UCI volleyball opens with two wins

The UC Irvine women’s volleyball team opened the season and its

tournament with a four-set win over Hofstra Saturday at Crawford

Court, 28-30, 30-24, 30-24, 30-22, and a straight-sets victory over

Rice in an evening match, 30-26, 30-25, 33-31.

In their first match, Sami Cash registered a career-high in kills

with 15 for the Anteaters, who were led by 27 kills from Kelly Wing.

Terbrie Taylor also eclipsed her career high with 11 kills and

recorded 10 digs for her first career double-double.

The Anteaters out-dug the Pride, 69-49. UCI libero Brenda Waterman

led a quartet of Anteaters in double-figure digs with 22, while

defensive specialist Keegan Featherstone and setter Ashlie Hain added

12 and 10 digs, respectively. Hain also had 62 assists.

The Anteaters (2-0) were led by Wing’s 21 kills and 11 digs

against Rice, while Cash had 14 kills and Hain 51 assists and 14 digs. They play West Virginia at noon today.

Vanguard men win

at Utah tournament

* SOCCER: Vanguard completed a season-opening trip to West Jordan,

Utah with a perfect 3-0 record and the championship of the

Westminster College tournament.

Vanguard won the title game Saturday, 4-0, over Embry-Riddle

Aeronautical University (Ariz.).

Matt Hess got the ball rolling with his fourth goal in three

games, scoring off an assist from Jose Hernandez and capped the

scoring with his fifth goal in the second half..

Hernandez added a goal off an assist from Mark Babel and Hess also

recorded his first assist of the season, setting up Armando Ortiz for

a goal.

Tommaso Bianchi recorded three saves for Vanguard, recording his

second shutout of the season.

CdM’s Ball advances to round of 16 in qualifier

* TENNIS: Cameron Ball of Newport Beach advanced to the round of

16 Saturday in the Costa Mesa Men’s Futures pre-qualifying event

being held at the Costa Mesa Tennis Center this weekend.

Ball, the No. 2 seed, posted a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Reyniere

Roxas in the first round Saturday morning and came back with a 6-1,

6-1 win over Artak Harutyumyan in the afternoon. He will face Dieter

Weislmaier, with a quarterfinal berth on the line, today at 9 a.m.

The winner of the tournament receives a wild card spot in the main

draw of the 2003 Diadora Pro-championship, a USTA Men’s Futures event

to be held at the tennis center Sept. 15-21. The runner-up and

semifinalist receive wild cards into the qualifying event, which

begins Sept. 12.

Robert Khoury of Newport Beach was knocked out of the competition

in the round of 16 Saturday, falling to No. 1 seed Oren Motevassel,

6-3, 6-1. Khoury won his opening-round match Friday and came back

with a second-round win Saturday.

Other local entrants included Newport Beach’s Kaes Van’t Hof, who

lost to Guinthar Wolsetschlager, 6-4, 7-6. The semifinals and finals

are scheduled for Monday.

Merlo scores three goals in U.S. victory

* WATER POLO: Rick Merlo, a junior at UC Irvine, scored three

goals Saturday but the U.S. men’s water polo team lost to Spain, 7-6,

in the seventh-place game at the World University Games in Daegu,

South Korea.

Merlo rejoins his teammates this week as the Anteaters open the

season by playing in the UC San Diego Triton Invitational on Sept. 6

and 7.

Vanguard women net

two matches at tourney

* VOLLEYBALL: Vanguard University’s women’s volleyball team

improved to 4-0 this season with a pair of wins Saturday over Cal

State Monterey Bay and Westminster (Utah).

Both victories came in straight sets as the Lions recorded their

best start since 1997. Melissa Cothran was named to the

all-tournament team.

UC Irvine women garner first victory

* SOCCER: UC Irvine scored three second-half goals to notch its

first victory of the season, 3-0, over Fairleigh Dickinson in the

2003 Soccer Town Classic at Cal State Fullerton.

Alyson Spencer, Hayley McNallan and Angie Mouw scored for the

Anteaters (1-1), who outshot the Knights 21-6.

Anteater men defeat Fresno State, 1-0

* SOCCER: Sean Iliff scored a second-half goal to lift UC Irvine’s

men’s soccer team to a 1-0 victory over Fresno State in its season

opener at the UC Irvine College Classic at Anteater Stadium Saturday.