October 6, 2007

Friday highlights: UCI wins, CSF falls in volleyball
Anteaters snap losing streak against Pacific.
Special to the Register

UC Irvine snapped a two-match losing streak with a 30-23, 30-24, 30-26 sweep over visiting Pacific in a Big West Conference women's volleyball match Friday at Crawford Court. The victory lifted the Anteaters to 13-6 overall and 3-1 in conference play while Pacific fell to 9-4 (3-2) overall.

Freshman Kari Pestolesi led UCI with 12 kills while junior Lauren Kellerman committed just two errors in 31 attempts and had 11 kills while picking up nine digs for the Anteaters. Middle blocker Kristin Kelley led UCI to a 13-8 block advantage with eight block assists while putting in seven kills.

Setter Taryn Robertson handed out 41 assists and libero Devon Sutherland led the team with 11 digs. Junior Shannan Homan recorded a career-high .500 hitting percentage, putting away nine kills with just two errors in 14 attempts. Homan also had five digs and tallied six total blocks while Chelsea Ellis added eight kills for UCI.

Cal Poly 3, Cal State Fullerton 0: Kylie Atherstone's game-high 19 kills paced 24th-ranked Cal Poly to a 3-0 sweep of visiting Cal State Fullerton in a Big West Conference volleyball match at Mott Gym Friday night. The Titans drop their third match in a row and fall to 7-8 overall and 2-2 in league action while the Mustangs improve to 10-7, 4-1.

Jennifer Francisco and Alex Wolnisty led the Fullerton offense with nine kills apiece but the Mustangs out-hit the Titans .327 to .178 as they made quick work of the Titans in the ninety-minute 30-23, 30-27, 30-17 win.

MEN'S WATER POLO

Fourth-ranked UCLA outscored No. 6 UC Irvine 7-1 in the second quarter and went on to a 12-5 win in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation game before an overflow crowd at Anteater Pool Friday night.

The Anteaters jumped out to a 3-1 lead after one quarter on a pair of goals by Colin Mello and one from Brandon Johnson.

The Bruins (11-2, 1-1) scored six consecutive goals to open the second quarter, two by Justin Johnson.

Mello scored his third goal of the game on an extra-man opportunity with 1:00left in the first half to break UCI’s drought, but Marco Santos answered with seven seconds remaining to give UCLA an 8-4 margin at the half.

The Bruins built a 12-4 lead midway through the fourth quarter before UCI’s Jesse Hatch closed out the scoring with 1:24left in the game.

Johnson scored three goals and Chay Lapin had 13 saves in goal for UCLA while Matt Garcia had nine stops for UCI (6-4, 1-1). Mello led the Anteaters with his three goals.

Both teams compete in the Southern California Tournament next weekend (Oct. 13-14) at Anteater Pool and Corona del Mar High School.

WOMEN'S SOCCER

UC Santa Barbara's Kailyn Kugler scored the game-winning goal in the 22nd minute of the match and the Gauchos' defense stifled Fullerton's offense, allowing just eight shots on the night in their 2-0 shutout victory over the Titans on Friday night at Harder Stadium in Santa Barbara.

The loss ends Fullerton's three-match winning streak, dropping the Titans to 6-4-1 overall and 1-1 in Big West Conference play. UCSB improved to 4-5-2 overall and 1-0 in league play.

The eight shots by the Titans were a season-low and were the fewest for a Fullerton squad since the eight shots taken in a 2-1 win over Cal Poly in the championship match of the Big West Tournament last season.

UC Irvine 1, San Francisco 0:The visiting UC Irvine women's soccer team (6-3-1) defeated San Francisco in double overtime in non-conference play at Negoesco Stadium.

The two teams played a scoreless first 100 minutes sending the match into a second overtime period. Senior Kim Horn scored the game-winning goal at the 104:06 mark off an assist from freshman Caty Cope.

The goal was the third of the season for Horn and it was the eighth assist of the season for Cope.

Freshman keeper Danielle de Seriere had seven saves as she earned her fifth shutout of the season.

The Anteaters return to action Sunday as they face San JoseState at 5:00 p.m.in non-conference play at Spartan Stadium.

Cal State East Bay 2, Chapman 0: Chapman lost its second consecutive game at home, this time against West Region independent rival Cal State East Bay at Wilson Field. The Pioneers scored back-to-back second half goals en route to the shutout.

Cal State East Bay(4-3-2) snapped a scoreless tie at 61:53 when Amanda Tweedy scored the game-winner with a high-arching shot out of the reach of Chapman goalkeeper Madison Coffin. Less than four minutes later, the Pioneers scored again on a goal by Christina Quitasol and assisted by East Bay goalkeeper Koree Palmer.

Palmer meanwhile, made three saves to earn the shutout. Coffin made five saves in goal for Chapman (5-5-2).

Chapman, once ranked No. 2 in the West Region this season, has fallen to No. 9 in the rankings this week. The Panthers have won just two of their past seven games including a 1-1-2 mark at home. Cal State East Bay entered the game behind Chapman at No. 10 in the West.

TENNIS

Cal State Fullerton freshman and eighth-seeded Erin Wiesener along with freshman teammate Karina Akhmedova each posted victories on Friday lead the host Titans during day one of the Fall Intercollegiate tournament at the Titan Courts.

Six of the tournament's top eight singles seeds are still alive after Friday's first two rounds, moving into the round of 16 that begins on Saturday morning at 9 a.m.

Wiesener opened her collegiate career with a straight-set, 6-3, 6-4, victory over UC Santa Barbara's Juliette Mutzke, and followed that up with a 6-0, 6-0, victory over UC Riverside's Roxanne Plata.

Akhmedova also opened her career with a victory, defeating UCSB's Mia Giovanetti, 6-1, 6-0, but fell in the second round of Cal State Northridge's Kristy Fournell, 6-0, 6-3.