CHARLESTON, S.C. – College of Charleston posted another strong week of team achievements as the spring sports move into crunch time with conference tournaments on the near horizon.
Capping the week was the Wednesday announcement that College of Charleston had won the CAA's second-annual Food Drive Challenge. Teaming with the Lowcountry Food Bank to organize the food drive at different spots on campus, Cougar student-athletes collected 2,356 pounds of food and $1,516 in donations to the food bank, more than any other CAA school.
The CofC baseball team had a busy week with several important announcements on top of a successful 4-0 road sweep. The Cougars knocked off Jacksonville, then swept defending CAA champion Towson on the road to improve to 4-2 in conference play. CofC's Morgan Phillips and Tyler Thornton won CAA Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week honors, respectively. CofC announced the unveiling of a tribute to former CofC great and current New York Yankee starter Brett Gardner prior to the April 25 game against Bethune Cookman. The program also announced that current assistant coach Brandon Sizemore and former relief pitcher Brett Harker will be inducted into the CofC Wall of Fame on Friday, May 16.
The College of Charleston equestrian team finished as the reserve champion at the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) Zone 5 finals, earning CofC advancement to the IHSA National Finals and the Cougars' 24th appearance at collegiate riding's most elite stage. Riders Eliza Hay (Open Fences/ Flat), Trudy Noll (Intermediate Fences), Malka Fox-Epstein (Intermediate Flat), Victoria Bauer (Novice Fences/ Flat), Charlotte Pinckney (Walk-Trot-Canter), and Victoria Gonzalez (Walk-Trot) will represent the College of Charleston in its 24th National appearance in May.
The softball team (28-12) ran its winning streak to six games with a doubleheader sweep of Charleston Southern last Saturday. Freshman Samantha Martin and junior Hope Klicker both tossed complete-game gems, while Valerie Cassell tallied game-winning RBI in the bottom of the ninth inning of the first game. The Cougars now boast an RPI rating of 46, which is the highest recorded national ranking in the program's D-I era.
Men's tennis' Chilean duo of freshman Rodrigo Encinas and senior Crescente Lesser were named CAA men's Doubles Team of the Week. Encinas and Lesser earned the honors after posting a pair of victories at No. 2 doubles as the No. 65-ranked Cougars defeated DePaul and Georgia State this past weekend.
The sailing team earned another trip to the ICSA Team Race Nationals after defeating conference rival South Florida at the SAISA Team Race Championship regatta on Saturday in Charleston harbor. CofC tallied a 5-1 record to win the event over USF and Eckerd College. Sending CofC to nationals was sophomore skipper Jake Reynolds, junior All-American crew Ali Blumenthal, sophomore crew Beka Schiff, sophomore skipper Ryan Davidson, sophomore crew Emily Stuart, senior crew Roy Shaw, junior skipper Nick Johnstone and sophomore crew Seppie McAdams.
The sand volleyball team hosted a number of strong teams in its annual CofC Sand Classic this past weekend at the Creekside Tennis and Swim facility in Mt. Pleasant. A capacity crowd came out to see the Cougars down in-state rival South Carolina, 3-2, in the teams' first-ever meeting. Unfortunately, the Cougars fell to Mercer and nationally-ranked Florida State and Georgia State to run the team's record to 6-4.
The track & field team turned in impressive results at the 74-year old Florida Relays this weekend, breaking two school records which were previously posted in 2011, and several posted lifetime and season bests as the Cougars competed alongside an elite field. Hayley McMahon was named the CofC Athlete of the Meet by the coaching staff after turning in an impressive triple. Her opening 1500m was her fastest so far this year, and she ran another season best in the 800m leg of the sprint medley and turned in a solid performance in the 1600m leg of the distance medley relay.
The women's tennis team returned to its winning ways with a 5-2 decision over JMU, just a day after losing to UNCW. Mary Argyriou, Samantha Maddox, Jenny Falcone and Grace Baker all won their singles matches as the Cougars improved their season record to 15-7, including 4-1 in the CAA.
Junior Zach Munroe made a top-15 finish as the College of Charleston men's golf team closed out the 2014 Mason Rudolph Men's Championship on Sunday with a three-round score of 895 to place 10th at the Vanderbilt Legends Club South Course.
CofC STUDENT-ATHLETES of the WEEK sponsored by Harris Teeter
Morgan Phillips, Baseball, So., New York, N.Y. – Phillips was named CAA Player of the Week for the first time in his career as he led CofC to a 4-0 week. Phillips hit .474 with six doubles, a triple as he tallied seven RBIs and scored seven runs. Eight of his nine hits went for extra bases as he posted a slugging percentage of 1.053 for the week. Phillips set a new career high with four RBIs in CofC's Friday victory, then he set three new career highs with four hits, three doubles and 10 bases in Sunday's win.
Victoria Bauer, Equestrian, Fr., Santa Clara, Calif., - Bauer was instrumental in guiding the CofC equestrian team to its 24th appearance at IHSA Nationals. At Saturday's IHSA Zone 5 Finals, she started her day with a blue ribbon in Novice Fences which seated the Cougars in first place at the completion of the jumping phases. She then finished as the reserve champion in Novice Flat, keeping the Cougars on pace to eventually place second in the Zone finals and move on to Nationals.
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