College Roundup: UCI women advance to Big West water polo tournament final

WOMEN’S WATER POLO

UC Irvine 7, San Diego State 5

IRVINE — The No. 2-seeded Anteaters advanced to Sunday’s Big West Conference Tournament final behind 13 saves from Jillian Yocum and two goals apiece from Michaela Pierandozzi and McKenna Mitchell on Saturday at UCI.

UCI (21-8), which shared the conference regular-season crown with Hawaii (20-9), will meet the top-seeded Rainbow Wahine Sunday at 4:15 p.m. Hawaii defeated Long Beach State, 10-5, in the other semifinal Saturday.

UCI lost, 12-11, in sudden-death overtime in the conference meeting with Hawaii on March 14. But the Anteaters earned a 10-9 win over Hawaii on Feb. 24.

Sunday’s winner earns an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

UCI defeated UC Davis on Friday in the quarterfinals at UCI as Hillary Estrada scored three goals and Yocum had 12 saves.

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WOMEN’S TENNIS

UC Irvine 4, Hawaii 0

INDIAN WELLS — The top-seeded Anteaters posted a school-record 22nd win this season in the semifinals of the Big West Tournament on Saturday at Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

It was the 20th straight victory for UCI (22-3), which will face Long Beach State in the final on Sunday at 9 a.m.

Senior Kristina Smith won at No. 1 singles and teamed with Franziska Goettsching for a win at No. 1 doubles to pace the Anteaters, whose previous single-season victories record was 21, set in 2007.

Ali Facey and Sarah Stadfelt also finished off singles wins for the Anteaters, who defeated Pacific, 4-0, in Friday’s quarterfinals.

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BASEBALL

Doubleheader

IRVINE — Vanguard rallied for a 4-2 win at Concordia to split a Golden State Athletic Conference twin bill on Saturday.

Concordia won the first game, 3-2, despite being outhit, 5-3, by the Lions, who complete their season 22-27, 15-21 in conference.

Scott Simmons allowed one run in six innings to improve to 8-6 for VU.

Jourdan Mould, Bryce Arroyo and Matt Avery had three hits on the day for Vanguard, which dropped a 6-5 verdict at Concordia on Friday.

Concordia is 33-17, 22-14.

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MEN’S TENNIS

UC Santa Barbara 4, UC Irvine 1

INDIAN WELLS — The top-seeded Anteaters lost in the semifinals of the Big West Conference Tournament on Friday at Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Sophomore Jacob Jung earned the lone point for UCI by winning at No. 3 singles.

UCI, which shared the Big West regular-season crown, finishes the season 9-17.

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WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD

Orange Empire Conference Championships

SANTA ANA — Orange Coast College runner Karen Silvas won the 1,500 meters and the 5,000 to help the Pirates finished second in the team standings on Saturday at Santa Ana College.

Silva’s time in the 1,500 was four minutes, 50.28 seconds. She ran the 5,000 in 18:42.11.

OCC’s Leanne Allen won the 800 in 2:20.51, while the Pirates’ Raeanna Cortez (1,500 in 4:52.98), Camille Garcia (5,000 in 18:59.55), and Sabrina How (high jump with a clearance of 5 feet, 3 inches) all finished second.

Cortez was third in the 800 in 2:23.08, and teammate Veronka Movalieva was fourth in 2:24.88.

OCC’s September Rodriguez was fourth in the high jump (4-9) and fifth in the 400 (1:00.32).

Other top-five finishes for OCC were Cassandra Jacobs (102-3 in the javelin), Howe (34-1 1/2 in the triple jump) and Guadalupe Gomez (5:00.40 in the 1,500).

OCC posted 154.5 points, well behind victorious Riverside (329).

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Steve Scott Invitational

IRVINE — UC Irvine junior Lacey Surak won the women’s javelin throw Saturday on the first day of the 19th annual adidas/Steve Scott Invitational at Anteater Stadium.

Surak won the event with a mark of 133 feet, 6 inches and senior Chelsea Pham was fifth at 119-2.

Senior Nicole Mendoza finished second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 11 minutes, 29.52 seconds.

Freshman Bridget Devaney was fifth in the hammer throw (156-9) and sophomore Itos Aikhionbare was seventh (154-2).

Sophomore Kate Johnson was eighth in the pole vault (10-6).

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MEN’S TRACK & FIELD

Orange Empire Conference Championships

SANTA ANA — Austin Pollok won the hammer throw with a mark of 173 feet, 11 inches to help Orange Coast College finish second as a team on Saturday at Santa Ana College.

Kevin Russell (four minutes, 1.97 seconds in the 1,500 meters) and Cameron Pizzica (14 feet, 7 1/4 inches in the pole vault) posted third-place finishes for OCC.

Fourth for OCC were Andy Bordine (15.22 seconds in the 110 high hurdles), Jose Ortiz (4:04.21 in the 1,500 and 15:41.49 in the 5,000).

Finishing fifth for the Pirates were Weston Hall (2:00.04 in the 800 and 4:06.26 in the 1,500), Jace Hinesly (15:44.30 in the 5,000) and Emmanuel Valencia (43-7 3/4) in the triple jump.

Riverside had 441.5 team points, well ahead of OCC’s 132.

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Steve Scott Invitational

IRVINE — UC Irvine sophomore Trevor Lawrence finished ninth in the hammer throw with a mark of 168 feet, 7 inches at UCI.