Mountain Pacific Sports Federation

HONOLULU - The UC Irvine women's water polo team was outscored, 9-2, in the final three periods and lost 11-5 to Mountain Pacific Sports Federation host Hawaii Thursday. The Anteaters (6-14, 1-5 in the MPSF) built a 3-2 lead after the first period, but Hawaii (9-8, 4-4) answered with its 9-2 run. Melissa Fernandez led UCI with two goals, while goalie Sunceray Chamblee recorded 10 saves. MOUNTAIN PACIFIC SPORTS FEDERATION Hawaii 11, UC Irvine 5 UC Irvine 3 0 1 1 - 5 Hawaii 2 2 3 4 - 11 UCI - Fernandez 2, Horman 1, Wedemeyer 1. Saves - Chamblee 10. Hawaii - Garner-Prohs 5, Cruti 1, Van Hoff 1, Molina 1, Novick 1, Tarayao 1, Schiman 1. Saves - Tackaberry 7, Hahn 1.

STOCKTON - Senior Chris Kirchwehm scored three goals to lead No. 7 UC Irvine over 10th-ranked Pacific, 9-6, in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opener for both teams Saturday. Sophomore Garrett Gentry, a product of Corona del Mar High, and freshman Dreason Barry added two goals each for the Anteaters, who jumped to a 5-0 lead late in the second quarter. Junior goalie Doug Finfrock had eight saves for UCI, which improved to 1-1 overall. The Anteaters play at top-ranked Stanford today, starting at noon.

IRVINE -- Tim Hutten scored four goals as the Anteaters held off a late rally to defeat Long Beach State, 10-7, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's water polo match on Thursday. UCI (13-10, 3-2 in conference) led by as many as four goals, taking a 6-2 lead on Hutten's penalty shot, before the 49ers rallied to get within a goal at 7-6. Hutten responded with a goal with 6:14 remaining and the Anteaters were able to pull away. Joe Wynne recorded 10 saves in goal for UCI, ranked No. 6 in the nation.

college roundup from satIRVINE -- Bolstered by a career-high 20 saves by senior goalie Nate Bennett, the No. 2-ranked California men's water polo team defeated No. 7 UC Irvine, 9-2, Saturday afternoon in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation game at Spieker Aquatics Complex. Junior Tim Hutten finally got the Anteaters (10-9, 1-1 in the MPSF) on the scoreboard in the third quarter, but not until the Bears had scored the first six goals of the match. UC Irvine senior Dreason Barry added a goal with 6:01 left in the fourth period.

Five former local high school standouts are expected to be in action tonight for No. 8-ranked UCLA when it plays No. 4 UC Irvine in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s volleyball match at the Bren Events Center at 7. Freshman opposite Kyle Caldwell, sophomore quick hitter Weston Dunlap, junior outside hitter Brett Perrine and senior quick hitter Jamie Diefenbach play for the Bruins (4-4, 2-2 in the MPSF). The Anteaters (7-2, 3-1) are also expected to face Corona del Mar graduate Ted Slaughter, a sophomore quick hitter.

IRVINE — Carson Clark had 22 kills and Jordan DuFault added 20 to help host UC Irvine earn a 25-22, 26-24, 21-25, 26-24 win over Hawaii in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match Monday. Cory Yoder had 15 kills and Anthony Spittle had 54 assists for No. 7-ranked UCI (9-8, 6-5 in conference). No. 10-ranked Hawaii is 6-8, 4-5.

UC Irvine senior Jeff Powers scored with 1:18 left in the third quarter to break a 4-4 tie and the Anteaters held on for a 5-4 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men's water polo victory over visiting University of the Pacific Sunday. Powers' second goal of the game was the only score by either team in the second half as UCI improved to 12-7, 3-3 in conference. Sophomore Dreason Barry also netted a pair of goals for the Anteaters and senior goalie Doug Finfrock collected six saves, including five in the second half.

  WOMEN'S SOCCER Cal State Fullerton 4, UC Irvine 0 IRVINE — The Anteaters completed their season with the Big West Conference clash Sunday, finishing 3-13-1, 0-7 in conference. Cal State Fullerton improved to 9-7-2, 4-2-1. UCI did not score a goal in seven conference matches and was blanked 12 times in 2006. MEN'S WATER POLO USC 16, UC Irvine 6 IRVINE — Anteaters' sophomore Cole Bielskis scored two goals against the top-ranked Trojans in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action Saturday.

NORTHRIDGE ? The No. 1-ranked UC Irvine men's volleyball team took down Cal State Northridge, 30-27, 30-24, 30-24, in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action on Wednesday night. It marked the 20th consecutive victory for the Anteaters, who halted Northridge's seven-match winning streak and improved to 26-3 overall, 19-2 in conference. Three UC Irvine players were in double figures in kills, including Matt Webber (12), Paul Spittle (11) and Jayson Jablonsky (10). Brent Asuka added a match-high 10 digs.

UC Irvine head men's volleyball coach John Speraw was named 2012 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Coach of the Year after capturing the MPSF Tournament and qualifying for the NCAA Championship. Speraw, in his 10th year at UCI, led the Anteaters to their fourth NCAA Championship appearance after the Anteaters won their second MPSF Tournament with a pair of five-set, come-from-behind wins in the semifinal and final. UCI was the fourth seed for the tournament, after finishing in a three-way tie for second a 17-5 record.

MEN'S VOLLEYBALL UC Irvine def. Cal State Northridge IRVINE - Junior setter Chris Austin guided the No. 4-ranked Anteaters to a 25-15, 25-22, 25-23 victory in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match Wednesday. Austin had a career-high 41 assists to help UCI (11-3, 7-3 in conference) post a .486 hitting percentage against the No. 12-ranked Matadors (4-9, 2-7). He is filling in for sophomore starter Daniel Stork, who is out with a concussion sustained in practice.

If the first week is any indication, 2012 figures to be a banner year for UC Irvine athletics. The Anteaters' men's and women's basketball teams each swept their two-game conference sets against Pacific and UC Davis. The No. 2-ranked UCI men's volleyball team won four matches, the final three over then-No. 1-ranked BYU, No. 6 Long Beach State and No. 3-ranked UCLA, respectively, on its way to claiming the title of the UC Santa Barbara Invitational. The impressive opening for Coach John Speraw's Anteaters earned them the No. 1 national ranking in the American Volleyball Coaches Assn.

MEN'S WATER POLO USC 7, UC Irvine 4 LOS ANGELES — Mitch Wise had three goals and USC transfer Jimmy Friedrich had 14 saves for the visiting Anteaters in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opener Saturday. No. 8-ranked UCI is now 8-4, while top-ranked USC is 6-0. * WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL Vanguard def. Westmont SANTA BARBARA — KaUwila Lavea had 18 kills to help lead the No. 23-ranked Lions to a 25-18, 24-26, 27-25, 25-16 Golden State Athletic Conference win Saturday.

MEN'S SOCCER South Florida 2, UC Irvine 0 TAMPA, Fla. — The visiting No. 5-ranked Anteaters sustained their first loss in the nonconference game Sunday. No. 12-ranked USF (4-2-1) scored in the 13th minute and added an insurance tally in the 82nd minute. UCI (7-1) posted a 12-11 advantage in shots, but Bulls' goalkeeper Chris Blais made six saves to record the shutout. Christian Hernandez had four shots to pace UCI, which plays host to UNLV on Friday at 7 p.m. MEN'S WATER POLO NorCal Tournament STOCKTON — UC Irvine fell to No. 5-ranked Pacific and UC Santa Barbara Sunday to place eighth in the prestigious event at Pacific.

UC Irvine men's volleyball assistant coach David Kniffin has been tabbed the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I-II Men's National Assistant Coach of the Year. Kniffin recently completed his fifth season as an assistant coach with the Anteaters, helping UCI to a 19-12 record in 2011, including a 14-8 mark in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. UCI was ranked in the top seven of the AVCA Men's Division I-II Coaches top 15 poll the entire season, ending at No. 4 and reaching as high as No. 2 three different weeks.

The double life of Cortney Collyer is in its final days. Monday's sunrise will, in fact, bring an end to the ambiguity that now resonates between her girl-next-door appearance and the single-minded ruthlessness of her championship soul. When the last droplet of chlorine-saturated pool water is toweled off following a historic weekend she and her UC Irvine women's water polo teammates will experience in Ann Arbor, Mich. Collyer will return to school, finish work toward her business economics degree and look for real-world venues in which to make a splash.

SANTA BARBARA — Senior Cortney Collyer scored a team-high four goals to pace the UC Irvine women's water polo team to its third straight Big West Conference Tournament title with an 11-5 triumph Sunday at UC Santa Barbara. The win, the seventh straight for the No. 10-ranked Anteaters (21-8) gives UCI an automatic NCAA Tournament berth, the first NCAA Tournament trip in the program's history. This is the first year the Big West Tournament winner was granted an at-large berth. UCI, which has won 11 of its last 12 and is now 8-0 in the three-year history of the Big West Tournament, is the No. 5 seed in the eight-team NCAA Tournament that runs May 13 through 15 at the University of Michigan.

IRVINE — Both teams featured men in black Saturday night; fitting for a match to the death. Well, at least one men's volleyball team's season was terminated in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament quarterfinal in front of an overflow crowd of 788 at UC Irvine's Crawford Court. UCI (19-11), ranked No. 3 in the nation and seeded No. 4 in the eight-team tournament that will guarantee its winner a berth in the NCAA Final Four, made it a dark night for the black-clad Hawaii Warriors (15-13)

There are broken ping-pong paddles still wedged in the backyard trees at the Spittle house in Redondo Beach. And at the family's previous home in Lomita, the backyard grass likely still has difficulty growing, having been trampled by years of point-by-point plodding, on both sides of a painstakingly erected net, by members of the first family of UC Irvine men's volleyball. Dean and Tina Spittle are counting down the days, sometimes moments, of a memorable nine-year run during which at least one of their sons — first Paul, then Nick, then current senior setter Anthony — have played for Anteaters coach John Speraw.