlier in the week, the Trojans beat Pepperdine, 5-2. Gottesleben, juniors George Bastl and Kyle Spencer and senior Fernando Samayoa picked up singles wins, and the Trojans also swept doubles play.

Women's Tennis
Sophomore Karolina Baklarova and freshman Jacqui Boyd earned the only wins against UCLA last Friday, as the Women of Troy fell to the No. 3 Bruins, 7-2, at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. After losing 4 of the 6 singles matches, USC still had a chance, as it took an early lead in all 3 of the doubles matches, but the Bruins came back to win all of them.

Men's and Women's Track
Competing with less than a full team, the women's team placed third and the men's team took fourth at the Golden Bear Challenge on Saturday. Winners included junior Carrie Martin (women's hammer, 181-9), sophomore Jerome Davis (men's 200m, 20.87), sophomore Esi Benyarku (women's 100 and 200m, 11.86, 23.71), freshman Natasha Danvers (women's 100 and 400m hurdles, 13.60, 57.8), sophomore Kristie Johnston (women's 800m, 2:08.32) and sophomore Grazyna Penc (women's 1500m, 4:21.02). The Trojans also competed in meets at Texas-El Paso and Azusa Pacific.

Men's Volleyball
The Trojans dropped 2 matches in Hawai'i last weekend, but still have a chance to make the MPSF Tournament, which starts this weekend. Depending on USC's result against Long Beach State on Tuesday and how some other teams do this week, USC may make the tournament. The Rainbows won the first match, 15-12, 15-5, 15-11, and the second match, 15-12, 13-15, 15-11, 15-7. Senior middle blocker Eric Seiffert had 31 kills in the first match and senior swing hitter Chris Guigliano had 27 kills in the second.

Women's Water Polo
Sophomore Bernice Orwig was named the MPSF Southern Division Goalie of the Year following USC's fifth-place finish at the MPSF Championships at UC Santa Barbara over the weekend. The Women of Troy went 2-2 at the tournament, including a first-ever win over the host Gauchos, 7-4, in the fifth-place game. The Trojans lost to Stanford, 8-4, and San Diego State, 7-5, before coming back to beat Pacific, 9-3. Orwig had 35 saves over the 4 games, and senior 2-meter player Christina McCall had a team-high 9 goals. McCall was named to the All-MPSF first team, while senior driver Kristie Cissell earned second team honors.

Athletes of the Week

Natasha Danvers, Women's Track
Danvers, a freshman, won both the 100 and 400 hurdles at the Golden Bear Challenge in Berkeley on Saturday with times of 13.60 and 57.8, respectively.

Bernice Orwig, Women's Water Polo
Orwig, a sophomore goalie, was named the MPSF Southern Division Goalie of the Year after USC took fifth place at the MPSF Tournament. She averaged 8.8 saves a game at the tournament.

Chad Wright, Men's Golf
Wright, a senior, had a third-place finish at the Cleveland Golf Southwestern last week, helping the Trojans to their third team victory of the season.