Santa Barbara

SANTA BARBARA - Costa Mesa resident Jake Gibb and Corona del Mar resident Sean Rosenthal won the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals Santa Barbara Open men's title Sunday, while Newport Harbor High product April Ross teamed with Jen Kessy to win the women's crown. Gibb/Rosenthal, the No. 6 seed, defeated Brad Keenan and John Mayer, 21-16, 21-16, 21-18 in the best-of-five final. Ross/Kessy topped Kerri Walsh Jennings and Nicole Branagh, 21-19, 21-16, in the final. Estancia High product Matt Fuerbringer lost in the men's semifinals, while former UC Irvine standout Whitney Pavlik reached the women's semifinals.

CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinal No. 1. Santa Barbara (25-4) vs. No. 4 Newport Harbor (23-6) When/where: Wednesday, 6:45 p.m. at Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine Key Dons: Sr. GK Maddie Trabucco; Sr. utility Kelsey O'Brien; Sr. attacker Rocio Fesembeck; Sr. attacker Sophie Trabucco; Jr. attacker Betsy Hendrix. Key Sailors: Sr. attacker Carly Christian (team-high 70 goals, 19 assists, team-high 55 steals); Sr. center Elissia Schilling (44 goals, 19 assists, 44 steals)

SANTA BARBARA - The Orange Coast College women's basketball team brought an ice-cold shooting hand to Santa Barbara in Wednesday's 57-38 nonconference loss. The Pirates (3-4) were held to only 13 first-half points as Santa Barbara opened up a 19-point lead and never looked back. Nadia Mojica led the Pirates with 12 points and was OCC's lone double-digit scorer. OCC will compete in the Cuesta Tournament today at 4:30 p.m. NONCONFERENCE Santa Barbara 57, Orange Coast 38 Orange Coast - Fierst 5, Mojica 12, Urban 6, Takemoto 3, Nakano 7, Ducey 5. 3 pt. goals - Takemoto 1, Nakano 1, Fierst 1 Fouled out - None.

SANTA BARBARA - The Orange Coast College women's tennis team dropped a 5-0 decision to Santa Barbara in the second round of the Southern California playoffs Tuesday afternoon. The Pirates end the season 9-4, but will still send four singles and two doubles teams to compete in the individual regionals Thursday at Southwestern College. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PLAYOFFS Semifinals Santa Barbara 5, Orange Coast 0 Singles - Otsuka (SB) def. Chang, 6-1, 6-2; Marcato (SB)

The Orange Coast College women's tennis team won two matches in singles play and two in doubles, but fell just short in a 5-4 loss to host Santa Barbara in the Pirates' season opener Tuesday. Veronica Sommer defeated Santa Barbara's Jenny May, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1 singles and OCC's Stephanie Chang picked up a 6-4, 6-4, win over Alena Votavola in the No. 2 spot. Sommer and Chang teamed to beat May and Votavola in doubles, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1. Also picking up a win in doubles for OCC (0-1)

NEWPORT BEACH - The Newport Harbor High girls tennis team notched another big win Thursday afternoon with a 13-5 nonleague win over visiting Santa Barbara. Junior Kelly Nelson swept in singles, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3, while in doubles Carmen and Diana Khoury (6-2, 6-1, 6-1) and A.J. Olson and Bonnie Adams (6-4, 6-4, 7-6) also won all three sets for the Sailors (2-1). Newport will take on Los Alamitos at home Tuesday at 3 p.m. NONLEAGUE Newport Harbor 13, Santa Barbara 5 Singles - Nelson (NH)

SANTA BARBARA - It is really an unexplainable statistic. The Newport Harbor High girls' water polo team has never won the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions title. Newport assistant coach Brian Melstrom questioned Santa Barbara Coach Mark Walsh about it, so the two men looked at the tournament program. And indeed, they discovered that the Sailors had finished in second place seven times since 2003. "I said, 'I think [Coach Bill] Barnett likes to lose the last game and maybe make the girls hungry for the rest of the way,' " Walsh said.

SANTA BARBARA - Want a sure-fire way to boost the confidence of a high school girls' water polo team? Send them on the road, way north on Highway 101, to begin the season. Take away three of their starters for the weekend, girls regarded as some of the best prep players in the nation. Oh, subtract another starter for a game, too. Then have that team beat one of the top teams in CIF Southern Section Division 1. It happened Saturday, and Corona del Mar was that team coming back down Highway 101 with so much confidence.

BASEBALL UC Irvine 11, San Diego 3 SAN DIEGO — Four Anteaters combined for 13 of the team's 16 hits in the nonconference triumph on Tuesday. Sophomore first baseman Connor Spencer went four for four to raise his average from .408 to .430 and drove in one run. Senior Scott Gottschling was three for four with four runs batted in while sophomore Taylor Sparks was three for four with three RBIs for the winners (21-8), who have won a season-best five straight. Sophomore Chris Rabago was three for six with a home run and two RBIs for UCI, for which Mitch Merten pitched 4 1/3 innings to earn the victory.

CORONA DEL MAR - Two of Corona del Mar High's talented players showed up to campus to play more tennis on Saturday. Alec Adamson and Pedro Fernandez spent the morning in San Diego and Santa Monica competing in different United States Tennis Assn. junior tournaments. They made it back into town in time for an afternoon high school match between the Sea Kings, ranked No. 2 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 poll, and No. 6 Santa Barbara. The Dons also had two standouts at separate tennis events, but they didn't expect them back.

CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinal No. 1. Santa Barbara (25-4) vs. No. 4 Newport Harbor (23-6) When/where: Wednesday, 6:45 p.m. at Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine Key Dons: Sr. GK Maddie Trabucco; Sr. utility Kelsey O'Brien; Sr. attacker Rocio Fesembeck; Sr. attacker Sophie Trabucco; Jr. attacker Betsy Hendrix. Key Sailors: Sr. attacker Carly Christian (team-high 70 goals, 19 assists, team-high 55 steals); Sr. center Elissia Schilling (44 goals, 19 assists, 44 steals)

LAGUNA BEACH - It has been more than two decades now since Bill Barnett coached Erich Fischer at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. Team USA lost in the semifinals that year on the way to a fourth-place finish. On Saturday afternoon it was Fischer's daughter, Makenzie, who nearly sent Barnett's high school team home a round earlier in an upset loss. Makenzie Fischer, a sophomore at Laguna Beach High, scored a match-high six goals for the Breakers in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinal match.

MEN'S VOLLEYBALL UC Irvine def. UC Santa Barbara SANTA BARBARA - All-American outside hitter Kevin Tillie had 18 kills while hitting .485 (18-3-33) and collecting eight digs to lead the Anteaters to their fourth straight win Wednesday. No. 2-ranked UCI beat the No. 12 Gauchos, 25-23, 27-25, 28-26, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match. Opposite Zack la Cavera added 13 kills and seven digs, while outside hitter Connor Hughes recorded 10 kills for the Anteaters (8-3, 5-3 in the MPSF)

Film producer Samuel Goldwyn is credited with the phrase, "The harder I work, the luckier I get. " Goldwyn - the "G" in "MGM" - never got to meet Newport Harbor High junior Cleo Harrington. But even he would probably be impressed with the story of the girl who has risen up through the prep water polo ranks over the last two years. Harrington definitely has put in the work. She said she wasn't the most coordinated child growing up, and she had trouble finding a sport to stick with.

SANTA BARBARA - It is really an unexplainable statistic. The Newport Harbor High girls' water polo team has never won the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions title. Newport assistant coach Brian Melstrom questioned Santa Barbara Coach Mark Walsh about it, so the two men looked at the tournament program. And indeed, they discovered that the Sailors had finished in second place seven times since 2003. "I said, 'I think [Coach Bill] Barnett likes to lose the last game and maybe make the girls hungry for the rest of the way,' " Walsh said.

SANTA BARBARA - The UC Irvine men's volleyball team, ranked No. 1 in the nation, captured the UCSB Invitational with a 25-17, 25-17, 24-26, 22-25,15-13 victory over No. 6 UCLA at Robertson Gym Saturday. It is the fourth time UCI has won the tournament (2003, 2007, 2012) as the Anteaters improve to 3-0 on the year. UCLA goes to 2-1. Junior middle blocker Collin Mehring was named the tournament MVP, while junior outside hitter Connor Hughes was selected to the all-tournament team.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL UC Santa Barbara 51, UC Irvine 46 IRVINE - Camille Buckley recorded her second consecutive double-double and fourth of the season with 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds for the Anteaters in a Big West Conference opener Thursday. Junior guard Jennifer Tsurumoto added 11 points, while junior guard Kelly Meggs had 10 points and forward Methlyn Onogomuho had six points and six rebounds for UCI (4-9, 0-1 in conference). UCSB is 5-8, 1-0. UC Irvine will play host to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Bren Center.