Pelzel, ex-Tar lauded

UC Irvine senior Jimmy Pelzel and Cal State Northridge senior Ty

Tramblie, a Newport Harbor High product, have been named second-team

All-American by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

Pelzel, an outside hitter who was first-team All-American as a

junior, led the nation with 578 kills and was ranked sixth nationally

in kills per game (4.62). His 37 kills against Stanford in January

was the second-highest single-match total in the nation this year.

Pelzel, UCI’s career leader in kills (1,703), attack attempts

(3,587) and service aces (96), also holds the school single-season

kill record (593 in 2003). He is also in the top 10 in 10 other UCI

career statistical categories.

Pelzel will be traveling to Colorado Springs to train with the

United States national team.

Tramblie, a three-year starting setter, led the Matadors to 19

wins this season, the most for a CSUN team since 1993. He finished

his Matador career with 4,090 assists, fourth in school annals.

Pelzel was also named second-team All-Mountain Pacific Sports

Federation, while Tramblie was a third-team All-MPSF honoree.

Ball out of PCL finals

* TENNIS: Corona del Mar High junior Carsten Ball, who has gone

undefeated in singles and doubles this season, will not compete in

the Pacific Coast League boys tennis finals, which begin Monday at

Tesoro.

Ball (24-0 in singles and 9-0 in doubles) will compete in a United

States Tennis Association national event in El Paso, Texas, trying to

earn points toward his junior ranking.

College coaches are focusing more heavily than ever on rankings to

help guide their recruiting, said CdM Coach Tim Mang, in his 11th

year at the helm.

Juniors Wesley Miller and Spencer Reitz are the top two singles

seeds for the league finals, which conclude Wednesday.

Six Pirates All-OEC

* VOLLEYBALL: Orange Empire Conference men’s volleyball coaches

voted six Orange Coast College players to the all-conference team.

Sophomore outside hitter Poyer Poia and sophomore setter Mike

Murphy each gained first-team recognition for the second straight

season after helping lead the Pirates (15-5, 7-3 in the OEC) to a

berth in the state semifinals.

Poia led the Pirates with 256 kills, finishing his two-year career

with 602, good for fourth on the school’s all-time list.

Murphy amassed 1,619 assists, the third-most in the program’s

history.

Sophomore outside hitter Kaimana Kamalani joined Poia and Murphy

on the first team.

A spot starter last season, Kamalani took more of a leadership

role and, along with Murphy, was one of the team’s co-captains.

Kamalani finished with 213 kills this season, including 21 in

Coast’s five-game state semifinal loss to Long Beach May 1.

Three Pirates earned second-team recognition.

Sophomore libero Matt Skolnik posted a state-leading 222 digs,

placing third on the all-time single-season list. He capped his Coast

career with 365 digs, the second most in school history.

Sophomore opposite Jon Larson, a transfer from Hope International

University, slammed 130 kills to place third on the team this season.

Middle blocker Uriah Seui rounds out the Coast contingent.

Seui led the Bucs with 59 blocks and was the only Coast freshman

to earn all-conference laurels.

OCC rowers advance

* ROWING: Several boats representing Orange Coast College crew

qualified for today’s semifinals at the East Coast Athletic

Conference national invitational rowing championships in Worcester,

Mass.

OCC’s men’s varsity eight, men’s novice eight, women’s novice

eight and women’s varsity four entries all advanced through

qualifying heats. OCC’s men’s junior varsity eight boat will compete

for the first time in today’s semifinal heats on the 2,000-meter

course at Lake Quinsigamond.

The OCC men’s varsity eight finished fourth in its heat in 6:18.14

Saturday, posting the fifth-fastest time among the 18 boats that

competed in three heats.

The men’s novice eight was second in its qualifying heat in

6:41.84 and the women’s eight was second in its heat in 7:22.06.

Pirates’ duo ousted

* TENNIS: The Orange Coast College women’s doubles tandem of

sophomores Leah Becker and Sabrina Tanamal were eliminated in the

semifinals of the state women’s tennis championships Saturday at

Monterey Country Club in Palm Desert.

The two Pirate standouts, who won the Orange Empire Conference

doubles crown, advanced to the semifinals when a pair from Santa Rosa

College defaulted in a Saturday quarterfinal.

Becker and Tanamal were then defeated, 6-4, 6-0, by Joann Hunter

and Mari Matsumoto from San Diego Mesa in the semifinal match.

Vanguard women upset

* TENNIS: The Vanguard University women’s tennis team, which went

unbeaten in Golden State Athletic Conference play, was upended by

GSAC rival Pt. Loma Nazarene Saturday in the final of the NAIA Region

II team championships at Westmont College in Santa Barbara.

Olga Hlushchanka and Amy Brown combined for Vanguard’s lone

doubles win in three matches and Hlushchanka, the top-ranked player

in the NAIA, defeated Hilli Hargrave, 6-1, 6-1, at No. 1 singles.

But Pt. Loma won the remaining three singles matches to deny

Vanguard its first Region II crown.

Vanguard (22-2), ranked No. 3, will receive the first at-large

berth into the 24-team national tournament, scheduled May 17-21 in

Mobile, Ala.

APU defeats Lions

* TENNIS: Azusa Pacific University, ranked No. 1 in NAIA men’s

tennis, defeated third-ranked Vanguard, 5-0, to claim its fifth

straight NAIA Region II team championship Saturday at Westmont

College in Santa Barbara.

The Lions (19-5) have qualified for the NAIA tournament, scheduled

May 17-20 in Mobile, Ala.

APU improved to 28-1.

Area youths win honors

* BASEBALL: Jackson Massingill, Kyle Hill and Luke Napolitano of

Newport Beach and Brett Parker from Costa Mesa won their respective

age brackets in the Pepsi Major League Baseball Pitch, Hit & Run

competition hosted by the City of Newport Beach at Bob Henry Park

April 25.

The winners advance to a sectional competition May 22 in La Palma

where they will be eligible for the team championship to be held at

Angel Stadium.

UCI doubles in NCAAs

* TENNIS: The UC Irvine tandem of senior Jonathan Endrikat and

junior Brian Morton have been selected to compete in the 32-team NCAA

men’s tennis doubles championships in Tulsa, Okla., May 26-31.

Morton, a Corona del Mar High product, and Endrikat are ranked No.

22 in the country and are 11-5 this season.

The pair won the ITA West Region championship in Carson and

reached the semifinals of the Icy Hot/ITA All-American championships

in Chattanooga, Tenn.

They were seeded fourth at the ITA/National Intercollegiate indoor

championships in Ann Arbor, Mich. and were named first-team All-Big

West Conference as a doubles team this season.

It’s the first Anteater doubles team to be selected for the NCAA

championships since Trevor Kronemann and Shige Kanroji lost in the

first round in 1990.

UCI golfers are No. 10

* GOLF: The UC Irvine men’s golf team remained at No. 10 in the

latest Pacific region rankings released Wednesday as head coach Paul

Smolinski remains optimistic that the Anteaters will be selected for

a NCAA regional berth next week.

Arizona State is first in the regional ranking, UCLA second and

Arizona third.

This ranking is based on all results reported to Golfstat through

May 4. The Pacific region is allocated 12 teams into the NCAA

regional championships, but is required to rank other teams for

consideration for at-large berths into the regionals.

Final selections for NCAA regional competition will be announced

Monday. Regional competition will be conducted May 20-22.