The UC Irvine women's volleyball team, on the heels of Thursday
night's upset loss at Idaho, responded well on the road Saturday
night as Coach Charlie Brande's squad swept Utah State, 30-27, 30-23,
37-35 in Big West Conference action at the Smith Spectrum in Logan,
Utah.
After a wild third game, Kelly Wing finished with a match-high 15
kills for the Anteaters, while adding 11 digs. Sami Cash contributed
14 kills, four block assists, one stuff block and one service ace for
UCI (14-4, 5-1 in the Big West). Dana Kurzbard, Terbrie Taylor and
Amanda Vazquez each pounded home 10 kills for the winners, who play
again next Saturday at Long Beach State. Setter Ashley Bain recorded
54 assists for UC Irvine.
Utah State fell to 9-6, 2-3.
UC Irvine splits pair
* WATER POLO: The UC Irvine men's water polo team split its two
games in the first day of the Northern California tournament at
Stanford Saturday. The ninth-ranked Anteaters opened with a 7-6 win
over No. 8 Loyola Marymount, then lost to No. 1 USC, 9-7. With the
loss, UCI will head into the consolation bracket, facing No. 6 UC San
Diego at 8 a.m. today.
In the win over LMU, Nate White scored what proved to be the
game-winning goal with 40 seconds remaining in the third quarter to
give the Anteaters a 7-4 lead and UCI held off the Lions. Rick Merlo
led the Anteaters with two goals in the second quarter as UCI built a
5-3 halftime lead. A goal by Chris Peters with 3:57 left in the third
quarter extended the lead to 6-3. Joe Wynne had five saves in goal
for the Anteaters.
Endre Rex-Kiss led the Lions with three goals.
In the loss to USC, Dan Noon, Chris Peters and Rick Merlo scored
two goals apiece. Merlo's second goal of the game at 3:21 of the
fourth quarter drew the Anteaters to within one at 7-6, but
back-to-back goals by Juraj Zatovic and James Shin sealed the win for
the top-ranked Trojans. Zatovic and Shin scored three goals each to
lead USC.
Joe Wynne had four saves for the Anteaters and Bozidar Damjanovic
had seven stops for USC.
*--*
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA TOURNAMENT First round
UC Irvine 7, Loyola 6
Score by Quarters
UC Irvine 2 3 2 0 -- 7
Loyola Marymount 2 1 2 1 - 6
UCI - Rick Merlo 2, Peters, Noon, Bitter, Garcia,
White. Saves -- Wynne 4. LMU - Rex-Kiss 3, Smith,
Chapatte, Wagner. Saves - Elliott 5.
*--*
*--*
Second round
USC 9, UC Irvine 7
Score by Quarters
UC Irvine 2 1 1 3 -- 7
USC 1 2 3 3 - 9
UCI - Noon 2, Peters 2, Rick Merlo 2, Hutten.
Saves -- Wynne 4. USC - Shin 3, Zatovic 3, Hadar
2, Damjanov. Saves -Damjanovic 7.
*--*
