Rally Puts Noriega in Rolex Semis

University of San Diego’s Jose Luis Noriega advanced to the semifinals of the Rolex National Indoor Intercollegiate Tennis Championships in Minneapolis with two three-set victories Friday.

Noriega, seeded fourth, defeated Frank Schaffner of Alabama-Birmingham, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 6-4 in the morning. Then, he beat Stanford’s Michael Flanagan, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, in the quarterfinals.

With six of the eight seeded players eliminated, fourth-seeded Noriega is the highest remaining seed left. He plays No. 8 Yaser Zaatini of East Tennessee State in today’s semifinals. Noriega and Zaatini have never played.

As a unseeded sophomore two years ago, Noriega won the National Clay Court Championships when only two seeds advanced to the semifinals. Noriega leads all other active college players with a 28-9 mark in collegiate grand slam events.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

John Spence set a UC San Diego record for blocks in a season as the Tritons won their 13th consecutive game, beating Bethany, 89-67, in La Jolla. Spence had four blocks, giving him 29 this year.

Chris Moore had a game-high 29 points, Erik Johnson 17 and Spence 12 for fourth-ranked UCSD (18-4). Bethany is 9-14.

Darvin Jackson had 11 assists and Rick Batt seven rebounds for the Tritons, who shot 53.8% (35 of 65) from the field and led 38-33 at halftime.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The University of San Diego broke a four-game losing streak at Loyola Marymount, winning, 69-58, behind 18 points and 13 rebounds from Lynda Jones and 17 points and nine rebounds from Jill Shaver. The victory boosted USD to 2-4 in the West Coast Conference, 7-11 overall. Loyola fell to 0-7 and 6-14. Shaver scored 12 of her points in the second half, when the Toreras enlarged a 36-33 halftime lead. Jones made eight of 12 shots. The Toreras continue WCC play with a 5:15 game today at Pepperdine.

BASEBALL

Scoring both runs in the bottom of the eighth, Point Loma Nazarene rallied for a 2-1 nonconference victory over the University of San Diego.

Craig Van Hulzen led off the eighth with a pinch-hit double. Ron Caton singled, driving in pinch-runner Dave Swearingen, and Caton advanced to second on a sacrifice. Third baseman Jason Huntley then singled to right, driving in Caton. It was Huntley’s third hit.

Reliever Justin Knox (1-0) struck out three in the final two innings for PLNC (1-2). PLNC starter Mike Saipe, a freshman from University City High, struck out six and yielded six hits in his college debut. Tony Moeder had two hits for the Toreros (0-2).

The San Diego State-Cal Poly Pomona game was rained out and has been rescheduled for March 4 at 5 p.m. at Smith Field.

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

San Diego State fell to 1-7, 0-5 in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn., with a 17-15, 15-6, 15-6, loss at UC Santa Barbara. SDSU’s John Hyden had 13 kills and Doug Morland 12. Eric Fonoimoana had 20 kills for the Gauchos (1-3, 1-2).

WOMEN’S TENNIS

Point Loma Nazarene took five of six singles matches to beat Occidental, 6-3, and improve to 1-1. The host Crusaders got crucial victories from No. 4 Angie Arias and No. 6 Tiffany Puckett, who both came back to win in the third set.