Freshman Morgan Lint went 4-0 over the weekend, winning both her singles and doubles matches while helping the Tritons to victories over Illinois Springfield and Lewis to open the Great Lakes Valley Conference Schedule. (Photo by Luke Rinne/UMSL Athletics)
Women’s Tennis
The University of Missouri–St. Louis women’s tennis team opened its Great Lakes Valley Conference schedule over the weekend with dual meet wins against Illinois Springfield and Lewis at the UMSL Tennis Courts. The Tritons topped the Prairie Stars 6-1 on Friday before edging the Flyers 4-3 on Saturday. Morgan Lint went 4-0 over the weekend, teaming Anna Favaron for a pair of victories at No. 2 doubles while beating both Illinois-Springfield’s Niamh Grogan and Lewis’ Benedetta Luccone in straight sets in singles play. Aleksandra Lopez, Favaron, Giuliana Cunza and Lauren Sweeney also scored singles victories against the Prairie Stars with Favaron pulling out a 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 win over Kamila Kalinowska at No. 3 singles. Cunza had a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Avelynn Wen at No. 5 singles against Lewis, while Sweeney won by default. UMSL (9-4, 2-0 GLVC) will continue conference play with road duals against Indianapolis on Friday and McKendree on Saturday.
Men’s Tennis
Alejandro Ley, Percy Siercke, Daniel Berdecio and Henry Roberts each went 2-0 in singles play over the weekend while helping the Tritons win dual meets against Illinois Springfield and Lewis to begin GLVC play. UMSL cruised to a 7-0 victory over the Prairie Stars, winning the two contested doubles matches and sweeping all five contested singles matches in straight sets. The Tritons were pushed a bit more in Saturday’s 4-3 win over the Flyers after losing the doubles point. But Ley took the first set of his No. 1 singles match against Robert Leal 6-4 and was leading 4-2 in the second when Leal retired, evening the dual at 1-1. Siercke, Berdecio and Henry then won their singles matches with Henry pulling out a 6-4 7-6 (8) victory over Santiago Carabajal at No. 5 singles to clinch the dual. The Tritons (9-6, 2-0 GLVC) will hit the road this week, facing No. 17 Indianapolis on Friday and McKendree on Saturday as they continue conference play.
Softball
Simia Spahiev hit three home runs, including a pair of walk-off blasts, as UMSL went 4-0 over the weekend, sweeping an Alumni Day doubleheader against Quincy on Saturday and winning both games of its doubleheader against Upper Iowa on Sunday. Spahiev hit her first walk-off home run among her three hits in Saturday’s 4-3 opening game win, and May Pasqualini added two hits and drove in two runs. The Tritons won more comfortably in Saturday’s second game as Ashley Borowitz held the Hawks to one run on five hits while striking out six in a 6-1 victory. Spahiev again supplied some of the offense with two hits and her second home run of the day. Hannah Tomlianovich and Jamie Widule each drove in two runs of their own. UMSL needed to play extra innings to pull out a 10-8 victory in the first game against the Peacocks. Spahiev’s two-run home run ended the game in the ninth, and Borowitz picked up the win with two innings of scoreless relief. Borowitz got a shutout in the second game of the doubleheader, which ended after five innings with the Tritons leading 8-0. Tomlianovich finished with three hits and five RBI in the game, and she ended the weekend going 12 for 17 with 10 RBI, two doubles and a triple. UMSL (16-21, 9-13 GLVC) will play host to Northwest Missouri State in a nonconference game on Thursday and will take on Drury in a conference doubleheader on Saturday.
Baseball
Andrew Buescher tied the Tritons’ career home run record when he hit a two-run shot in the sixth inning of the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader against Rockhurst on Alumni Weekend at the UMSL Baseball Field. The home run was the 24th of his UMSL career and helped the Tritons to a 14-4 win. But that was the only win of the weekend for Coach Scott Eul’s team. It dropped Friday’s opener against the Hawks 9-4, lost Saturday’s doubleheader opener 8-2 and fell 14-10 in Sunday’s series finale. The Tritons were outhit 50-34 in the series. Buescher finished with four hits and drove in a combined five runs. Noah Tomaras hit a grand slam Saturday’s Game 2 victory. Mitch Bonczkowski hit two home runs and Braedon Stoakes hit one home run among UMSL’s 14 hits in Sunday’s loss. Bonczkowski finished 3 for 4 with four RBI in the game, and he had five hits in the series. The Tritons (22-19, 11-13 GLVC) will take on Upper Iowa at home in a four-game series beginning Thursday.
Women’s Golf
No. 20 UMSL sat in first place after the first two rounds of the UMSL Spring Invitational, which started Sunday at Norwood Hills Country Club. Emmy Wahl led the Tritons with a score of 142 through the first two rounds to sit in second place on the individual leaderboard entering Monday’s final round. Wahl helped UMSL post a combined score of 580 through 36 holes of the 54-hole tournament. Wilma Zanderau was tied for third individually with a total of 143, one shot better than teammate Mayan Covarrubias. Indianapolis’ Ava Ray was in the lead after two rounds with a total of 141. The Tritons held a 12-shot advantage over the Greyhounds in the team standings. The tournament was set to conclude on Monday.
Men’s Golf
The Tritons placed eighth out of 14 teams in the West Florida Argonaut Invitational at the Pensacola Country Club in Pensacola, Florida. UMSL posted a combined score of 865 in the 54-hole tournament and was 35 shots back of the host team, West Florida, which won the event with a total of 830. Dani Solavera placed the Tritons with a total of 212 to finish 13th in a field of 81 golfers. Trigg Lindahl tied for 33rd with a total of 216, which included a final-round 70. Benjamin Berger was one shot back in a tie for 38th after shooting 71 in Tuesday’s third round. West Florida’s Per Ekelund was the medalist with a score of 200, finishing six shots ahead of his runner-up teammate Trey Rouse. The Tritons are back in action on Sunday when they play the first two rounds of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship at Silo Ridge Golf Club in Bolivar, Missouri.
Men’s and Women’s Track and Field
UMSL’s track teams had athletes competing in the Mule Relays on Friday in Warrensburg, Missouri, and at the SIUE Cougar Classic on Saturday in Edwardsville, Illinois. Will Kaempfe led the Tritons’ contingent on Friday, placing ninth in the the men’s 5,000 meters with a time of 14 minutes, 44.57 seconds. Teammate Benjamin VandenBrink was 16th in the event while Toby Middleton placed 11th in the men’s 1,500 with a time of 3:57.15 Gavin Love had a top-10 finish in the men’s 800 meters on Saturday, placing ninth with a time of 1:57.74, Caleb Leach was 12th with a time of 1:59.95. On the women’s side, Rebekah Vail finished 10th in the shot put with a top throw of 36 feet, 4 1/4 inches. She also finished 23rd in the hammer throw and 24th in the discus. UMSL’s teams will next compete at the Millikin Friday Night Invite in Decatur, Illinois.
