Anteaters hope to ride out Waves

For all the rich history the UC Irvine men’s volleyball team has been

making this season, Coach John Speraw said the Anteaters would

actually be better off if they didn’t repeat history in their next

match. Of course, Speraw was alluding to the fact that UCI has not

played its best volleyball when facing Pepperdine.

UCI, ranked No. 4 in the nation and seeded fifth in the Mountain

Pacific Sports Federation Tournament, will take on top-ranked

Pepperdine (23-4) in an MPSF semifinal today at 5 p.m. at Firestone

Fieldhouse. The match will be televised on Collegiate Sports

Television Network.

The Anteaters (20-10) won their first-round MPSF tournament match

Saturday with a four-game decision at Stanford.

UCI swept the Waves Jan. 6, in the ‘Eaters’ second match of the

season. But Pepperdine, which lost in the NCAA championship match

last season, was in total control in a three-game victory Feb. 15 at

Crawford Hall, as well as a four-game win April 3 at Pepperdine.

UCI is led by junior outside hitter Jimmy Pelzel, who was named

first-team All-MPSF this week. Junior libero Greg Ford, a former

Orange Coast College standout, earned third-team honors, while senior

outside hitter Monte Tucker earned honorable mention.

Pelzel leads UCI with 5.06 kills per game and Ford leads the team

in digs with 2.03 per game.

-- by Steve Virgen

Coburn singled out

* GOLF: UC Irvine senior Jeff Coburn has been named Big West

Conference Player of the Year in men’s golf and Paul Smolinski is

Coach of the Year for the third straight season.

Coburn leads UCI with a 71.9 scoring average and has five top-10

and three top-20 finishes this season.

Joining Coburn as first-team all-conference picks is senior Mike

Lavery. Lavery was the individual champion at the Big West

Tournament, completed Tuesday and has a 72.3 scoring average.

UCI women Angela Won, a freshman, has also earned first-team

all-conference honors.

Senior Ryan Armstrong and junior Vinnie Poncino represent the UCI

men’s team as second-team all-conference honorees .

Cassity equals record

* GOLF: Estancia High senior Jason Cassidy shot 12-under 58 to tie

the Mesa Linda course record during a practice round at the Costa

Mesa Golf & Country Club Tuesday.

He made 12 birdies and six pars and putted for Eagle six times.

Cassidy, whose previous best was 4-under 66, had six two-putts.

Cassidy shares the course joins Sean Collins, an assistant pro at

the Costa Mesa Golf & Country Club, who carded his 58 in late 2001.

Lions defeat Mustangs

* TENNIS: Costa Mesa High’s David Le won two sets at No. 3 singles

while the doubles tandem of John Dang and Brian Nguyen also took two

sets in a 14-4 Golden West League boys tennis loss at Westminster

Wednesday.

.

Lions buried, 22-2

* BASEBALL: The Vanguard University baseball fell to host Cal

State San Bernardino, 22-2, in a nonconference game Wednesday.

The lone bright spot for Vanguard (22-23) came on Tom Baeder’s

solo home run.

*--*

Nonconference

CS Bakersfield 22, Vanguard 2

Score by Innings

Vanguard 000 100 001 -- 2 5 2 CSUB 440 800 60x -- 22 23 1

Searle, J. Franco (2), M. Franco (4),

Klein (6), Griggs (7) and Westerfield;

Cano, Frensley (2), Rodriguez (3),

White (4), Holden (5), Fitch (6),

Jimenez (7), Ayala (8) Lambaren (9) and

Simpson, Schweiger (4). W -- Holden,

1-1. L -- Searle, 3-3. 2B -- Searle

(V), Ayala (B) 2, Thomas (B), Tarnow

(B). 3B -- Tarnow (B), Reh (B), Swaydan

(B). HR -- Baeder (V), McAllen (B)

*--*

Estancia alumni match

* VOLLEYBALL: The Estancia High boys volleyball program invites

former players to participate in its annual alumni match and

barbecue, scheduled Saturday at 5 p.m.

A match between the junior varsity and Estancia parents will begin

at 4 p.m.

The per-person cost of $5 for the barbecue will be waived for all

players.

For information, contact the Estancia athletic department at (949)

515-6508.

Dickins gets lone hit

* SOFTBALL: Courtney Dickins beat out and infield single to post

the lone hit in Orange Coast College’s 12-0 loss to Orange Empire

Conference softball host Cypress Tuesday.

The Pirates wrap up their season 11-16, 6-12 in conference.

*--*

Orange Empire Conference

Cypress 12, OCC 0

Score by Innings

OCC 000 00 -- 0 1 1

Cypress 471 0x -- 12 12 0

Socerston, Mathes (3) and Valenzuela;

Klabacha, Sanchez (5) and Yokoyama. W --

Blabacha, 27-5. L -- Sockerson, 2-2. 2B

-- Jaques (C). 3B -- Klabacha (C),

Fonseca (C)

*--*

Pilot Cup meeting set

* SOCCER: A Daily Pilot Cup meeting will be held tonight at 7 at

Mariners Library, adjacent to Mariners Elementary School at 2100

Mariners Drive in Newport Beach. The meeting will include discussion

about participating school colors and event rules. The Daily Pilot

Cup is slated for May 27-June 1. Kirk McIntosh is the director.