OCC women sparkle in tennis

The Orange Coast College women’s tennis team came out on top after an

8-1 victory against host Cypress in an Orange Empire Conference match

on Wednesday.

The Pirates improved to 3-0 in conference and 5-0 overall after

losing only one game in the third doubles match due to default.

OCC’s Michelle Esquivel and Julie Haley won the first and fourth

singles match while leaving their opponents scoreless.

In the rest of the singles matches, the Pirates allowed Cypress,

(0-2, 0-3), no more than one point in the six matches played.

Pirates prevail in 5

* VOLLEYBALL: Freshman outside hitter Scott Sankey, an Estancia

High product, tallied a match-high 18 kills to help the host Orange

Coast College men’s volleyball team rally for a 25-17, 23-25, 22-25,

25-14, 15-13 nonconference victory over El Camino Wednesday night.

Eric Hill and Uriah Seui combined for 22 kills while Seui added

five blocks for the Pirates (4-3), who scored five straight points in

a pivotal stretch of game four to even the match. Former Estancia

standout Josh Kornegay provided strong serving during the stretch.

Ky Fell tallied 12 kills, a match-best 18 digs and two service

aces for Coast while Ryan Hall led El Camino (0-4) with 16 kills.

Merz powers Lion win

* BASEBALL: Todd Merz went 4 for 4 with two runs scored and an RBI

while three pitchers combined to help the host Vanguard University

baseball team defeat Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.), 9-5, in a nonconference

game Wednesday.

The Lions (7-8) scored six runs in the seventh to open an 8-3 lead

as Merz and Matt Voorhies each doubled, contributing to the 13-hit

effort.

Clay Brown finished 2 for 3 with two runs scored while Isaac

Salazar also tallied two hits.

Michael Guernsey allowed three runs -- one earned -- while

scattering three hits and struck out one in two innings of relief to

notch his first victory this season.

UCLA topples ‘Eaters

* VOLLEYBALL: The UC Irvine men’s volleyball team had three

players reach double figures in kills, but it was not enough against

top-ranked UCLA, which posted a 30-22, 16-30, 30-22, 31-29 Mountain

Pacific Sports Federation victory Wednesday.

Steffin Rangel (18), Jayson Jablonsky (12) and Matt Webber (11)

all tallied kills for 12th-ranked UCI (6-13, 4-10 in the MPSF), which

fell to the Bruins (16-2, 12-2) for the third time this season.

Brian Thornton had 54 assists while Brandon Mel tallied 11 digs

for the Anteaters, who lost their fourth straight.

Paul Johnson led two Bruins in double figures in kills 14.

Sailors fall to El Toro

* GOLF: The Newport Harbor boys golf team fell, 198-203, in the

first match of the season against host El Toro on Wednesday at El

Toro Golf Course.

Newport Harbor was led by Davis Pemstein and Rhett Palmer, who

both shot 39, but it wasn’t enough for the charged up El Toro team,

which had three players that shot under 40.

Chris Willard (41), Spencer Quinn (42) and Justin Morehead (42)

also scored for Newport.

After shaking off their first-match jitters, the Newport Harbor

boys will travel to Tustin Ranch on Thursday to play Beckman.

Cypress hammers Bucs

* SOFTBALL: Six Cypress College softball players tallied at least

two hits and the visiting Chargers rolled to a 19-2 Orange Empire

Conference victory in five innings over Orange Coast Wednesday.

Colbee Shackleford, Amanda Fernandez and Lisa Whitney all had

three hits for Cypress (8-4, 4-1 in the OEC). Fernandez scored three

runs and tallied three RBIs.

Ashleigh Miller and Dawn Dallaire each went 2 for 3 with a run

scored for OCC (1-11, 0-4).