COLLEGE ROUNDUP

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

UC Irvine 65, Cal State

Northridge 61

NORTHRIDGE — The Anteaters battled back from an eight-point halftime deficit to clinch the final Big West Tournament berth Saturday night at The Matadome.

Senior guard Christina Zdenek tied a season high with 15 points off the bench for UCI (7-22, 3-12 in conference). Junior guard Kirian Ishizaki had 12 points, and senior forward Stephanie Duda added eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

Sophomore guard Mary Has had a career-high eight points off the bench for the ’Eaters.

Cal State Northridge, led by 21 points from Katie Holloway, dropped to 1-24, 0-14.

UCI closes out the regular season at Cal State Fullerton on Saturday at 5 p.m. The Big West Tournament begins March 12, at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Big West Conference

UC Irvine 65, Cal State Northridge 61

UCI – Zdenek 15, Ishizaki 12, Tull 8, Duda 8, Has 8, Maessen 7, Mai 5, Forry 2.

3-pt. goals – Tull 1, Ishizaki 1, Maessen 1, Has 1, Zdenek 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

CSUN – Holloway 21, Blake 10, Ligon 10, Tademy 8, Hahs 5, Thompson 5, Viena-Lota 2.

3-pt. goals – Ligon 2, Blake 2, Hahs 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

Halftime – CSUN, 40-32.

TRACK AND FIELD

All-UC Meet

IRVINE — The UC Irvine men’s track and field team won its 2008 outdoor opener Saturday.

UCI totaled 245.50 points, UC Santa Barbara was second with 207.50, UC San Diego third with 199, UC Davis fourth at 196 and UC Riverside fifth with 111.

Individual winners for the Anteaters were George Hernandez in the 100 meters (11.01 seconds), Dayne Comrie in the 400 (48.60), Sky Johnston in the 1,500 (3:58.42), Napoleon Greene in the 400-meter hurdles (53.07) and Justin Carter in the long jump (21-10).

The UCI women’s team finished third with 173 points. UC San Diego won the meet with 243 points and UC Davis was second with 235. UC Santa Barbara placed fourth with 165 and UC Riverside was fifth with 126.

The Anteater trio of Kendall Bruton (11:14.76), Meryl Follosco (11:25.03) and Megan Fairley (11:29.33) swept the top three spots in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Alisha Misiata won the shot put with a mark of 49-11 and she placed third in the hammer throw at 150-0.

Both Anteater teams compete next Saturday in the Ben Brown Invitational, hosted by Cal State Fullerton at Mt. SAC in Walnut.

MEN’S TENNIS

UC Irvine 6, UC Riverside 1

IRVINE — Seniors Alex Sundling, freshman Khunpol Issara and junior Trevor Dobson won in singles and doubles to lead the Anteaters in the Big West Conference match Saturday at Anteater Tennis Stadium.

Sundling swept at No. 1 singles and teammed with Issara to top Riverside’s No. 1 doubles team, 8-5.

Issara swept at No.3 singles.

Dobson swept at No. 4 singles and teamed with junior Douglas Taylor to earn an 8-6 win at No. 3 doubles.

UCI improved to 4-4, 1-0 in conference, while the Highlanders are now 3-6, 0-1.

Big West Conference

UC Irvine 6, UC Riverside 1

Singles – Sundling (UCI) def. Cartledge, 6-3, 7-6; Lamm (UCI) def. Kovacevic, 7-6, 6-2; Issara (UCI) def. Park,. 6-4, 6-2; Dobson (UCI) def. Tadevosian, 6-3, 6-2; Mayer (UCI) def. Doan, 6-4, 6-4; Shiraz (UCR) def. Stege, 7-5, 4-6, 13-11.

Doubles – Sundling-Issara (UCI) def. Cartledge-Shiraz, 8-5; Doan-Park (UCI) def. Lamm-Ahluwalia, 9-8; Taylor-Dobson (UCI) def. Ko-Tadevosian, 8-6.

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Ohio State def. UC Irvine

IRVINE — The No. 6-ranked Anteaters were upset, 30-25, 23-30, 18-30, 30-24, 15-13, by the No. 10-ranked Buckeyes in a nonconference match Saturday at the Bren Events Center.

Freshman Jordan DuFault pounded a career-high 21 kills to lead the Anteaters, while junior setter Ryan Ammerman had a career-high 60 assists.

Freshman Kevin Carroll also posted a career-best with 18 kills.

Junior opposite Jon Steller added 10 kills and two aces in two games.

Freshman Kenny Webster made his collegiate debut, collecting a team-high eight digs and senior Mike Ortiz led UCI with a career-high eight blocks to go with three kills.

UCI (10-10) had swept Ohio State (9-6) on Friday.

Robbie Klein and Brett Versen led the Buckeyes with 19 kills each and Versen added a team-high 10 digs.

Kevin Heine had a career-high 10 block assists as Ohio State owned the net for the second consecutive day, posting a 17-11 edge in team blocks.

Jason Tobkin matched his career best with 13 kills and set a new career-high with eight block assists. Setter Daniel Mathews recorded 50 assists.

In Game 4, Ohio State overcame a 10-5 UCI lead, eventually tying the score at 16-16. The Buckeyes used two UCI attack errors and an ace by Brian Kues to take a 21-18 advantage. Ohio State put the game away with a 6-0 run which included two kills by Klein and three Ohio State blocks.

UCI hit .194 in the game, to Ohio State’s .324.

In Game 5, the visitors used a kill by Versen and an Anteater attack error to open a 7-5 cushion. Trailing, 14-11, UCI rallied to narrow the margin to 14-13, before Kevin Heine ended the game and the match with a kill.

WOMEN’S WATER POLO

Cal 5, UC Irvine 3

BERKELEY — The No. 11-ranked Anteaters fell behind, 2-0, after one quarter and could not rally in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match Saturday at Spieker Aquatics Center.

Senior Nicole Flacco, sophomore Kat Plummer and senior Jessica Lewis each scored for the Anteaters (8-6, 1-3 in conference), who received 13 saves from senior goalie Lauren Machanis.

Cal keeper Heather Stuart had 18 saves and junior Melissa Wheeler, a Newport Harbor High product, had one goal to help the No. 3-ranked Golden Bears improve to 10-4, 3-1 in conference.

The Anteaters visit Pacific today at noon in MPSF play.

Mountain Pacific Sports Federation

Cal 5, UC Irvine 3

SCORE BY QUARTERS

UCI – Flacco 1, Plummer 1, Lewis 1. Saves – Machanis 13.

Cal – Anderson 3, Wheeler 1, Reynolds 1. Saves – Stuart 18.