Watters grabs WVU honors with strong season start; varsity sports update

Last Week in Men’s Soccer: The Mountaineers fell to No. 1 Marshall, 3-2, in the Sun Belt Championship finals on Sunday in Huntington … Sergio Ors Navarro scored both goals for WVU while Ryan Baer, Brayden Borutskie and Max Broughton each tallied an assist … the Mountaineers advanced to the title match after defeating South Carolina, 2-0, in Orlando on Nov. 8 … Yutaro Tsukada and Luke McCormick each scored with Frederik Jorgensen collecting an assist.

Notes: The Mountaineers are the No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament … it is the highest national seed in program history, surpassing the previous high of No. 6 set in 2006 … it is the 16th NCAA appearance in program history … the higher seed will host their NCAA games up until the College Cup which is Dec. 8 and 11 in Louisville, Kentucky … Sergio Ors Navarro, Luke McCormick and Yutaro Tsukada were named to the All-Sun Belt Tournament Team after each scoring multiple goals in the three games … Tsukada (20th, 27) and sophomore Marcus Caldeira (25th, 26) are one of just three pairs of teammates to be in the top 25 in points.

This Week in Women’s Basketball: The Mountaineers return home on Sunday, Nov. 19, when they welcome Youngstown State to the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown … tipoff is set for 4 p.m. ET against the Penguins.

Last Week in Women’s Basketball: West Virginia opened its season on Nov. 7, with a 74-39 win over Loyola Maryland … the victory marked the first of head coach Mark Kellogg’s tenure … three players finished in double figure scoring, led by junior guard JJ Quinerly with 19 points … sophomore guard Jordan Harrison added 18, and fifth year guard Lauren Fields finished with 13 points … redshirt junior guard Kyah Watson led WVU in rebounds (six), steals (four) and assists (three) … the Mountaineers competed in the Backyard Brawl later in the week on Nov. 12, defeating Pittsburgh, 71-62 … the win marked the sixth straight against Pitt … Fields led the way with 23 points … Watson finished with her second career double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds … Harrison filled the stat sheet with 10 assists, seven steals and six rebounds, all while just committing three turnovers.

Notes: Across two contests this season the Mountaineers have trailed for just over a minute of game time … Fields and Quinerly opened the season with back-to-back double-digit scoring performances … Harrison’s stat line against Pitt marks the third time in program history that a player has reached the marks and the first since Yolanda Page in 2004 … West Virginia forced Pitt guard Marley Washenitz into 12 turnovers, the most by a single opposing player in a game since WVU forced Noelle Chiodo of Robert Morris into 16 in 1992 … WVU’s meeting with YSU on Sunday is the 20th meeting between the programs … the Mountaineers are 11-8 all-time against the Penguins including a 6-4 mark at the WVU Coliseum.

This Week in Volleyball: West Virginia (9-19, 2-13 Big 12) travels to Waco, Texas, on Saturday, Nov. 18, to face Baylor … Saturday’s match is slated for 3 p.m. ET.

Last Week in Volleyball: The Mountaineers fell in a pair of matches to Texas Tech on Nov. 9-10 … Texas Tech grabbed the first match of the series in a 3-0 sweep over West Virginia ... Tech went on to take the second match, 3-2.

Notes: Junior outside hitter Hailey Green collected 18 kills on Nov. 10, versus the Red Raiders ... redshirt senior setter Lauren DeLo notched her third-highest output this season with 51 assists, and fifth year libero Camilla Covas led West Virginia in digs and service aces, with 21 and three, respectively against Texas Tech on Nov. 10.

This Week in Rifle: West Virginia has finished competition for the fall.

Last Week in Rifle: The Mountaineers closed out its fall season at the second annual WVU Fall Classic … WVU defeated three top-10 teams in No. 7 Air Force, No. 8 Murray State and No. 10 Nebraska … West Virginia scored a 4741 as Air Force (4709) took second, Nebraska (4700) took third and Murray State (4692) finished fourth … four Mountaineers finished in the top four spots on the individual leaderboard with Griffin Lake (1188) in first, followed by Molly McGhin (1187), Matt Sanchez (1184) and Natalie Perrin (1182) … Lake added the best WVU finish in air rifle at 596, second overall, while McGhin finished first in smallbore at 594.

Notes: Griffin Lake finished first on the overall leaderboard with a 1188 helping WVU to wins over No. 7 Air Force, No. 8 Murray State and No. 10 Nebraska at the WVU Fall Classic … he finished in second place in both smallbore (592) and air rifle (596).

This Week in Wrestling: West Virginia battles Clarion in the team’s first road dual of the season at Waldo S. Tippin Gymnasium on Thursday, Nov. 16 ... dual time is set to start at 7 p.m. ET.

Last Week in Wrestling: The Mountaineers cruised to a sweep of Kent State (44-3), Cleveland State (33-9) and Duke (40-6) on Nov. 12 … they outscored their opponents by 99 points, winning 25 of 30 total matches overall … six grapplers posted an undefeated mark (3-0) at the Mountaineer Quad, including junior Jett Strickenberger (125) and true freshman Ty Watters (149), who both registered three bonus-point victories in their WVU Coliseum debuts … senior Caleb Dowling (157) and redshirt freshman Brody Conley (174) also added three bonus-point victories … redshirt sophomore Jordan Titus (141) and redshirt junior Dennis Robin (174) earned three victories apiece as well to round out the group.

Notes: WVU swept its annual showcase for the second consecutive year, as the Gold and Blue topped Glenville State (37-9), Edinboro (40-3), and Northern Colorado (25-15) to begin last season’s campaign … updated national individual rankings will be announced later this week … off the mat, head coach Tim Flynn and company signed three top-100 recruits to national letters-of-intent during National Signing Day last week … the class includes Pennsylvania’s Rune Lawrence (No. 18 overall - No. 3 weight class) and Shawn Taylor (No. 49 overall - No. 17 weight class), as well as Georgia’s Hoke Hogan (No. 72 overall - No. 7 weight class), while also adding New York’s brotherly duo of Anthony and Joseph Clem and Brycen Arbogast to complete the No. 14 ranked recruiting class in the country according to FloWrestling.

This Week in Cross Country: The Mountaineers concluded the 2023 season at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regionals.

Last Week in Cross Country: West Virginia finished fourth out of 27 teams with 120 points, at the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regionals on Nov. 10 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, at the Goodman Campus Cross Country Course … freshman Alexis Lamb set a career-best time, (20:11.1) and finished 14th overall to lead the Mountaineers … redshirt senior Sarah Tait followed behind in 16th place, with a time of 20:18.8 … redshirt senior Katherine Dowie rounded out the top runners for West Virginia, finishing 21st overall, with a 20:29.5 time.

Notes: Lamb, Tait and Dowie earned All-Mid-Atlantic Region honors, as they finished within the top-25 in the women’s 6k … Dowie’s regional honor marks the third in her career, placing her second on the all-time list for West Virginia.

This Week in Swimming and Diving: West Virginia hosts the WVU Invitational on Nov. 16-18, at the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park in Morgantown.

Last Week in Swimming and Diving: West Virginia did not compete last week.

Notes: Along with West Virginia, teams competing at the WVU Invitational include Delaware, Drexel, East Carolina, Navy, Northern Iowa, Old Dominion, Seton Hall, Villanova and William & Mary ... this is WVU’s first meet since it faced Cincinnati on Oct. 27-28.