UC Irvine upsets Gauchos

The No. 13-ranked UC Irvine men’s volleyball team upset host UC Santa

Barbara, ranked No. 5, 24-30, 30-28, 30-28, 30-20, in Mountain

Pacific Sports Federation action Thursday.

UCI sophomore Jayson Jablonsky had a career-high 24 kills and hit

.543 to help the Anteaters (8-18, 6-13 in the MPSF) finish with a

season-best hitting percentage of .496.

Sophomore Matt Webber (19 kills), junior Paul Spittle (10) and

sophomore setter Brian Thornton (62 assists) also helped the winning

cause.

It was UCI’s fourth straight victory over UCSB (14-11, 12-7).

Talbott makes debut

* SOFTBALL: Freshman Lauren Talbott started her first varsity game

for the Newport Harbor High softball team, throwing a complete-game

three-hitter with one earned run and three strikeouts, but the

Sailors lost to host Downey, 2-0, in a nonleague game Thursday.

Downey scored its first run on an error in the second inning while

the second run was sparked by a triple in the fourth. Talbott and

senior Ashley Gleason accounted for the Sailors’ only two hits.

Newport visits Foothill at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.

Nonleague

Downey 2,

Newport Harbor 0

Score by Innings

*--*

Newport 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 2 3

Downey 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 - 2 4 0

*--*

Talbot and Mello; Rocha and Zomorano. W -- Rocha. L -- Talbot,

0-1. 2B -- Zomorano (D). 3B -- Johnson (D).

Sowers’ golf is sweet

* GOLF: Senior Brandon Sowers shot a one-under par 35 to earn

medalist honors and lead the visiting Newport Harbor High golf team

to a 183-215 victory over Tucson Wednesday in Arizona.

Sowers had one eagle and one birdie for Newport (7-6), while

senior Davis Pemstein and junior Spencer Quinn followed closely

behind with a 36 each. Senior Rhett Palmer shot 37 and both sophomore

Justin Morehead and senior Chris Willard shot 39.

Newport competes in the De La Salle invitational Sunday in

Monterrey.

Puishys named All-Star

* BASKETBALL: Sage Hill School senior Katie Puishys has been

selected to play in the Orange County High School All-Star girls

basketball game April 16 at Orange Coast College, her mother,

Katheryn, said.

Puishys, a 6-foot-1 center, was recently selected to the Dream

Team after helping lead Sage to the CIF Southern Section Division

IV-A quarterfinals. Her 12.4 points per game ranked second on the

Lightning, behind junior Haywood Wright.

Puishys will be joining Newport Harbor senior Vanessa Miller on

the South team.

The boys and girls games, proceeds from which go to charities, are

sponsored by the Costa Mesa Downtown Kiwanis and PlyoCity. The girls

game is scheduled for 6 p.m.

‘Eaters receive awards

* TRACK AND FIELD: UC Irvine juniors Ricky Barnes and Mike Beerer

have been selected as the Big West Conference Athletes of the Week in

track and field, respectively.

Barnes won the 1,500 meters (3:51.43) and the 3,000 meters

(8:19.26) to help lead UCI to the team title of the Big West

Challenge Cup at Long Beach State last Saturday. He qualified for the

NCAA West Regional in the 1,500 earlier this season with a time of

3:46.87, the sixth-fastest mark in Anteater history.

Beerer won the hammer throw with a mark of 197 feet, 6 inches,

second-best in UCI history, at last Saturday’s Big West Challenge

Cup. That throw is also a qualifying mark for the NCAA West Regional

in Eugene, Ore., May 27-28.

The Anteater men’s team has won all three scoring meets it has

competed in this season.

Lions sweep Warriors

* TENNIS: Andreas Guertner and partner Calle Holmgren tallied a

come-from-behind 9-7 doubles victory to help fuel the host Vanguard

University men’s tennis team’s 9-0 Golden State Athletic Conference

triumph over Westmont Wednesday.

The Lions (11-3, 5-1 in the GSAC), ranked fifth in the NAIA,

remained one game behind conference-leading Azusa Pacific with the

victory.

Guertner and Holmgren’s victory gave the Lions a sweep at doubles

and the team won all six singles matches. Dieter Weislmaier and

Andreas Reckziegel both earned 7-6 victories to clinch their matches

in straight sets. No other Lion lost more than four games.