Weekend college report: USD, SDSU keep winning in women’s volleyball

The San Diego State and University of San Diego women’s volleyball teams both scored a pair of road wins last week to jump out to 4-0 starts in conference play.

Meanwhile, the Aztecs’ and Toreros’ men’s soccer teams won conference matches, while Point Loma Nazarene scored conference wins in men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball.

And in community college cross country, the defending state champion Mesa College men’s and women’s teams and Cuyamaca College units are off to fast starts.

Women’s volleyball

USD ran its record to 11-4 overall and 4-0 in WCC play with straight-sets wins at Saint Mary’s and Pacific. USD, winners of four straight, was led by outside hitter Nemo Beach (27 kills, four aces, 16 digs combined in the two matches), middle blocker BayLea Sparks (nine blocks), setter Kylie Monday (71 assists) and libero Olivia Bennett (28 digs).

• SDSU (9-6, 4-0) scored road wins at Air Force (3-1) and Nevada (3-0). Outside hitter Taylor Underwood had 30 kills and four blocks in the two wins. Middle blocker Amber Keen had 12 blocks, freshman setter Bella Jones had 52 assists and freshman libero Zara Stewart had 31 digs.

• PLNU, ranked fifth nationally in the NCAA Division II rankings, ran its record to 12-1 with a 10th straight win as outside hitters Abigail Nua and Saren Rogers (Victory Christian Academy) had 16 and 15 kills, respectively and setter Sophia Baugh had 41 assists and four killds in a 3-1 win over Dominican.

• Mesa College (16-1) and Grossmont (6-7) both improved to 5-0 in Pacific Coast Athletic Association play. Grossmont defeated Miramar in five sets; Andrea Torres (Otay Ranch High School), Daisy Ekeya (Foothills Christian) and Rachel Ashburn (West Hills High School) led the Griffins.

Men’s soccer

Fifteenth-ranked USD (7-1-3, 1-0-1) defeated San Francisco 5-1 behind two goals by Cesar Bahena.

• Juan Zepeda scored two goals as San Diego State (5-6, 1-0) scored a 3-2 win at Air Force.

• UCSD (0-6-4, 0-0-2) opened Big West Conference play with a pair of 1-1 ties against UC Irvine and UC Davis.

• PLNU (5-2-1, 1-0) defeated Menlo 2-1 at home on Elijah Langford’s penalty kick in the 77th minute.

• Cal State San Marcos (2-4-3, 1-1) lost 1-0 at Chico State after scoring a 4-1 win at Humboldt State.

• German forward Jakub Kozlowski scored two goals in each game and Felix Hamm scored two goals as Palomar College (4-3-3, 2-0-1) defeated MiraCosta (3-2-5, 2-1) and tied Southwestern (4-4-2, 1-0-2) in PCAC play.

• Jamesley Exantus (Crawford High School) scored twice as San Diego City College (5-1-3) upset Cuyamaca College (8-1-1, 2-1) to hand the defending state men’s soccer champions their first loss of the season.

Women’s soccer

• Freshman goalkeeper Emma Calvillo turned in two shutouts as Cal State San Marcos (4-1-3, 1-0-1) opened California Collegiate Athletic Association play with a 0-0 tie at Cal Poly Humboldt and a 1-0 win at Chico State.

• San Diego State (5-2-4, 1-0-2) tied Fresno State 1-1 at home behind the play of freshman goalkeeper Kailey Carlen (Learning Choice Academy) and a goal by Lily Boudet.

• Freshman goalkeeper Chloe Walls (Francis Parker) blocked a penalty kick to preserve USD’s 1-1 tie with Washington State on Saturday. The Toreros are 3-1-6 overall and 0-1-2 in league play.

• Grace Nelson scored two goals as PLNU 4-2-1 (1-0) defeated Menlo 4-0 in the Sea Lions’ PacWest Conference opener.

• Miramar College (7-2-2, 5-0-1) is ranked ranked 18th in the state.

Women’s golf

Chloe Rahn (213) won the individual title, Kiara Hernandez (215) finished second, Carmelia Carlisi (Del Mar; 219) tied for third and Abby Sickles and Avery Foster tied for fifth (222) as Cal State San Marcos won the Lady Bulldog Desert Classic last week in Palm Desert.

Tennis

The SDSU duo of senior Jo-Yee Chan and freshman Vessa Turley scored four wins in women’s doubles to claim the Mountain West Conference qualifier title for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Masters Tournament in November.

• The Aztecs’ men’s doubles teams of Lars Johann and Aleksi Lofman and Imran Daniel Hazli and Brock Anderson both lost in the quarterfinals.

Cross country

Mesa College’s women won the invitational title at Hartnell College, while the men finished third. Cal State San Marcos placed second, Cuyamaca College was fifth and UC San Diego was ninth in the men’s division at the UC Riverside Invitational. The Cuyamaca men won the Golden West Classic.

Mesa’s Luciano Roberts was second in the four-mile race at Hartnell in 20 minutes, 21.34 seconds; Garrett Cloyd (Mount Miguel High School; 21:02.43) was sixth. Jazzlyn Islas (18:25.76) was second in the three-mile women’s race with Natalie Allen (Valley Center High School) third in 18:39.29.

Steven Valdez Jr. (Monte Vista High School) of Cuyamaca was seventh overall at UCR in 25:6.6 in the eight-kilometer race. CSUSM’s Jacob Perez (25:21.8) was 16th. CSUM’s Alan Jimenez (24:04.02) was 12th in the men’s invitational.

PLNU’s Madeline Reeves (20:43.02) finished ninth in the women’s six-kilometer women’s invitational. CSUM’s Angela McManus (20:53.7) was 16th.

Cuyamaca, which finished sixth in the 2024 state championships, won the Golden West Classic. Coyote Ivan Guzman (Liberty Charter; 20:43:11) won the 4-mile race. Valdez (20:58.56) was third, Dominic Rizzo (Steele Canyon; 21:16.05) was sixth and Daniel Vestemean (West Hills; 21:16.63) was eighth.