Ross is first-team All-Pac-10, again

April Ross completed yet another brilliant season for the USC

Trojans Tuesday. And, now its time for the playoffs.

Ross, the former Newport Harbor High girls volleyball star, was

named to the first-team All-Pac-10. She is one four Trojans on the

first team which is the most of any conference school and the most in

USC history.

This is the third career first-team All-Pac-10 honor for Ross, a

junior who led the team with 314 kills this season.

Ross had eight kills and 14 digs to help lead the top-ranked

Trojans to a three-game sweep over No. 6 UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday

night to complete the regular season. It was the second largest

volleyball crowd ever (2,794) at UC Santa Barbara’s Thunderdome. USC

improved to 25-1 and will now await the 2002 NCAA tournament

selections to be announced on Sunday, Dec. 1. The selection show will

be aired live on ESPN News at 6 p.m.

* Jacqueline Becker, a former Corona del Mar standout in girls

volleyball, is on her way to making a star-studded career at Yale

University. Becker, the Yale freshman setter, was named the Ivy

League Rookie of the Year and she also earned second-team All-Ivy

League status.

She set the school record for assists in a single season by a

rookie, as she amassed 962, breaking the previous record of 919.

Becker ranked fifth in the league in assists with an average of 11.14

assists per game, and she had a career-high 66 assists to help lead

the Bulldogs to a win over Columbia.

Becker was the only first-year player named to one of the All-Ivy

Teams and also the only player to be given the league’s Rookie of the

Week award on more than one occasion this season. Yale finished

fourth in the Ivy League with a 13-12 overall record and 7-7 in

league, improving on last year’s 3-11 league record.

* Newport Harbor product Kathy Lavold, a senior at Columbia

University, also earned second-team All-Ivy League honors. She

produced a team-high 379 kills. Lavold played her final match Nov.

16, posting 11 kills and two blocks to help lead Columbia (10-17,

3-11 in league) to a huge three-game win over Harvard (14-11, 10-4).

* Arlis Reynolds, a former Estancia product, produced much

success in her first year on the MIT women’s volleyball team. She was

one of five freshmen who helped MIT to a 34-5 record, its best finish

since 1985 and an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.

The Engineers lost in the second round. Reynolds had nine service

aces in her final regular-season match and finished with 104 to break

the MIT record for aces in a season formerly 85.

“She was a big contributor for our team this year,” MIT Coach Paul

Dill said. “She played in every match. I expect her to continue to be

an impact for us. She has a tremendous work ethic and she is a

wonderful student-athlete at MIT. She’ll have a wonderful career at

MIT. She was a pleasure to coach this year.”

* In men’s soccer, Zach Wells, the starting goalie for the UCLA

men’s soccer team and a former Newport Harbor standout, earned

second-team All-Pac-10 honors for the second straight year. He

recorded 79 saves this season in the 18 games he played in. UCLA

(13-3-3) is seeded No. 3 in the NCAA tournament and received a

first-round bye.

* Corona del Mar product Michael March, a freshman center

defender on the UCLA men’s water polo team, was named Mountain

Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Week on Monday.

March set a new career-high with four goals in the Bruins’ 12-10

win over third-ranked USC last weekend. Earlier this season, March

set his previous career-high with three goals against the Trojans in

the So Cal Tournament.

* Despite a loss to rival Montana State, Alan Saenz, a Newport

Harbor product, recorded a career-high seven tackles (five

unassisted) for Montana in its 10-7 loss to Montana State Saturday.

Montana, Montana State and Idaho State shared the Big Sky Conference

title.

Montana will host Northwestern State Saturday at 11 a.m. in the

first round of the NCAA I-AA Championships.

* Idaho State did not qualify for the NCAA I-AA playoffs, but

the Bengals had a school-record 22 players with All-Conference

honors, including Eddie Johnson, a Newport Harbor and Orange Coast

College product, who earned first-team All-Big Sky recognition for

the second straight year as a record-setting punter.