A Look Back at the 2009-10 Big West Sports Season

UC Irvine's First Team All-American John Chin won men's golf individual medalist honors by nine strokes in one of many impressive achievements by Big West student-athletes in 2009-10.

The 2009-10 campaign will be remembered for solid individual and team successes across the Big West sports landscape.

The premier sport during the Big West fall sports season, men’s soccer, produced two NCAA Tournament teams in UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara.  The Anteaters repeated as Big West Tournament champion to secure the conference’s automatic NCAA bid.  UCI fell in the second round.  Meanwhile, the Gauchos recorded their sixth regular season conference title since 2001, and utilized a strong résumé to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA postseason.  UCSB responded with wins against Wofford and San Diego in the opening two rounds before losing in the Sweet 16.  Both the Anteaters and Gauchos accomplished a rare feat, becoming only the second duo in Big West history to win at least 15 matches in a season.

Women’s soccer featured UC Santa Barbara winning the Big West Tournament for the second straight season.  That afforded the Gauchos a repeat trip to the NCAA Tournament, something the program had not accomplished since making three straight appearances from 1989-91.  Cal Poly won its record sixth Big West regular season title after taking down UCSB on the final day of the league ledger, but suffered a heartbreaking penalty kick loss to the Gauchos in the tournament finals.

In women’s volleyball, Long Beach State continued its domination of the Big West, winning its 10th conference championship and advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the 23rd straight season.  UC Santa Barbara made its 27th overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and first since 2006.  Both the 49ers and Gauchos dropped their first round matches.  UCSB head coach Kathy Gregory reached a milestone in collecting the 600th win of her career.  Six teams finished above .500 overall for the first time since 2004, including Cal State Fullerton, which tied a school record with 18 victories.

Cross country was highlighted by the Cal Poly men collecting its seventh consecutive Big West title.  The UC Santa Barbara women’s contingent returned to the winner’s circle for the first time since 2007.  At the West Regional, top 10 team finishes were achieved by the Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara men, as well as the UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara women.  Three Big West individuals – UC Santa Barbara’s Scott Smith and Crystal Reed, and Cal Poly’s Joe Gatel – were selected to participate in the NCAA National Championships.

Moving into the winter sports season, UC Santa Barbara became the sixth different school in six seasons to earn the men’s basketball automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament.  Buoyed by a bevy of sophomores, including Player of the Year Orlando Johnson, UCSB captured the Big West Tournament crown for the first time since 2002 and earned a date with Ohio State in the NCAA first round.  Pacific appeared in the CollegeInsider.com postseason tournament for the second consecutive year, and advanced all the way to the championship game.  The Tigers played the entire tournament on the road.  After successful forays to Loyola Marymount, Northern Colorado and Appalachian State, the magic ran out at Missouri State.  Pacific’s 12 road wins tied for second nationally in 2009-10.

UC Riverside restored its program to the league’s mountaintop in 2009-10, taking home the Big West Tournament crown for the third time in the last five seasons.  The Highlanders overcame a 3-12 start to reach the NCAA Tournament, where they fell in the first round to Stanford.  UC Davis earned an automatic bid to the Women’s NIT by virtue of winning the regular season championship.  Cal Poly’s Kristina Santiago averaged 19.6 points per game to become the first Mustang in school history to collect Player of the Year honors.

UC Davis swept the men’s and women’s swimming and diving titles in the Big West’s final season sponsoring the sport.  The Aggie men picked up 958.6 points, the highest scoring total ever in a five-team Big West configuration.  The Aggie women scored 864 points to take down four-time defending champion UC Santa Barbara.  Three Big West student-athletes qualified for the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships.  On the women’s side, UCSB’s Anne Marie May competed in the 50 and 100 freestyle.  Cal Poly’s Peter Kline and Scott Weltz of UC Davis represented the men at the national meet. 

A busy spring sports season presented more opportunities for individual and team accomplishments.

Baseball sent multiple teams to the NCAA Championship once again as Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine ranked among the best programs in the country.  Beset by a myriad of injuries, Cal State Fullerton came within one out of reaching the College World Series in a heartbreaking setback to UCLA in Super Regional action.  The Titans, which spawned two first-round draft picks in Christian Colon and Gary Brown, hosted and won a regional before taking the Bruins to the cusp of elimination.  UCI reached the regional championship game after gaining some measure of vengeance against an LSU squad that prevented the Anteaters from advancing to the CWS in 2008.  The Big West had 49 players selected in the 2010 MLB Draft, including Colon, who was the fourth overall pick.

A new program emerged in the battle for softball supremacy in 2010.  UC Davis captured its first Big West automatic bid to the NCAA Softball Championship in just its third season at the Division I level.  The Aggies tied Cal State Northridge for the regular season title, but won the head-to-head series against the Matadors.  CSUN actually churned out the most wins (31) of any Big West school, and even did so after sputtering to a 1-9 start.

In contrast, women’s water polo kept the status quo as UC Irvine captured its second straight Big West Tournament title.  The Anteaters began the tournament as the No. 3 seed and proceeded to win three straight matches, topping Big West regular season co-champions Pacific and Cal State Northridge in the process.  That did not overshadow the impressive accomplishments by the Tiger and Matador programs, which set school records for wins with 23 and 28, respectively.  Five Big West squads finished the season ranked in the nation’s top 25, including UCI at No. 9.

Golf featured some solid individual performances to highlight the 2010 spring campaign.  UC Irvine senior John Chin was named a 2010 first-team All-American by Golfweek and the Golf Coaches Association of America.  He then helped the United States defeat Europe, 13-11, in the Palmer Cup at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.  Chin was the ringleader of a UCI squad that won the Big West championship.  Individually, Cal State Northridge’s Nick Delio and Austin Graham of UC Davis competed at the Southwest Regional.  Delio achieved medalist honors and became the first Matador to advance to the NCAA Championships since the school moved to Division I in 1991.  Delio finished in a tie for 103rd at the NCAA Championships.  On the women’s side, UC Davis won its first Big West championship as four Aggies finished in the top five.

UC Irvine became the first Big West school since former member Boise State in 1997 to sweep the men’s and women’s tennis tournament titles.  The men raised the trophy for the first time since 2005.  The Anteater women ended a six-year reign by Long Beach State, capturing the first tournament title in school history.  Pacific’s Jenifer Widjaja, the Big West Women’s Player of the Year, represented the conference for the second straight year in the NCAA Singles Championships.  Cal Poly’s talented senior duo of Brittany Blalock and Suzie Matzenauer carried the Big West flag at the NCAA Doubles Championships.

Cal State Northridge swept the track and field championships as the men captured its fifth title and the women its seventh.  A total of 17 Big West athletes and two relay teams advanced to the NCAA Championships.  Nine athletes claimed All-American status at the conclusion of the championships.  UC Santa Barbara’s Julian deRubira (steeplechase) and Ryan Martin (800), UC Irvine’s Charles Jock (800) and Cal State Northridge Reindell Cole (long jump) received the award on the men’s side, with Cole earning his second All-American honor.  Among the women honorees, UC Riverside’s Brenda Martinez (1500) and UC Santa Barbara’s Danielle Domenichelli (10000) joined Long Beach State’s Randi Hicks (javelin), and UC Santa Barbara’s Jane Doolittle (high jump) and Barbara Nwaba (multi events).

In all, 12 Big West teams and 27 individual athletes participated in NCAA postseason competition this past season.

2009-10 BIG WEST ALL-AMERICANS

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL (6)

American Volleyball Coaches Association
HONORABLE MENTION
Caitlin Ledoux, Long Beach State
Kayla Neto, Cal State Fullerton
Kari Pestolesi, UC Irvine
Juliane Piggott, UC Irvine
Rebecca Saraceno, UC Santa Barbara
Naomi Washington, Long Beach State

MEN’S SOCCER (1)

College Soccer News
SECOND TEAM
Irving Garcia, UC Irvine

NSCAA/Performance Subaru
THIRD TEAM
Irving Garcia, UC Irvine

Soccer America
THIRD TEAM
Irving Garcia, UC Irvine

MEN’S BASKETBALL (1)

Associated Press
HONORABLE MENTION
Orlando Johnson, UC Santa Barbara

MEN’S GOLF (2)

Golfweek
FIRST TEAM
John Chin, UC Irvine

PING
FIRST TEAM
John Chin, UC Irvine

HONORABLE MENTION
Nick Delio, Cal State Northridge

BASEBALL (6)

Baseball America
FIRST TEAM
Christian Colon, Cal State Fullerton

SECOND TEAM
Gary Brown, Cal State Fullerton

THIRD TEAM
Noe Ramirez, Cal State Fullerton

Collegiate Baseball
FIRST TEAM
Daniel Bibona, UC Irvine
Gary Brown, Cal State Fullerton

SECOND TEAM
Nick Ramirez, Cal State Fullerton
Noe Ramirez, Cal State Fullerton

THIRD TEAM
Daniel Renken, Cal State Fullerton

NCBWA
FIRST TEAM
Gary Brown, Cal State Fullerton

SECOND TEAM
Daniel Bibona, UC Irvine

THIRD TEAM
Nick Ramirez, Cal State Fullerton

PING!
FIRST TEAM
Daniel Bibona, UC Irvine
Gary Brown, Cal State Fullerton
Nick Ramirez, Cal State Fullerton
Noe Ramirez, Cal State Fullerton

SECOND TEAM
Christian Colon, Cal State Fullerton

MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD (4)

USTFCCCA
Reindell Cole, Cal State Northridge
Julian deRubira, UC Santa Barbara
Charles Jock, UC Irvine
Ryan Martin, UC Santa Barbara

WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD (5)

USTFCCCA
Danielle Domenichelli, UC Santa Barbara
Jane Doolittle, UC Santa Barbara
Randi Hicks, Long Beach State
Brenda Martinez, UC Riverside
Barbara Nwaba, UC Santa Barbara