Lions on cloud nine

Vanguard University freshman Kelly Schmidt scored a game-high 24

points, as the third-ranked Lions’ women’s basketball team closed out

the regular season with an 81-65 Golden State Athletic Conference

victory over visiting Azusa Pacific Saturday.

Lisa Faulkner added 19 points and Lacey Burns chipped in with 17

points for the Lions (26-2, 18-2 in conference), who have won nine in

a row and clinched their second straight GSAC championship Tuesday.

The Lions will host a first-round game of the GSAC tournament

Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

*--*

Golden State Athletic Conference

Vanguard 81, Azusa Pacific 65

APU -- Regan 3, West 20, Dyk 0, Hudson 7, Dresback 12, Somers 17, Van Essen 4, Rice 2. 3-pt. goals -- Somers 1, Dresback 1, Regan 1. Fouled out -- Somers, West. Technicals -- Somers. Vanguard -- Mills 6, Burns 17, Faulkner 19, Besse 4, Schmidt 24,

McClellan 9, Dittenbir 2. 3-pt. goals -- Mills 2, Faulkner 2. Halftime -- VU, 39-30.

*--*

UCI rallies past Zags

* BASEBALL: The UC Irvine baseball team extended its unbeaten

streak to seven games and won its third series of the season by

rallying for an 11-4 nonconference victory over Gonzaga Saturday at

Anteater Ballpark.

The Anteaters scored two runs in the fifth to take a 4-3 lead,

then exploded for six runs in the eighth to improve to 8-2-1. UCI

starter Glenn Swanson improved to 2-0 with the win, throwing 6 1/3

innings and striking out four. Michael Koehler and Blair Erickson

combined for 1 2/3 scoreless relief innings.

Matt Anderson went 2 for 5 with two runs and two RBIs while Matt

Fisher had doubles in consecutive at-bats and finished 3 for 5 with

an RBI and a run scored.

*--*

Nonconference

UC Irvine 11, Gonzaga 4

Score by Innings

Gonzaga 201 000 001 - 4 9 1

UC Irvine 100 120 16x - 11 13 3

Clelland, Williams (7), McEwen (8),

Lovill (8) and Thibault; Swanson,

Koehler (7), Erickson (8), Cassel (9)

and Wagner. W -- Swanson, 2-0. L --

Clelland, 0-1. 2B -- Fisher (UCI) 2,

Wagner (UCI) 2, Rundle (G) 2, Johnson

(UCI).

*--*

UCI stuns SDSU

* TENNIS: The UC Irvine women’s tennis team upset No. 34-ranked

San Diego State as the visiting Anteaters won, 5-2.

In singles, UCI (4-4) took four of the six matches. Anna Bentzer

defeated Dita Hauerlandova and Tiffany Chang defeated Katalina Romero

for the Anteaters. UCI’s Christie Posner and Kelly Savin also won.

UCI won two of the three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead

heading into singles action. Chang and Bentzer upset No. 13 Indra

Erichsen and Katalina Romero, 8-4. Posner and Veronica Fermin also

won, 8-4.

Four Pirates advance

* TENNIS: Orange Coast College teammates Jia-Wei Yuh and Mika

Okamura will face each other at 11 a.m. today in a sixth-flight final

at the Southwestern women’s tennis tournament after each posting two

victories Saturday.

Sabrina Tanamal and Kai Moriyama also reached the finals of their

respective flights with two victories Saturday.

Tanamal faces Riverside’s Trisha Robles in one final while

Moriyama will battle Saddleback’s Cari Pacheco. Both matches begin at

11 a.m.

Two Coast doubles teams (Leah Becker-Tanamal, Yuh-Darlena Tran)

each advanced to today’s finals in their respective flights. Play

begins at 9 a.m.

Lions sweep Biola

* TENNIS: Amy Brown and Silina Yohner didn’t lose a game in

sweeping their singles matches as the Vanguard University women’s

tennis team knocked off host Biola, 9-0, Saturday to remain unbeaten

in the Golden State Athletic Conference.

Amanda Poynter swept through Kati Leicht, 6-1, 6-0, while Olga

Hlushchanka, Alena Votavova and Sara Bradley all contributed

victories for the Lions (7-0, 3-0 in the GSAC).

*--*

Golden State Athletic Conference

Vanguard 9, Biola 0

Singles -- Hlushchanka (VU) def. Kelsey, 6-1, 6-4; Brown (VU) def. Scott, 6-0, 6-0; Votavova (VU) def. Bradshaw, 6-1, 6-2; Yohner (VU) def. Sargent, 6-0, 6-0; Bradley (VU) def. Meister, 6-4, 6-0; Poynter (VU) def. Leicht, 6-1, 6-0. Doubles --

Hlushchanka-Brown (VU) def. Scott-Kelsey, 8-3; Bradley-Yohner (VU) def. Leicht-Meister, 8-2; Votavova-Poynter (VU) def. Nations-Bradshaw, 8-3.

*--*

UCI downed by Aggies

* BASKETBALL: The UC Irvine women’s basketball team sustained a

damaging blow to its hopes of making the Big West Conference

tournament Saturday, as host Utah State claimed a 61-46 conference

win in Logan.

Should UCI (6-18, 5-11 in conference) and Utah State (5-20, 5-12)

wind up tied for the eighth and final spot in the conference

tournament, the team with a victory over the highest-standing

conference opponent would advance.

Kristen Green led the Anteaters with 14 points and Christina

Callaway added 11.

*--*

Big West Conference

Utah State 61, UC Irvine 46

UCI -- Green 14, Callaway 11, Biggins 6, Stanley 0, Ferguson 6, Yadon 5, Ned 2, Urban 2. 3-pt. goals -- Green 2, Ferguson 2. Utah State -- Torp 8, Tressler 6, Aird 14, Johnston 11, Zdenek 21, Grant 1. 3-pt. goals -- Johnston 2, Zdenek 1. Halftime --

Utah State, 32-23.

*--*

UCI women finish 11th

* TRACK AND FIELD: The UC Irvine women’s indoor track and field

team finished 11th in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation

championships that concluded Saturday at Dempsey Indoor Stadium in

Seattle.

UCI’s 1,600 meter relay team of Amber Nefas, Lina Pimentel,

Suzanne Purmort and Kamaria Heru placed seventh in 3:52.34 Saturday.

Freshman Orlisha Henlon finished sixth and senior Annmarie Turpin

eighth in the high jump competition Friday. Both cleared 5 feet, 5

3/4 but Henlon had fewer misses.

Stanford won the title with 148 points, UCLA was second with 109

and Washington third with 83.

UCI edged by UCSB

* TENNIS: The UC Irvine men’s tennis team began its match against

visiting UC Santa Barbara with a 1-0 lead, sweeping in doubles, but

the Gauchos had the advantage in singles and won, 4-3, Saturday.

Zoran Korac, UCI’s No. 3 singles player, and Renouk Wijemanne, at

No. 5, recorded victories. In No. 1 doubles, Anteater juniors Brian

Morton and Ryusuke Kashiwabara won, 8-6. Seniors Jon Endrikat and

Wkwesi Williams won, 9-8 (7-4), while Korac and Peter Surapol won,

9-7, for the Anteaters (5-4). Korac defeated Mike Placek 7-6 (7-4),

1-6, 7-6 (8-6) in singles.

VU beaten at buzzer

* BASKETBALL: Azusa Pacific University’s Brett Michel hit a

three-pointer from near midcourt to beat the buzzer Saturday night as

lift the visiting Cougars to a 75-72 Golden State Athletic Conference

men’s basketball victory over Vanguard (13-16, 6-12 in GSAC).

APU (26-4, 17-1), ranked No. 3 in the nation, won despite

controversy at the end, when VU protested that the game clock ran out

before Michel’s hail mary.

Lions swept at Biola

* BASEBALL: First baseman Scott Martin went 3 for 5 with one RBI,

but the Vanguard baseball team was swept in a Golden State Athletic

Conference doubleheader, losing, 12-5, and, 7-1, at Biola Saturday.

Cougars beat ‘Eaters

* VOLLEYBALL: The visiting Brigham Young University men’s

volleyball team had five players with 10 or more kills and defeated

UC Irvine, 26-30, 30-24, 30-21, 30-26, for the second time in three

days at Crawford Court Saturday.

The Anteaters (7-11, 3-8 in the MPSF) closed the first game with a

6-0 run, but the fourth-ranked Cougars (11-3, 9-1) withstood 28

service errors to regain the momentum.

Jimmy Pelzel led UCI with 16 kills while Brett Reid had 39

assists.