Bronco Briefs: Women's tennis ties for third at WCC finals

By Brian Betz

Women's Tennis

SCU 6, USF 1

The fourth seeded women swept singles action but lost the doubles point to open their tourney run.

Every Bronco singles player won in straight sets except senior Christine Limbers, who finished off her opponent in three sets.

Pepperdine 5, SCU 0

Sophomore Janalle Kaloi and Limbers combined to take the first doubles match, but the Broncos would drop the next two to lose the point.

The top seeded Waves went on to take the first four singles matches, sealing the win, so the remaining two matches were not played.

Santa Clara's match against Loyola Marymount was cancelled on Sunday due to rain, rendering a tie for third place.

Limbers was named WCC Player of the Year and was also named to the All-WCC doubles first team with Kaloi.

Baseball

San Diego 16, SCU 5

Down 8-5 going into the ninth, USD erupted for eight more runs to put game one away for good.

Seniors Jim Wallace and Scott Dierks each hit home runs, while senior pitcher Matt Travis picked up the loss in 5 1/3 innings of work.

SCU 6, San Diego 0

Senior Joe Diefenderfer was brilliant on the hill, pitching a complete game shutout, allowing just five hits while striking out seven.

Dierks and Wallace feasted again from the plate, each going 2-for-3 in the win.

SCU 2, San Diego 1

Starter sophomore Kellen McConnell and relievers junior John Redmond and sophomore Anthony Rea held the Toreros to just one run on seven hits.

Sophomore first baseman Shawn Epidendio's RBI single in the seventh proved to be the Broncos' insurance run, who now improve to 18-21 overall, 10-5 in West Coast Conference action.

Two games back of Coast Division leader Pepperdine, Santa Clara takes to the road this weekend for a three-game series against Portland.

Men's Tennis

USF 4, SCU 1

The fifth seeded Broncos opened up the WCC Tournament this past Friday with a loss to the Dons.

Senior Federico Mattioli was the only Bronco to win 6-3, 6-2 at No. 4 singles. Two singles matches and the last doubles match were cancelled because the Dons had clinched both the doubles point and, subsequently, the entire match.

SCU 7, Gonzaga 0

Santa Clara rebounded on Saturday, sweeping every doubles and singles match en route to the shutout victory.

Freshman Ted Blosser won 6-0, 6-0 at No. 6 singles and senior Michael Bruggemann set the program's record for doubles victories with 61 in his efforts with junior Erich Chen.

Portland 4, SCU 2

The Broncos rounded out their tournament play with a close loss to the sixth seeded Pilots.

Chen and Mattioli were the only victorious Broncos in a match that did not see doubles action.

Chen and sophomore Taylor Bedilion earned All-WCC honorable mention in singles.

Women's Water Polo

No. 7 Hawaii 13, SCU 5

Ten different players scored for Hawaii as the Broncos ended their home schedule with a loss this past Friday.

Santa Clara was held scoreless in the third period and registered just one in the fourth. Junior goalkeeper Anne Ginotti finished with six saves in the loss.

No. 11 San Jose St. 7, SCU 2

Down 3-2 at the half, the Broncos again slumped offensively during the second half as they were held scoreless over the final two frames.

Seniors Kelley Mays and Becky Hong each scored for the Broncos, who dropped to 14-17 on the season.

They will look to bounce back this weekend at the Sun Devil Invitational hosted by Arizona St.

Men's Golf

Third Place at WCC Championship Tournament

Freshman Michael Nicoletti's eighth place finish and sophomore Matt Klenz's 10th place finish led the Broncos to their highest team showing at the WCC Tourney since they won it in 1998.

The squad went into the final day in second place, but shot 15 strokes worse than runner-up San Francisco and 20 worse than champ Pepperdine to round out the tourney.

Nicoletti and Klenz were named All-WCC Honorable Mention following the tournament. Santa Clara ends their 2003 season at the US Intercollegiate Tournament hosted by Stanford on Saturday and Sunday.

Women's Golf

Fifth Place at WCC Championship Tournament

Sophomores Courtney Dimpel-Composti and Jessica Lamberty led the Broncos, as they each shot final round scores of 81 to finish in a tie for 17th place. Nikki Mack fired a final round 81 as well, good enough for a share of 19th place.

As a team, the Broncos shot 85 strokes better than they did at last year's championships, which was held at the same course, Riverbend Golf Club in Madera, Calif.

Pepperdine doubled up their men's title by capturing the women's team title as well, as they finished 10 strokes better than San Francisco.