Former ‘Eater Pelzel paces Team USA

Former UC Irvine All-American Jimmy Pelzel tied for the team high

with eight kills to help the United States men’s volleyball team roll

to a 25-12, 25-14, 25-13 victory over Lebanon to open pool play at

the World University Games Thursday in Izmir, Turkey.

The U.S., which also includes Corona del Mar High product Kevin

Hansen, who started the third game, dispatched Lebanon in 62 minutes.

Team USA faces France in pool-play action today. Belgium, China

and Slovakia are also in the pool.

Pelzel and Hansen, the latter a first-team All-American as a

Stanford senior last season, were selected from among a group of 19

players who trained at the United States Olympic Training Center in

Colorado Springs, Colo., since July 18.

Three other pools make up the field for the men’s volleyball

tournament. Pool A consists of Bulgaria, Canada, Iran, Russia,

Switzerland and Turkey, while Pool B includes defending gold medalist

Korea, Brazil, Cyprus, Germany, Italy and United Arab Emirates. Pool

C features Denmark, Hong Kong, 2003 silver medalist Japan, Mexico,

Poland, as well as Serbia and Montenegro. The tournament runs through

Aug. 21.

Peirsol opens today

* SWIMMING: Former Newport Harbor High swim standout Hayley

Peirsol, who finished third in the 800-meter freestyle at this year’s

world championship trials, makes her first World University Games

appearance when competition begins today.

The top eight swimmers from today’s preliminaries will advance to

tonight’s final.

Peirsol, 20, a University of Auburn swimmer who won four events in

last month’s Janet Evans invitational at USC (800 free, 400 free,

1,500 free and 400 individual medley), will also compete in the 1,500

freestyle, with preliminaries and finals scheduled Tuesday.

Breaker earns honor

* TENNIS: Katerina Bondarenko, who anchored women’s singles and

women’s doubles for the Newport Beach Breakers this season, was named

World Team Tennis’ Female Rookie of the Year, league officials

announced Thursday.

Bondarenko, in her first WTT season, helped post a .541 winning

percentage in women’s doubles with partners Anastassia Rodionova and,

for one match, with 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova.

Bondarenko posted a .530 winning percentage in singles, the

fourth-best mark in the league.

Her feats helped the defending league champion Breakers finish 9-5

and secure a place in the WTT semifinals against Western Conference

champion Sacramento (11-3) at 7 p.m. Sept. 16 at Allstate Stadium in

Citrus Heights, Calif.

The winner will face either the New York Sportimes or Boston

Lobsters in the WTT final at 3 p.m. Sept. 17 at the same site.

The league will announce the WTT Coach of the Year Tuesday.

Gabert places fifth

* SWIMMING: Stephanie Gabert, a soon-to-be junior at Corona del

Mar High, finished fifth in the 400-meter individual medley

consolation final at the United States junior national championships

Thursday in Irvine.

Gabert, who claimed the 200 breaststroke crown Wednesday in the

same meet, clocked 5 minutes, 1.61 seconds in the B-final race

(qualifiers nine through 16) at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatic

Center.

Megan Evans finished first in the same heat in 4:57.58.

Gabert currently holds the CIF Southern Section Division II record

in the 100-yard breaststroke.

UCI teams in top 20

* GOLF: The UC Irvine men’s and women’s golf teams are ranked in

the top 20 of Golf Digest magazine’s first College Golf Guide that

lists the best schools for the sport in the September issue.

Golf Digest rated each school in academics, climate,

coach/facilities and golf performance, then created three categories

of rankings: Golf First, Academics First and Balanced.

Coach Kelly Crawford’s UCI women’s team is ranked 16th nationally

in the Balanced rating. The Anteaters have won two Big West

Conference titles in the first four years of the program’s existence

and competed in the NCAA championships for the first time last

season, finishing 18th.

Coach Paul Smolinski’s Anteater men’s squad is ranked No. 17 in

the Balanced category. UCI won three consecutive Big West titles from

2001-03 and competed in four straight NCAA regionals (2001-04).

Big West gets new logo

* The Big West Conference’s boasts a new logo.

The new logo replaces the Big West star that represented the

conference since 1995.

Phoenix Design Works in New York developed the new mark after

receiving input from a conference subcommittee.

Big West Commissioner Dennis Farrell said it was important to

design a logo that represents the changing makeup of the conference,

in which all members are now California schools.

The eight members of the conference include Cal Poly San Luis

Obispo; Cal State Fullerton; Cal State Northridge; Long Beach State;

UCI; UC Riverside; UC Santa Barbara; and the University of the

Pacific.

UC Davis will become a member of the conference on July 1, 2007.