‘Eaters down Matadors in 5

Senior Kelly Wing slammed a match-high 34 kills to go with 11 digs as

the UC Irvine women’s volleyball team defeated visiting Cal State

Northridge, 21-30, 30-27, 30-23, 27-30, 16-14, in a Big West

Conference match Saturday night.

Sami Cash amassed 12 kills while Amanda Vazquez and Whitney Pavlik

each tallied 10 for the Anteaters (14-6, 7-4 in conference). Keegan

Featherstone finished with a team-high 21 digs followed by Ashlie

Hain’s 20 and 15 from Pavlik.

Jen Ryan led Northridge (13-6, 8-3) with 28 digs and added 13

digs.

UCI tallied 15 team blocks compared to Northridge’s eight.

Merlo keys UCI victory

* WATER POLO: Senior Rick Merlo scored three goals to lead

eighth-ranked UC Irvine past visiting Universit of the Pacific, 9-6,

in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s water polo game

Saturday.

Dreason Barry and Colin Mello added two goals each for UCI (10-8,

1-2 in the MPSF).

UCI junior goalie Joe Wynne tallied 10 saves, including five in

the fourth quarter.

Six different players scored for the 15th-ranked Tigers (5-13,

0-4) while freshman goalie Brian Domacus made 11 saves.

Merlo scored all his goals in the first two quarters as the

Anteaters built a 5-2 halftime lead.

Mello’s extra-man goal with 5:21 remaining in the third period

extended the lead to 6-2 and the teams traded goals until Pacific’s

Clint McLaughlin and Andy Skora scored consecutive goals to close the

gap to 7-5 entering the final quarter.

The Tigers’ Kenny Yamanoto scored a goal with 1:02 left in the game to pull Pacific within 8-6.

Bbut Barry notched a power-play goal for UCI with 43 seconds

remaining to close out the scoring.

UCI hosts fifth-ranked California in a MPSF game at noon Sunday.

*--*

Mountain Pacific Sports Federation

UC Irvine 9, Pacific 6

Score by Quarters

Pacific 1 1 3 1 - 6 UC Irvine 1 4 2 2 - 9 UOP - Zobler 1, Turnbull 1, Skora 1, Mitchell 1,

McLaughlin 1, Yamanoto 1. Saves -- Domacus 11. UCI

- R. Merlo 3, Barry 2, Mello 2, Hutten 1, Noon 1.

Saves -- Wynne 10.

*--*

Huipe captures fifth

* CROSS COUNTRY: Senior Liz Huipe finished fifth in 19 minutes to

lead the Vanguard University women’s cross country team to fourth

place in the 19th annual Golden State Athletic Conference

championships Saturday at Fairview Park.

Vanguard’s Jenny Thune placed sixth in 19:03 while first-year

runner Laura Bowman earned the final all-conference spot, finishing

14th in 19:42.

Irma Gonzalez (30th in 20:41) and Bridget Lonsdale (37th in 21:01)

rounded out Vanguard’s top five.

Vanguard’s Matt Meyer was the only Lion to make the all-conference

team on the men’s side, finishing 10th in 26:42.

The Lions placed sixth among 10 teams.

Alex Castro (24th in 27:38), Travis Hartanov (28th in 28:04), John

Nelson (55th in 30:02) and Zach Powell (66th in 31:48) rounded out

the top five for the Lions.

Huipe Lion of Week

* CROSS COUNTRY: Vanguard University senior Liz Huipe, who led the

Lions to second place at the Vanguard women’s cross country

invitational Oct. 9, has been named Lion of the Week by the school’s

athletic department.

Huipe, an Estancia High product, finished fourth overall with a

time of 19 minutes, 2 seconds.

Huipe, who has been in Vanguard’s top three all season, helped the

Lions finish only seven points behind No. 21-ranked Cal State San

Marcos.

The Lions finished ahead of No. 16 Biola and earned the No. 20

spot in the subsequent rankings.