College notebook: Smith serving up winners for Marshall
After going 3-0 in the Mountain State doubleheader over the weekend, Marshall’s Stephanie Smith was named Conference USA Women’s Tennis Player of the Week, the league announced Wednesday.
Smith, a senior from Venetia, lost only one game over two singles matches, opening with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Christina Jordan of West Virginia, and followed it with a 6-0, 6-0 win over reigning two-time Mountain East Conference (NCAA Division II) Player of the Year Laura Isbey of West Virginia State. Smith also paired with Maddie Silver to defeat the Mountain East’s top doubles pair, Kierstin Hensley and Nina Dillwald, 6-0.
Smith is tied for the Marshall lead in both singles wins and doubles wins (nine each) and has won four straight singles matches, including consecutive wins over ranked opponents during the Herd’s trip to Las Vegas. The consecutive ranked wins marked the first time Smith had achieved that feat and the first time a Marshall player has done so since 2016.
“Stephanie has been playing great tennis the last few weeks,” head coach John Mercer said. “It’s nice to see her get some recognition for her play.”
Smith is the first Thundering Herd player to earn Conference USA Player of the Week honors since 2011.
Smith was a second team All-Conference USA singles selection last year. She won a PIAA doubles title for Peters Township and is a two-time U.S. Open Section qualifying champion.
In softball
Abby McCartney, a junior first baseman/outfielder from McDonald and a Canon-McMillan graduate, went into the weekend as the second-leading hitter for Robert Morris with a .318 batting average. McCartney has seven doubles, a triple, a home run and 14 RBI in 29 games. She has three three-hit games and drove in three runs with two doubles and a single against Cleveland State.
McCartney’s teammate at Canon-McMillan, Olivia Lorusso, is batting .261 for Robert Morris with eight doubles, a triple and is second on the team with 15 RBI. Lorusso, a senior third baseman, had a three-RBI game against Rider.
Olivia Gray, a junior shortstop from Washington and a Trinity graduate, had two hits, drove in the game’s only run and had an unassisted double play Friday night as Pitt defeated Florida State 1-0 in eight innings, ending the Seminoles’ 36-game Atlantic Coast Conference winning streak.
Gray’s two-out single to right field gave Pitt the 1-0 lead in the top of the eighth. In the bottom fo the inning, Florida State had a leadoff double before Gray snagged a line drive up the middle and stepped on second base for an unassisted double play.
Pitt senior catcher Giorgianna Zeremenko of Canonsburg was 1-for-3 in the game.
Morgan Riley, a sophomore shortstop from Charleroi, has been one of the top hitters in the Ohio Athletic Conference as she leads Mount Union in doubles, home runs and RBI.
Riley has eight doubles, five home runs and 15 RBI in 20 games for the Purple Raiders. She also has a team-leading 15 runs and stwo stolen bases.
Riley started the season with four consecutive multi-hit games and has four games with at least three hits.
Last season, Riley was the OAC Rookie of the Year.
Kayla Alderson, a multi-position plater for Marietta, is batting .315 in her freshman season for the Pioneers.
A Houston native and Chartiers-Houston graduate, Alderson has three doubles, a triple, two home runs and 13 RBI in only 18 games. She also is third on the team with seven walks.
Alderson hit two home runs and drove in four in a game against Emory & Henry.
Sara Jubas, a freshman from McDonald and a South Fayette graduate, is the starting shortstop for James Madison.
Jubas has made an instant impact for the Dukes with a 2.55 batting average, three home runs and 18 RBI in 34 games. She has struck out only five times in 112 plate appearances and has helped James Madison to a 26-8 record.
In baseball
The cold spring weather hasn’t been the best conditions for baseball but it hasn’t stopped Tanner Piechnick from becoming one of the top hitters for Ohio University.
Piechnick, a sophomore catcher and outfielder from Canonsburg and a Canon-McMillan graduate, had a big game Friday in the Bobcats’ 15-4 win at Toledo. Piechnick went 4-for-4 including a double, scored twice and drove in two runs.
Piechnick worked his way into the lineup as a freshman and this spring is Ohio’s second-leading hitter with a .361 batting average in 22 games. He has six doubles and is second on the team with four home runs.
He hit two home runs March 23 in a 6-4 loss to Bowling Green, and the four hits against marked his career high. He has 10 career multi-hit games.
Jonathan Spina, a former standout at Washington High School, is having a good season for La Roche, where he is the Redhawks’ third-leading hitter with a .377 batting average.
A junior outfielder, Spina has 29 hits in 19 games and his four triples leads the team.
Spina had four hits in La Roche’s wild 17-16 victory over Muskingum and went 4-for-4 with three doubles in a win over Waynesburg.
La Roche has a 14-5 record and is 3-1 in the Allegheny Mountain Athletic Conference.
Frankie Jezioro, a junior outfielder from McMurray and a Peters Township graduate, has helped Slippery Rock to an 8-2 start in the PSAC’s West Division and a 15-7 overall record.
Jezioro has a 3.25 batting average and is one of seven players hitting at least .300 for The Rock. Jezioro has six doubles, two home runs and 17 RBI. he leads the team with nine stolen bases and has not been caught stealing.
In a March 12 game against Mansfield, Jezioro had four hits and four RBI.
In track and field
Waynesburg’s Addy Knetzer was named the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Field Athlete of the Week for her performance March 31 at the Bethany Invitational.
Knetzer, a senior from Houston and a Chartiers-Houston graduate, won the women’s shot put competition with a throw of 43-9 ¾., which currently ranks third nationally in NCAA Division III. Knetzer also had the top Division III mark in the discus at Bethany with a throw of 108-2 3/4, which was good for 10th place on the D-III national list.