The OLLU women’s basketball team shut down Louisiana Christian University’s (LCU) offense in a 65-63 victory on Saturday. The Saints improve to 5-11 overall and 4-7 in the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC). The Wildcats drop to 6-8 overall and 3-7 in conference play.
Tiffany Lopez and Julia Plata led the Saints with 13 points each. Cormia Lewis tallied a team-high eight rebounds. Carrie Barrera-Lacy totaled six assists.
The OLLU men’s basketball team fell to Louisiana Christian University (LCU) 76-65 on Saturday afternoon. The Saints drop to 7-10 overall and 4-7 in the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC). The Wildcats jump to 4-12 overall and 2-8 in conference.
Paul Minjoth led the Saints with 17 points. Rob Gil grabbed eight rebounds for OLLU. Gil also tallied eight assists.
The OLLU men’s and women’s tennis teams open their season on Friday with home matches against Jacksonville College at Blossom Tennis Center.
Coach Dave Watts returns for his second season after leading the men’s team to a Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) Tournament Championship appearance. The men’s team is ranked No. 20 in the nation.
Under Watts, The women’s team won seven matches last season, which included a 4-3 comeback victory over NCAA D2 Western New Mexico University.
OLLU men’s basketball Head Coach Chris Dial has accepted the men’s basketball head coaching position at Texas A&M University – San Antonio (A&M-San Antonio). Dial will complete the 2023-2024 season with the Saints and report to A&M-San Antonio in mid-March to launch the program that will begin competing in 2024-2025. Both OLLU and A&M-San Antonio are members of the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC).
A&M-San Antonio began its intercollegiate athletics program in 2019 and started competing in the NAIA and RRAC in 2020 with women’s softball, men’s golf and men’s and women’s soccer. In November 2023, the university announced that it would add men’s and women’s basketball. Former OLLU women’s basketball Head Coach Christopher Minner will launch the women’s program for the Jaguars.
OLLU Athletic Director Tom Norris said, “We are sad that Coach Dial will be leaving us, but his legacy at OLLU will live on. He has brought much respect and prominence to the program throughout his five years here. His teams have been shining examples of servant leadership working with the San Antonio Spurs and the organization’s youth camps. The men have also been ardent volunteers with the Haven for Hope homeless community and the San Antonio Food Bank. In addition, his teams have consistently earned scholar-team recognition. We are proud of all his accomplishments both on the court, out in the community and in the classroom.”
Dial began his tenure at OLLU in the 2019-2020 season, and in his five years with the Saints, he has accumulated a record of 46-79. Two of his teams qualified for the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) Championship Tournament. Eight of his players have received All-Conference and All-Tournament recognition. His teams have received NAIA Scholar-Team recognition, a first for the program since its inception in 2009. He has had 124 student-athletes earn GPAs of 3.0 and above.
Dial commented, “I am genuinely thankful for my time and experiences at Our Lady of the Lake. The past five and a half years have been extremely impactful and a lot of that has to do with the quality of people and the relationships I have developed here. OLLU is a terrific university and is continuing an exciting path under its new leadership. My family and I consider the Lake as a part of us, and I am thankful that I was entrusted with restoring faith in the program here. While this year’s work is not done, I am especially proud of our players and staff and all they continue to accomplish on and off the court. We have assembled a team that has been highly impactful on this campus and in our community and it really is a blessing to be a part of their journeys. I am sincerely appreciative of Dr. Chavez (President Abel A. Chávez, MBA, PhD) and Athletic Director Norris for their support in embarking on the next chapter in my personal journey and feel well about where our program is as we look into the new year.”
Assistant Coach Marcus Thompson will be interim head coach upon Dial’s departure.
The men’s basketball team battled against the University of the Southwest (USW) but lost 88-84 on Saturday. The Saints move to 7-8 overall and 4-5 in the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC). The Mustangs now have the same record with the victory.
Lonzo Rand led the Saints with 20 points. Breion Powell grabbed six rebounds for OLLU. Rob Gil tallied eight assists.
The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) has ranked the OLLU men’s tennis team No. 20 in its NAIA Men’s Preseason Top 25 Coaches’ Poll sponsored by Tennis-Point.
Head Coach Dave Watts has led the Saints since June 2022.
On Nov. 16, the ITA announced that Kyllian Savary received a singles ranking of No. 8 and Johan Favelin received a singles ranking of No. 36.
The Saints are in the ITA/Central Region, and on Nov. 16, Favelin received a singles ranking of No. 8, Jaroslav Majsajdr received a doubles ranking of No. 6, Guido Picasso received a doubles ranking of No. 6 and Savarry received a singes ranking of No. 1.
The Saints begin their 2024 season on Jan. 26 against Jacksonville College at the Saints home court Blossom Tennis Center.
OLLU announced that 212 student-athletes from 18 athletics teams earned a 3.0 GPA and above for the fall 2023 semester. Last year, 183 student-athletes earned 3.0 GPAs and above.
Athletic Director Tom Norris said, “I am extremely proud of how our student-athletes performed in the classroom during the fall semester. Compared to last fall, 29 more student-athletes earned a 3.0 GPA or better, while 15 of our 18 teams earned a 3.0 GPA or better. This is a true testament to the work our coaches do to ensure academics is a top priority.”
Men’s Tennis, Women’s Tennis and Drumline had the best GPAs, with the women marking a 3.62 GPA and the men and drumline earning 3.51 GPAs. The women’s tennis team had all eight members of the team finish with a 3.0 and above – Lucia Popluharova and Saskia Vogelzang earned 4.0s. The men’s team had 10 out of 13 earn 3.0s and above – Joshua Alarcon, Malachi Farley, Luis Lanier, Jaroslav Majsajdr and Guido Picasso marked 4.0s. Drumline’s Ginobili Cobarrubias (Cheer), Sean Lin (Track and Field) and Brandon Wehman each earned 4.0s.
Volleyball recorded a 3.45 GPA. The team had 22 out of 24 team members record 3.0 GPAs and above, and four of those members – Julia Anguiano, Ariana Caldera, Madalyn Gonzalez and Victoria Urbanczyk (Track and Field) – had perfect 4.0s.
Women’s Soccer finished with a 3.38 GPA. Thirty-one out of 35 team members had a 3.0 and above – 12 of them earned 4.0s including Samantha Benne, Rachel Dziuba, Madison Herrera, Cassandra Jimenez, Samantha Nava, Sara Nishiyama, Kaitlyn Olivas, Haven Ortiz, Tess Pitcher, Lyndee Rheinberger, Jaylin Seto and Leah Tapia.
Women’s Golf marked a 3.37 GPA. Nine out of 10 had 3.0s and above. Four earned 4.0s including Alexis Calzada, Madelyn Miller, Annabelle Reyna and Christina Trujillo.
Men’s Basketball earned a 3.34 GPA. Finishing with 4.0s were Daniel Helterhoff, Kyonte Holder, Paul Minjoth, Xavier Purnell and Filip Radulovic.
Men’s Golf recorded a 3.28 GPA. Eight of the 11 members of the team earned 3.0s and above, and Oliver Gaisford and Alex Marshall marked a 4.0.
Baseball recorded a 3.13 GPA. Earning 4.0s were Criztian Delgado, Anthony Valle and Jimmy Valle.
Cheer finished with a 3.13 GPA. Seven out of 10 earned 3.0 and above. Ginobili Cobarrubias (Drumline) Brynlee Lloyd, Angelina Ochoa (Dance) and Ember Sandoval finished with 4.0s.
Dance marked a 3.12 GPA. Five on the team had 4.0s including Isis Almanza, Angelina Ochoa (Cheer), Viviana Reyes, Bianca Rodriguez and Madison Smith.
Softball marked a 3.08 GPA. Men’s Soccer earned a 3.02 GPA.
Men’s Track and Field and Men’s Cross–Country finished with a 3.01 GPA. Justin Gould, Sean Lin (Drumline), Kruz Malesich, Rodolfo Morales and Joshua Veliz marked 4.0s.
The men’s basketball team lost to Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) 88-81 on Jan. 6. The Saints move to 6-7 overall and 3-4 in the Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC). The Gold Rush improve to 9-2 overall and 6-0 in conference.
Trey Law led the Saints with 20 points. Daniel Helterhoff grabbed eight rebounds for OLLU. Rob Gil tallied seven assists.
The women’s basketball team fell in a Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) game against Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) on Saturday. The Saints are now 3-9 overall and 2-5 in the RRAC. The Gold Nuggets improve to 9-2 overall and 6-0 in conference.
Tiffany Lopez led the Saints with 13 points. Lopez also tallied a team-high 10 rebounds. Deja Williams led the Saints with three assists.
The OLLU men’s indoor track and field team opened its 2023-2024 season at the Crimson and Gold Invitational in Kansas, sponsored by Pittsburg State University. The event was held Dec. 9 at the Robert W. Plaster Center – Harvey Dean Track.
Head Coach Patrick Torres commented, “We are so far ahead of where we were last year. Comparing our season opener this year is like night and day. We set several records, and DJ (De’Jon Lewis) hitting the triple standard was a huge accomplishment. Hendrick (Ramirez) hitting both standards by how much he did was another highlight of a pretty good day.
Two members of the team logged NAIA qualifying marks. De’Jon Lewis recorded an “A” standard of 14.45m for fourth place in the triple jump. Hendrick Ramirez turned in the ninth best time in the 3000m with an “A” standard time of 8:28.58. His time is an OLLU record.
New OLLU records were set. Aside from Ramirez, Cerrone Thompson broke the 800m record with a time of 1:57.21; Ramirez also broke the one-mile record with a sixth-best time of 4:12.73; Jalen Bell‘s time in the 200m is an OLLU best with a time of 21.84.
