Sage Hill wins title

The Sage Hill School girls tennis team captured the Lightning

invitational Saturday at the Balboa Bay Club Racquet Club. The

two-day, four-team, round-robin format included Sage Hill, Santa

Ynez, Aquinas and Westminster.

Sage Hill went 3-0 in the tournament, including a 14-4 win over

Aquinas and a 13-5 victory over Santa Ynez Saturday.

Against second-place Santa Ynez, Stephanie Langer and Ashley Adams

took two of three singles sets each. The doubles teams of Erica

Spivack and Grace Graham and Alle Hsu and Jaclyn Smrecek also took

two of three sets apiece.

Against Aquinas, Adams, Langer and Sarah Geocaris all took two of

three sets, as did the doubles teams of Connor Carreras and Hsu,

Smrecek and Graham and Spivack and Carissa Cummings.

All-tournament selections for Sage Hill include Adams, Geocaris,

Langer, Hsu and Spivack.

OCC repeats feat

* VOLLEYBALL: The No. 1-seed Orange Coast College women’s

volleyball team won the Santa Ana College tournament for the second

consecutive season Saturday. The Pirates defeated Cerritos College in

the quarterfinals of the tournament playoffs, 30-20, before taking

down Citrus College, 30-22, in the semifinals. In the championship

match, Orange Coast defeated Cypress 30-17.

Orange Coast College’s Kiwi Winkler was named the MVP of the

tournament. Ashlee Moon, Brittney Ray and Caitlin Parker were other

standout players in the tournament.

Sailors down Coronado

* WATER POLO: The Newport Harbor boys water polo team defeated

visiting Coronado High 14-8 Saturday in a nonleague game between two

powerhouses. Brett Auer led the way with five goals, Clay Jorth

tallied three goals and Blake Hockenbury and Clint Jorth added two

goals each. Bryce McLain made 10 saves for Newport Harbor, which

moves to 2-0 this season.

Blue takes sixth

* CROSS COUNTRY: Newport Harbor senior Whitney Blue finished sixth

overall in 17:13 Saturday night in the girls sweepstakes at the

Woodbridge invitational. Taylor Bryson (18:46), Melissa Mead (18:50),

Desiree Alexander (19:05), Lauren Maddox (19:46) and Erica Pearson

(20:12) also contributed for the Sailors, who placed ninth overall.

For the Newport boys, Kenny Rakestraw led the way for the Newport

Harbor High boys cross country team, taking seventh place in the

senior race at the Woodbridge Invitational with a time of 15:37

Saturday night. Mike Madison followed with an 82nd-place time of

17:28.

In the junior race, the Sailors’ Michael Jugan took 46th with a

time of 17:14. In the sophomore race, Murphy Hitchcock took 17th at

16:49 and Alex Shaw finished 33rd with a time of 17:19. In his first race ever, Scott Figueroa finished ninth in the freshman race with a

time of 17:06.

Sailors split pair

* VOLLEYBALL: The Newport Harbor High girls volleyball team got

off to a nice start on Saturday morning in the Dave Mohs

invitational, defeating Brea Olinda, 25-14, 25-11, at Newport Harbor

High. The Sailors, ranked No. 5 in the CIF Southern Section’s

Division II-AA, took second place in their pool and moved to the Gold

Division, where they fell to Mission Viejo, 23-25, 27-25, 11-15.

Against Brea Olinda, which is ranked No. 8 in CIF Division II-A,

junior Coco Yokoyama tallied nine kills and two aces and Bryana Carey

added five kills and four aces for Newport Harbor (2-2).

Against Mission Viejo, which is ranked No. 3 in CIF’s Division IA,

Jamie Heenan led the way with 12 kills, Yokoyama tallied eight kills,

and Megan Munce and Carey added six kills each.

* In Friday’s action, Newport Harbor opened its season at the Mohs

tournament as the Sailors dropped their first game to Valencia of

Valencia, 23-25, 25-21, 10-15. Later, the Tars rebounded against

Rosary, winning in two games, 25-19, 25-23. Newport’s kill leader for

the night, Yokoyama, had eight in the first game and seven in the

second. Carey excelled in the nightcap, tallying eight kills and two

service aces in the victory.

Sage running strong

* CROSS COUNTRY: The Sage Hill School cross country program’s

lower-level teams excelled at the Woodbridge invitational Saturday.

Sage Hill took third place overall in the Division IV sophomore girls

race. Katie McKeow led the way with a second-place time of 20:12. In

the Division 4 freshman girls race, Mackenzie Muhonen had a

fourth-place time of 20:40 and Aiyama Bobrownicki took fifth with a

time of 20:47.

In the Division IV sophomore boys race, Connor Rose had a

sixth-place time of 16:41. Rose’s time marked a new school record for

Sage Hill. In the Division IV freshman boys race, Tony Astorino had a

10th-place time of 17:56.

Lion women second

* CROSS COUNTRY: The No. 17-ranked Vanguard women’s cross country

team took second place in the Open Division of the San Diego State

Aztec invitational Saturday, just three points behind 13th-ranked

Point Loma Nazarene University. Leading the way for the Lions was

freshman Grace Jepngetich, who won the open individual title with a

time of 19:04.

The No. 21-ranked Vanguard men’s cross country team took third in

the open division in San Diego. Humberto Rojas finished second

overall with a time of 27:26.

Florida drops UCI

* VOLLEYBALL: The UC Irvine women’s volleyball team to No.

7-ranked Florida 30-20, 30-24, 30-13 Saturday at the O’Connell Center

in Gainesville, Fla. Lauren Kellerman led the way for UCI with 10

kills. Christa Conom added 21 assists but the Anteaters fell to 5-6

this season.

Anteater men fall

* SOCCER: The UC Irvine men’s soccer team lost to Bradley

University, 1-0, Saturday in Peoria, Ill., in the Bradley Classic.

The Anteaters (1-3-2) could not get the ball past Bradley goalkeeper

Chris Dunsheath despite taking 22 shots and six corner kicks

Kudos to Walker

* HONORS: The Vanguard University athletic department named Lauren

Walker of the women’s soccer team Lion of the Week.

Walker, one of the team’s three captains, led the Lions to a 4-1

record, the program’s best start since the 1998 season.

The Lions have won four straight games and moved into the Region

II rankings as the fourth-ranked team.

* Last week, Vanguard senior women’s volleyball setter Marissa

Cothran was named Lion of the Week by the school’s athletic

department.

Cothran, a Newport Harbor High product, earned all-tournament

honors at the Concordia tournament as well as the Cal State Monterey

Bay tournament. The Lions were 8-0 in both tournaments, winning 24 of

27 games.

At the Concordia tournament, Cothran amassed 138 assists, 23

kills, 39 digs and six aces.

A returning All-Golden State Athletic Conference honoree, Cothran

is averaging 11 assists, 2.3 digs and 1.6 kills per game for the

Lions.