College Roundup Ecstasy and agony for Moran, St. Joe’s

By John Manley

St. Joseph’s, Pa., was spotted as the 10th seed in the West Regional bracket of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championships, which was held in Piscataway, N.J. Be that as it may, the Hawks and star forward Susan Moran stuck it to seventh-seeded Texas, 69-48, in first-round action.

Moran, a sophomore from Tullamore, Co. Offaly, led the way with 24 points and 13 rebounds, both game highs. She connected on nine of 16 shots from the field and six of 10 free throws. She also brought off four steals.

The euphoria lasted less than 48 hours as the host team, Rutgers, then administered similar treatment to the Hawks by a 59-39 score.

Moran was unable to find the hoop as Rutgers limited her to just two field goals from 15 attempts. She made three of four shots from the foul line to finish with seven points. She also had eight rebounds. St. Joe’s finished the season with 25 wins against six losses.

Men’s hoops

Azusa Pacific had a short run in the NAIA Tournament. Faulkner University bounced the Cougars in the first round, 97-73. Sophomore center Gary Dredge was limited to two points, both on free throws. He also grabbed four rebounds, three off the offensive glass, in 14 minutes on the floor. Azusa finished the season with a 27-6 record. Dredge hails from Clondalkin, Co. Dublin.

Tennis

Seton Hall’s women’s team enjoyed victories over Southeastern Louisiana, 7-2, and Georgetown, 9-0, sandwiched around an 8-1 loss to New Orleans. The Hall’s Laura McCracken recovered from a first set loss to overtake SLU’s Anna DuPlooy, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, at second singles. McCracken and Kyli Lasalle lost their match at first doubles to Anne Mette and DuPlooy, 8-2. The Hall’s Judy McAuley and Pille Arike swept a second doubles match against Brownwyn Swanepoel and Jessica Lewis, 8-0.

McAuley, a senior from Loughlinstown, Co. Dublin, provided Seton Hall with its lone point against New Orleans, defeating Ulrika Ericsson at sixth singles, 6-3, 6-3. McCracken, a senior from Greystones, Co. Wicklow, lost to Isabelle Benoit at second singles, 6-4, 6-3.

In doubles play, McCracken and Lasalle lost to Benoit and Sofia Hallstrom, 8-1, while McAuley and Arike fell to Wiebke Ruhl and Sylvia Lokollo, 8-2.

Both McCracken and McAuley registered singles victories over Georgetown. McCracken defeated Sarada Ravindra, 6-3, 6-1, at second singles, while McAuley throttled Ayana Brooks at the sixth slot, 6-1, 6-2. McCracken and Lasalle fought to an 8-6 decision over Caroline Marshall and Lucky Ravindra at first doubles, while McAuley and Arike defeated Kim Wattrick and Hadley Muckerman, 8-3, at second doubles.

Mississippi State’s Eimear Sloan joined Carole Soubis at first doubles for an 8-3 victory over Texas-El Paso’s Tanja Magoc and Jana Perkova. MSU came away with a 9-0 victory. Sloan is a senior from Dublin.

Harvard’s Jennie Timoney was a double winner as the Crimson topped Old Dominion, 8-1. The sophomore from Celbridge, Co. Kildare, shot down Patricia Araujo at fifth singles, 6-0, 6-1, and teamed with Lara Naqushbani for an 8-6 win over Araujo and Camila Rosa at third doubles.

Harvard’s men found the going rough against Indiana, dropping a 5-2 verdict to the Hoosiers. The Crimson’s Joe Green, a senior from Dublin, lost to Milan Rakvica, 6-7, 6-0, 6-1, at first singles, and also came out on the short end of an 8-5 decision at first doubles as he was teamed with Dave Lingman against Ian Arons and Gabe Montilla. Indiana’s George McGill, a senior from Castletroy, Co. Limerick, was a winner at fourth singles over Anthony Barker, 6-7, 7-5, 6-0. McGill and Rakvica dropped a match at second doubles to Harvard’s William Lee and Andrew Styperek, 8-5.

Indiana then continued their winning ways by defeating Vanderbilt, 5-2. McGill lost to Peter Blach, 6-2, 7-6, at fourth singles, but enjoyed a 9-7 victory at second doubles with Rakvica over the McGugin brothers, Bill and Dan.

Rice’s Robert Collins had a useful weekend at the third singles slot. He dropped Columbia’s Salil Seshadri, 6-0, 6-4, and West Virginia’s Irakli Tatishvili, 6-1, 6-3. The senior from Dublin also took to the court for a match at first doubles against with Prakash Venkataraman. They defeated Seshadri and Akram Zaman, 8-6. Rice won the West Virginia match, 4-2, but lost to Columbia, 4-3.

Brown’s Nick Malone knocked off William & Mary’s Alex Soeters, 6-2, 6-4, in a singles match of the East Coast Great Eight Shootout, held in Virginia. William & Mary won the match, 3-2. Brown’s sophomore from Greystones, Co. Wicklow later dropped a singles tilt with Middle Tennessee State’s Daniel Klemetz, 6-1, 6-0. Malone did participate in a doubles victory with Justin Natale, defeating Oliver Foreman and Olle Nystrom, 8-2. Brown was a 4-3 victor over MTSU.