Newport Rowing Festival today

More than 1,300 competitors will race in the annual Newport Autumn

Rowing Festival from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. today.

Participants include athletes of all ages and skill levels that

include Olympians, masters, juniors and those from UC Irvine, Orange

Coast College, UCLA, Stanford, USC, UC San Diego, San Diego State and

others. Competitors will be racing for medals and perpetual trophies.

The 2.7-mile course begins under the Via Lido bridge and continues

around the south side of Lido Island, crosses under the Pacific Coast

Highway bridge and finishes at the Newport Aquatic Center.

Sailors sweep twice

* VOLLEYBALL: Newport Harbor High’s girls volleyball team swept

Bishop Montgomery, 25-18, 25-23, 28-26, then handled San Marcos,

25-15, 25-21, 25-14, to win the consolation championship of the

prestigious Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions on Saturday.

Harbor senior Alyson Jennings, an all-tournament selection, had 22

kills and 18 assists against Bishop Montgomery, while teammates Kiley

Hall (10 kills) and Kellie King (25 assists) were solid. Lauren

Miller (16 kills), Jennings (14), Hall (10) and Emily Turner (eight)

did most of the scoring for Newport in the consolation title match

against San Marcos, in which Jennings (28 assists) and King (26)

shared setting duties.

UCI runners fare well

* CROSS COUNTRY: The UC Irvine men’s cross country team finished

third and the women’s team was fourth at the Big West Conference

championships Saturday at the Fairbanks Memorial course in San Luis

Obispo.

UCI sophomore Ricky Barnes placed 13th in 26:07.4 in the

8.000-meter men’s race. Sophomore Tom Whelan was 17th (26:20.7),

junior Andrew Garratt was 30th (26:51.5) and junior David Santos was

31st (26:54).

Rounding out the Anteaters’ top seven were sophomore Brandon

Lucero in 38th (27:15.7), sophomore John Kluve in 52nd (28:06.2) and

sophomore Silvestre Uribe in 63rd (28:52.5).

For the women, UCI junior Kaleena Yee earned all-conference honors

with a fifth-place finish (22:54.2 over 6,000 meters). Kim Ramirez

was 22nd (23:52.7), Tessa Cendejas was 23rd (23:45.0) and Chelsey

Traylor finished 27th in 23:57.4. Janelle Del Soldato was 28th

(23:59.0), Kelli Vanderburg was 32nd (24:06.4) and Kim Handel placed

39th in 24:20.3 to complete UCI’s top seven.

Menlo edges Sea Kings

* WATER POLO: Thomas Pearson’s four goals weren’t enough as the

Corona del Mar High boys water polo team lost to Menlo, 9-8, in

overtime, in the consolation bracket of the Tru-West Memorial Cup

invitational Saturday at Lynbrook High.

Spencer Pirdy, Tom Money, Travis Hersh and Daniel Niehenke each

scored once for the Sea Kings (5-17). Gaston Sanford made 10 saves in

goal for CdM.

Pearson also scored four goals, but the Sea Kings lost to Jesuit,

12-10, in tournament play Friday.

Hersh and Pirdy each scored two goals while Jacob Murphy and

Niehenke both added single scores for the Sea Kings, who tied Jesuit

three times, the last at 5-5, with five minutes left in the second

quarter.

UCI defeats Gauchos

* WATER POLO: Juniors Dan Noon and Rick Merlo scored four goals

each to lead No. 8 UC Irvine past ninth-ranked UC Santa Barbara,

10-8, in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s water polo at Santa

Barbara Saturday.

Merlo’s goal with 1:55 left in the fourth quarter gave the

Anteaters (10-11, 2-2 in the MPSF) the lead for good at 8-7. Senior

Phil Garcia, who had two goals in the game, scored with 1:10 left for

a 9-7 lead before the Gauchos’ Brian Alexander scored with 51 seconds

remaining to cut the UCI lead to 9-8. Noon then completed the scoring

on a goal with 21 seconds left in the game.

VU pushes Fresno

* VOLLEYBALL: Vanguard’s women’s volleyball team lost to NAIA No.

2 ranked Fresno Pacific in four games Saturday night, 30-23, 30-25,

28-30, 30-24 in Golden State Athletic Conference action in Costa

Mesa.

Sonrisa Peace sparked the Lions with 13 kills and four service

aces, while Livia Peace added nine kills, and Keri DeHaas knocked

down 11.

Marissa Cothran had 41 assists and Lindsay Kaiser provided a

12-dig effort defensively. Vanguard drops to 13-9, 7-9 in the GSAC.

‘Eaters take fourth

* SWIMMING AND DIVING: Host UC Irvine finished fourth in both the

men and women’s meets Saturday in the second two of the two-day Big

West Shootout at the Anteater Aquatics Complex.

The Washington Huskies won both the men and women titles and

finished 3-0 in dual meets. Hawaii was second in both.

VU shuts out Biola

* SOCCER: In the 23rd minute, Vanguard’s Amber Waddle sent a pass

to Heather Tape, who scored from 20 yards out for the game’s only

goal Saturday as the Lions edged host Biola, 1-0, in Golden State

Athletic Conference women’s soccer action.

It was the season finale for VU (10-8, 5-5 in the GSAC), while

Biola fell to 12-4-1, 6-3-1.

Eagles blank Lions

* SOCCER: Host Biola knocked off Vanguard, 3-0, in Golden State

Athletic Conference men’s soccer action Saturday.

After Biola (11-6, 4-5 in the GSAC) held a 1-0 halftime edge, the

Eagles scored twice in the second half to pull away from the Lions

(13-6-1, 6-3-1). Vanguard has completed the regular season and must

wait for the results of Monday’s GSAC games to know its playoff

status.

Rossi helps ‘Eaters tie

* SOCCER: The UC Irvine men’s soccer team tied host Cal State

Fullerton, 0-0, Saturday night in Big West action.

Fullerton goalie Sam Reynolds (15 saves) and UCI keeper Cameron

Rossi (nine) each made point-blank stops to record a shutout.

UC Irvine tops Idaho

* VOLLEYBALL: The UC Irvine women’s volleyball team defeated

visiting Idaho, 30-28, 30-21, 30-32, 32-30, in Big West Conference

action Saturday night at Crawford Court. Kelly Wing led UCI with 20

kills, while Dana Kurzbard (15 kills) and Sami Cash (14) also

produced offensively.

Senior Brenda Waterman sparked UCI (17-8, 8-5 in the Big West)

with 25 digs.