Santa Barbara

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.

Carly Christian got to experience winning a CIF Southern Section Division 1 title a year early. Like many prep water polo players, Christian thought that her senior year would be her best shot at the title. But she helped the upstart Newport Harbor High girls' water polo team win CIF last February as a junior, coming from behind for a thrilling 8-7 victory over rival Corona del Mar. The trip through the season was thrilling for Newport Harbor, which had lost three of four previous meetings to CdM and had started the year ranked just No. 5 in Division 1. "Last year we weren't expecting to win," Christian said.

The UC Irvine men's volleyball team received all 16 first-place votes to top the American Volleyball Coaches' Assn. national preseason poll released Friday. It's the first time the Anteaters, who won their third NCAA title in the last six seasons in 2012, have begun the season in the No. 1 spot. They opened at No. 2 each of the last three seasons. UCI received 240 points in the poll, followed by BYU (222), Stanford (191), Pepperdine (183), Lewis (162), UCLA (154), Long Beach State (139)

Ally McCormick's status seemed in doubt prior to her senior year with the Corona del Mar High girls' water polo team. Consider that water polo is really a year-long sport at CdM, with night leagues in the spring and fall and various tournaments in the summer. Then consider that McCormick did not touch a water polo ball from late February until September. "I think there was some question among some of her teammates," CdM Coach Sam Bailey said. "They didn't really know where she stood with things, but I didn't really question it. She's a competitor.

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.

BOYS' WATER POLO Bellarmine Memorial Cup SAN JOSE - Newport Harbor won twice Friday to advance to the semifinals where it will meet rival Corona del Mar on Saturday. The Sailors (19-3) beat Bellarmine, 14-8, to advance to the semifinals. Curtis Fink and Preston Lee scored three goals each. K.J. Kelly, Dan Stevens and Henry McNamara added two goals each for Newport Harbor, which beat beat Clovis West, 16-4, earlier in the day. * Lakeside 16, Estancia 3 LAKE ELSINORE - Hayden Swift scored three goals for the Eagles in the nonleague game Friday.

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.

Newport Beach resident Stewart Hagestad was runner-up in the Southern California Golf Assn. Match Play Championship, completed Wednesday at Sandpiper Golf Club in Santa Barbara. Hagestad was defeated, two and one, by Niall Platt from Santa Barbara in the final. Earlier Wednesday, Hagestad beat Brandon Gama from Santa Barbara, two and one, in the semifinals. An incoming senior at USC, Hagestad is set to compete in the U.S. Amateur Championship, Monday through Aug. 19 at Cherry Hills Country Club in Colorado.

Morgan Stewart scored her second goal of the game, a lob shot with just under a minute to play in regulation, to give the Corona del Mar girls' water polo team a 5-4 victory over Santa Barbara in the title game of the California State High School Championships Sunday at CdM. The game-winner gave defending champion CdM its first lead of the game and a solid defensive effort led by the goalie play of CdM captain Erica Weed (five saves) held off Santa Barbara's talented offense led by rising senior Kelsey O'Brien.

GIRLS' TRACK & FIELD Meet of Champions ORANGE - Estancia High's Diana Guido won the 300-meter hurdles in a personal-best 49.25 seconds to win at El Modena Saturday. Persis Williams finished second in the 200 in 26.12. Jessica Placentia took third in the 100 in 14.21. Guido and Williams were also on the 4x100 and 4x400 teams that both finished fourth. Mariah Chapin and Marissa Lamerton were also on the 4x400 team. Placentia and Lamerton were also on the 4x100 team.