Volleyball

In the world of collegiate men's volleyball, UC Irvine is No. 2. But the Anteaters are trying harder. On a nine-match winning streak, UCI gets its chance to take down No. 1 when Brigham Young University comes to town for two matches this weekend. The teams will meet Friday at 7 p.m. in the Bren Events Center before moving to cozier Crawford Court for a 6 p.m. match Saturday. The Anteaters' success is hardly a case of seniors bearing down in their final campaign. In fact, Coach John Speraw has just two seniors on his active roster and one in the starting lineup.

COSTA MESA - The Orange Coast College women's volleyball team continued to roll early in the 2001 season with a 30-19, 30-22, 30-22 nonconference win over visiting Ventura. Sophomore Katja Miller led the Pirates (2-0) with 14 kills, while freshman Krystle Davis added nine. Freshman setter Rachelle Suesoff paced OCC's attack with 12 assists. OCC is a perfect 6-0 in games played this season and was hardly tested in Wednesday's contest. The only lull the Pirates encountered was at the start of Game 3, when Ventura scored the first six points of the game.

Richard Dunn COSTA MESA - Even though half of the starting lineup for Costa Mesa High's boys volleyball team "had never touched a volleyball before February," Mustangs Coach Dave Sorrells cringes when he thinks "if only ..." If only the Mustangs played in the Golden West League this year, instead of beginning next year, and not in the powerful Pacific Coast League with Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach and Northwood. Following the host Mustangs' sweep over PCL and crosstown rival Estancia, 15-3, 15-13, 15-7, Sorrells said his squad (10-8, 2-6 in the PCL)

Steve Virgen The train ride began slowly, but picked up great speed toward the end of last year for the Orange Coast College men's volleyball team. And, this season the Pirates just keep on chugging. OCC won the Long Beach City Tournament last week, including a win over defending state champion L.A. Pierce, which ended the Pirates' season last year in the regional finals. Last year, Coast went 18-5 to finish second in the Orange Empire Conference.

Sage Hill's Cat Dailey did it all for a Lightning team that won its first CIF Southern Section title in girls' volleyball.The smallest Newport-Mesa school created the most noise this season in varsity girls' volleyball, and one player was the distinct go-to girl and leader of that team. Sage Hill captured its first-ever CIF Southern Section title, and the team's standout, Cat Dailey, is the Daily Pilot's Girls' Volleyball Player of the Year. The 6-foot-1 senior, Sage Hill's leader in every area this season, signed to play volleyball at Cal next year.

Tony Altobelli COSTA MESA - With three Orange Empire Conference crowns in the past six years, the Orange Coast College men's volleyball coach Chuck Cutenese knows a good team when he sees it and he's very excited about this year's squad. "In my years coaching here, I haven't had a team come together and work as hard as this group has," Cutenese said. "This team is just that; a team. The leadership has really brought this group together." The Pirates have four players returning from last year's 17-4 squad: middle blockers Dave Moser and Brian Brown and outside hitters Brad Evans and Patrick McCarty.

The UC Irvine women's volleyball team upset 20th-ranked University of the Pacific, sweeping the Tigers for the first time in the Anteaters' history, as the host 'Eaters recorded a 30-28, 30-26, 30-27 Big West Conference win Saturday at Crawford Court. The Anteaters (13-3) are off to their best conference start, 4-0 in the Big West, in UCI history. UCI provided a balanced attack with Kelly Wing (13), Terbrie Taylor (12) and Sami Cash (11) all in the double-digit kill category.

Steve Virgen CRAWFORD HALL - The UCI/Wyndham West Coast Challenge at UC Irvine was a great chance for the Burden brothers, Evan and Greg, to reacquaint themselves with familiar surroundings Friday and Saturday. They are former Corona del Mar High boys volleyball standouts who are now a part of the USC men's volleyball team. The elder Burden brother, Greg, a 6-foot senior libero for the Trojans, played in three games against rival UCLA. He compiled five digs in the four-game loss, but aside from that he's preparing his younger brother for the fast times of college life and athletics.

Newport Harbor High product Megan Toman, a freshman outside hitter at Brown, has been named Ivy League Rookie of the Week in women’s volleyball for the second straight week. Toman, had 41 kills and hit a combined .304 in victories over Cornell and Columbia. She also had six aces and 17 digs in the two matches. Toman had a match-high 22 kills in a five-game triumph over Cornell on Friday, before pounding 19 kills in a win over Columbia Saturday. For the season, Toman is averaging a team-best 3.66 kills per game.

Three UC Irvine men’s volleyball players earned All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation honors. Senior middle blocker Aaron Harrell and junior opposite Jon Steller were third-team selections, while junior libero Brent Asuka was an honorable mention choice. Harrell was seventh in the MPSF in hitting percentage (.409) and sixth in blocking with a 1.28 average. Steller has 37 service aces this season, the third most among MPSF players. He is also averaging 3.36 kills per game.