Pirates capture titles

Orange Coast College women’s tennis players won two singles and two

doubles titles in the 14th annual Southwestern tournament Sunday in

Chula Vista.

Pirate sophomore Michelle Esquivel won the No. 1 singles flight and also teamed with freshman Jessica Rice to top the field at No. 1

doubles.

Rice was also victorious in the No. 2 singles flight, while the

OCC doubles tandem of sophomore Ai Takamori and freshman Julie Haley

earned the title in the No. 3 doubles flight.

Esquivel defeated Amanda Verela of Saddleback, 6-0, 6-4, in her

singles final.

Rice topped Saddleback’s Meghan Ehlers, 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, in the No.

2 singles final.

Esquivel and Rice posted a 6-2, 6-2 win over Varela and Kathryn

Malec in their doubles final.

Rice and Haley rallied for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 triumph over the

Saddleback duo of Lisa Young and Heidi Chiles.

Haley was defeated in the No. 4 singles final, 6-4, 6-2, by

Saddleback’s Breanna Stowell, while OCC sophomore Rachael Sessum

absorbed a 7-5, 6-3 loss to Saddleback’s Lauren Salgado at No. 6

singles.

Pirates’ Naff honored

* BASKETBALL: Sophomore forward Rhondi Naff was the lone member of

the Orange Coast College women’s basketball team named All-Orange

Empire Conference by conference coaches.

Naff, a Costa Mesa High product, led the Pirates in scoring this

season, averaging 16.2 points per game while shooting 45.4% from the

field. She also tallied 6.0 rebounds per game and had 45 steals.

During conference play, Naff put up 15.3 points per contest and

maintained her solid shooting mark at 46.1%.

She has committed to NCAA Division II member Cal State

Bakersfield, where she will play for former Coast assistant and

current Roadrunners assistant coach Gregg Savage.

Shavonne Smith of conference champion Riverside and Ana Fakatou of

Cypress share Player of the Year honors while Riverside’s Alicia

Berber is Coach of the Year.

Lions still undefeated

* TENNIS: The Vanguard University women’s tennis team remained

undefeated by defeating Golden State Athletic Conference host Point

Loma Nazarene, 8-1, Saturday.

The Lions, ranked second in the NAIA, took all three doubles

matches.

VU senior Olga Hlushchanka continued her dominance in singles

beating Ashley Strimple, 6-4, 6-2.

Hlushchanka, who was undefeated last year, has yet to lose this

season.

Vanguard, which improves to 8-0, 6-0 in conference play, visits

Westmont Thursday.

Vanguard rolls, 9-0

* TENNIS: Andreas Guertner, Christoph Schramm, Carl Holmgren and

Dieter Weislmaier all won in straight sets to lead the Vanguard

University men’s tennis team to a 9-0 Golden State Athletic

Conference victory over host Point Loma Nazarene Saturday.

Guertner lost just one game in defeating Philipp Wulf, who double

faulted five times.

Schramm and Holmgren each gave up two games in identical 6-0, 6-2

victories for the Lions (3-1, 2-1 in the GSAC).

Holmgren and Cyril Conty defeated Sean Sand and Mark Philibosian,

8-1, to lead Vanguard’s doubles contingent against the Royals (3-3,

0-2).

Lions excel in meet

* TRACK AND FIELD: The Vanguard University men’s distance medley

relay finished third among 25 teams in a season-best time of 10

minutes, 9.83 seconds Saturday at the Rossi relays at Claremont

McKenna College.

Brandon Shaw, Zach Powell, Ryan Allen and Matt Meyer combined to

run the fasest distance medley relay time for a Vanguard team since

1974. The same group also finished 11th in the 1,600-meter relay with

a time of 3:25.89.

Vanguard’s Elizabeth Huipe, Debby Chop, Christol McDonald and

Jenny Thune combined to finish sixth in the women’s distance relay in

12:31.65.

Laura Bowman ran a personal-best 10:47.2 to finish 10th in the

women’s 3,000.

Chop, a senior, finished eighth in the long jump with a

season-best leap of 16-7 while sophomore Megan Leapaldt was 13th in

the triple jump with season-best 33-9.

Freshman Whitney Hanenburg was 12th in the pole vault (8-5).

Clemson tops ‘Eaters

* TENNIS: UC Irvine freshman Victor Lamm and junior teammate Olof

Sjolund each earned three-set singles wins, but host Clemson earned a

5-2 nonconference men’s tennis win Sunday in South Carolina.

Lamm defeated Clement Reix, 3-6, 7-6, 6-0 in the No. 3 spot, while

Sjolund outlasted No. 6 foe Michael Gee.

UCI fell to 4-6 and Clemson improved to 13-2.

Mustangs handle UCI

* TENNIS: Visiting Cal Poly San Luis Obispo earned a 6-1 Big West

Conference women’s tennis win over UC Irvine Sunday.

UCI senior Anna Bentzer won, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 1 singles, while the

duo of Jayme Hu and Lisa Shih earned the ‘Eaters’ only doubles

triumph.

UCI fell to 4-5 while the Mustangs improved to 7-3.