Senior Savon Wykle (at left) scored a team-high 16 points in the men’s basketball team’s 65-56 second-round victory over top-seeded Missouri S&T. Sophomore swimmer Justice Beard (at right) claimed All-American honors three times by placing second in the 1,650-yard freestyle, fourth in the 1,000 and fifth in the 500 at the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships. (Photos courtesy of UMSL Athletics)

Men’s Basketball
The University of Missouri–St. Louis men’s basketball team is back in the NCAA Division II Midwest Region final for the third time in four years and will try to knock off 16th-ranked and second-seeded Lake Superior State at 7 p.m. Tuesday to advance to the Elite Eight for the second time in school history. The Tritons, seeded fourth in the Midwest Region, advanced to the final by knocking off fifth-seeded Ferris State and top-seeded Missouri S&T in successive days at The Recreation and Athletic Center in Springfield, Illinois. Matt Enright scored a game-high 25 points to lead UMSL to an 81-79 victory over Ferris State on Saturday evening. The Tritons withstood a late charge in the final five minutes as the Bulldogs outscored them 23-11 and pulled as close as 78-75 with 56 seconds remaining and 81-79 after Tyler Hamilton’s last-second 3-pointer. Savon Wykle made three free throws in the final minute and finished with 16 points. Troy Glover II had 18 points, 14 rebounds and two blocked shots. Emanuel Prospere II added 15 points. The win was Coach Bob Sundvold‘s 215th at UMSL and moved him past Rich Meckfessel atop the program’s all-time list. The Tritons avenged an 88-84 regular-season loss to the Miners, beating the Great Lakes Valley Conference regular-season champions 65-56 on Sunday. Wykle finished with a team-high 16 points. Glover had 15 points, 14 rebounds and three blocked shots and now has 10 double-doubles this season – all in the past 13 games. Prospere scored 11 points, and Enright added 10. UMSL held S&T to 35.4% shooting, including 3 for 19 from 3-point range. The Tritons (21-11) have now won 11 of their past 12 games as they head into a rematch with Lake Superior State. The Lakers topped UMSL 59-46 on Nov. 21 during the McKendree DII Classic in Lebanon, Illinois. That was the Tritons’ fourth loss during an 0-5 start, though Sundvold’s team has been a much different team since it got into GLVC play. Lake Superior State (29-6) advanced to the regional final by beating GLVC Tournament champion Lincoln 76-64 on Saturday and beat fellow Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foe Michigan Tech 83-73 on Sunday.

Women’s Swimming
Sophomore Justice Beard shined at the NCAA Division II Swimming and Diving Championships, winning three first-team All-American honors in the five-day meet at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis. Beard saved her best performance for last, placing second in the women’s 1,650-yard freestyle on Saturday. It was the highest-ever finish by an UMSL women’s swimmer, and she set a school record with a time of 16 minutes, 24.86 seconds, breaking her own mark of 16:34.77, which she set at last year’s GLVC Championship. Simon Fraser’s Tori Meklensek won the event with a time of 16:20.35. Beard clocked a time of 9:55.52 in the 1,000-yard race on Wednesday to place fourth, and she finished with a time of 4:50.40 in Friday’s 500-yard final to take fifth. She now has five All-American finishes, including four first-team finishes, in her first two college seasons. Beard was not the only UMSL swimmer to bring home All-American recognition. The team of Audrey Lantz, Kate Nelson, Madison Bottorff and Romina Itzkovich earned honorable mention by finishing 14th in the 200-yard freestyle relay on Friday. They broke the school record with a time of 1:33.09 in the event, and Lantz set a school record in the 50 free with her split of 23.02 seconds. UMSL posted its highest-ever finish in the meet, placing 20th with 52 points.

Baseball
UMSL swept its weekend series against Lincoln, outscoring the Blue Tigers 49-8 in the four games in Jefferson City, Missouri. The Tritons rolled to a 15-3 victory in seven innings in Friday’s opener. Cade Grevengoed and Andrew Buescher each homered in the victory, and starter Zach Haygood held Lincoln to three runs on six hits in six innings while striking out seven. UMSL took both ends of Saturday’s doubleheader by scores of 10-2 and 6-2. The Tritons scored 13 runs in the first three innings of Sunday’s finale and cruised to an 18-1 victory in seven innings. Barrett Rose and Garrett Strenger each homered in the win. Dane Stevenson drove in a team-high four runs. Bryce Stenzel, Trey Schneider and Jacob Arndt combined to limit the Blue Tigers to one run on four hits while striking out 12. Schneider had seven of the strikeouts and picked up the win. UMSL (16-7, 6-2 GLVC) will play host to Illinois Springfield in a four-game series beginning Friday.

Softball
The Tritons split a doubleheader at Lincoln on Saturday before sweeping Missouri S&T on Sunday. UMSL won Saturday’s first game 3-2 in Jefferson City, after Gwyn Miller snapped a 2-2 tie with a seventh inning home run. May Pasqualini had an RBI double among her two hits in the game. Pasqualini had one of only four UMSL hits and scored the loan run in a 4-1 loss in Game No. 2. On Sunday in Rolla, Missouri, starting pitcher Ashley Borowitz helped her own cause by going 2 for 3 with 3 RBI in a 9-4 Game 1 win. Borowitz also picked up the victory in the circle by holding the Miners to four earned runs on six hits in seven innings while striking out 11. Miller also had two hits and drove in three runs in the game. The Tritons completed the sweep with a 7-3 win. Miller went 2 for 4 with five RBI, including a two-run home run and a three-run triple. Starter Lexi Sherrick struck out eight in five innings, and Ashley Ware picked two scoreless innings of relief to close out UMSL’s win. The Tritons (10-11, 3-5 GLVC) will play a doubleheader at Maryville on Saturday.

Women’s Golf
UMSL finished in a tie for fifth out of 18 teams in the Emerald Coast Classic, which ended last Tuesday at Sandestin-Baytowne Golf Club in Destin, Florida. The 20th-ranked Tritons posted a combined score of 886 in the 54-hole tournament and were 42 shots back of team champion Flagler. Wilma Zanderau paced UMSL with a scored of 212, including a final-round 69, to place sixth individually. The performance was enough to land her a third GLVC Player of the Week honor this season. Hillary Currier tied for 15th with a total of 219, and Emmy Wahl joined them in the top 30, tying for 29th with a score of 224. Flagler’s Henriette Stranda was the individual medalist with a total of 204. UMSL opened play today in the Findlay Spring Invitational at Boone’s Trace National Golf Club in Richmond, Kentucky. The tournament concludes on Tuesday.

Men’s Tennis
The Tritons beat NCAA Division I opponent Eastern Illinois on Friday and McPherson on Saturday to improve to climb to 5-3 this season in dual meets. UMSL picked up a 4-3 victory over the Panthers on Friday at the UMSL Tennis Courts after losing two of three doubles matches and the Nos. 5 and 6 singles matches before rallying to win four out of six in singles. Eastern Illinois actually led 3-0 after winning the No. 5 and No. 6 singles matches and needed only one more win to clinch the match, but Daniel Berdecio, Percy Siercke and Tanin Ramnath won three-set matches at No.s 4, 3 and 2 singles, respectively, leaving the dual to be decided at No. 1 singles. Alejandro Ley pulled out a 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5) win over Alex Aldaz to clinch UMSL’s victory. Ley closed out a 6-1 win over McPherson on Saturday when he beat Arthur Nardy 7-6 (5) 3-6, 1-0 (10-3) in their No. 1 singles match. The Tritons also got singles wins from Siercke at No. 3, Berdecio at No. 4, Henry Roberts at No. 5 and Joan Garros at No. 6 after winning the doubles point by sweeping all three matches. UMSL will take on Harding at home on Friday before traveling to Rockhurst on Sunday.

Women’s Tennis
UMSL swept McPherson 5-0 on Saturday at the UMSL Tennis Courts to improve its dual meet record to 5-1 this season. The Tritons secured the doubles point by winning all three matches and made quick work of the Bulldogs in singles with straight sets victories by Aleksandra Lopez at No. 2 singles, Anna Favaron at No. 3, Morgan Lint at No. 4 and Lauren Sweeney at No. 6. Hannah Tse and Guiliana Cunza were both up a set in their singles matches at No. 1 and No. 5, respectively, when play was halted. UMSL plays host to Harding on Friday and travels to Rockhurst on Sunday.