May, Walsh roll into world semis

Misty May, a product of Newport Harbor High, and her partner Kerri

Walsh advanced to today’s semifinals of the SWATCH-FIVB beach

volleyball world championships with a quarterfinal triumph Thursday.

May and Walsh, the reigning Olympic and world champions, defeated

a German pair Thursday in Berlin, 21-19, 21-17.

May, a former two-time NCAA women’s Player of the Year at Long

Beach State and Walsh, a former Stanford star, are the No. 19-seed.

They defeated sixth-seeded Stephanie Pohl and Oklka Rau for the

American duo’s 300th career victory together, including both domestic

and international competitions.

May and Walsh will face No. 26-seeded Li Ying and Lu Wang of China

in today’s semifinals.

The championship match is scheduled Saturday.

Tars’ Gleason honored

* SOFTBALL: Newport Harbor High senior Ashley Gleason was a

first-team All-Sea View League softball selection while Sailor

teammates Julianne Bass, a senior, and Jane Messersith, a freshman,

were second-team selections by the circuit’s coaches.

Gleason led the league with 152 strikeouts in a 119 innings.

Her 1.12 ERA was fifth in the league and her .354 batting average

was sixth in the league.

Gleason, who will attend Dartmouth next year, also led the Sailors

with six stolen bases and 29 hits.

Bass led the team with 11 RBIs and was second with a .282 batting

average.

Messersmith led the team with a 0.54 ERA. She allowed just four

earned runs in 52 innings in the circle.

Her 51 strikeouts were seventh-best in the league.

Krista Seeman from Woodbridge was the league’s Most Valuable

Player.

Sage’s Lazere lauded

* VOLLEYBALL: Sage Hill School junior Jake Lazere was named

first-team All-Academy League by the circuit’s boys volleyball

coaches.

Lazere, an outside hitter, was the lone returner from the 2004

team that advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division V semifinals.

Freshmen Jamie McGee and Carl Hilgren both received honorable

mention.

Capistrano Valley Christian’s Matt Knutson was named league Most

Valuable Player and Brethren Christian’s Jon Bahnsen collected Coach

of the Year honors.

Sage trio recognized

* GOLF: Sage Hill School sophomore Ryan Babbush was named

second-team All-Academy League by the circuit’s golf coaches.

Senior John Neff and junior Josh Chen received honorable mention.

Tain Lee, a freshman at St. Margaret’s, was named league Most

Valuable Player and the Tartans’ Rocky Parker was honored as the

Coach of the Year.