OCC, Esquivel prevail

Orange Coast College sophomore Michelle Esquivel upset top-seeded

Jenny Sperry from Sierra College, 6-3, 6-2, to win the community

college women’s singles title at the Ojai Valley tennis tournament

Sunday at Libby Park.

Esquivel, the No. 2 seed, advanced to the final by defeating Sarah

Ramirez from Bakersfield, 6-0, 6-0, in a Sunday morning semifinal.

The singles title, as well as the doubles run of Esquivel and

partner Jessica Rice to the semifinals, helped OCC claim the women’s

team title.

OCC Coach Janice Moran said Esquivel’s quickness allowed her to

consistently return her opponents’ attempts at winners. Esquivel’s

seven singles wins in the tournament upped her season record to 25-0,

Moran said.

Anteaters take third

* TENNIS: The No. 5-seeded UC Irvine women’s tennis team defeated

No. 2 seeded UC Santa Barbara, 4-2, in the third-place match of the

Big West Conference championships Sunday at the Indian Wells Tennis

Garden.

Junior Izabela Mijic won at No. 2 singles and combined with

freshman Jessica Broadfoot to win at No. 3 doubles for the Anteaters,

who improved to 14-10.

Inna Agababian at No. 4, Becky Bernhard at No. 5 and Jayme Hu at

No. 6 also posted singles wins for UCI, which has now finished in the

top three in the Big West Conference championships the last four

years.

Corona del Mar High product Leslie Damion, a junior at UCSB helped

the Gauchos win at No. 2 doubles.

VU clinches crown

* TENNIS: The Vanguard University women’s tennis team clinched its

second straight Golden State Athletic Conference championship with a

9-0 home victory over The Master’s Saturday.

Jenny Edner and Damia Donkervoort each won, 6-0, 6-0, in singles

and combined for an 8-0 triumph at No. 1 doubles for the Lions (20-3,

13-0 in conference).

VU has one more conference match left (Saturday at Biola), before

hosting the NAIA Region II tournament May 5-6.

Eagles perform well

* TRACK AND FIELD: Several Estancia High runners performed well at

the Orange County Distance Classic Friday at Huntington Beach High.

Alex Cahuantzi finished second in the boys 3,200 meters with a

time of 10 minutes, seven seconds.

C.J. Buchmann was third in the 1,600 in 4:31.6.

Karina Rios was fourth in the girls 3,200 in 12:33.83 and Magali

Onofre was fifth in the 1,600 in 5:56.

UCI’s Ramirez lauded

* TRACK AND FIELD: UC Irvine senior Kim Ramirez was named Big West

Conference female Athlete of the Week in track and field, following

her performance at the Brutus Hamilton invitational in Berkeley April

9.

Ramirez finished second in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4

minutes, 26.15 seconds, the seventh-fastest mark in UCI history. That

time qualifies her for the NCAA West Regional championships in

Eugene, Ore., May 27-28.

Ramirez, who shared the weekly honor with Wilimena Cisco from Cal

Poly San Luis Obispo, was 10th in the 1,500 April 22 at the Mt. SAC

Relays with a time of 4:23.20.

Vanguard drops pair

* BASEBALL: The Vanguard University baseball team was swept by

visiting Point Loma Nazarene in a Golden State Athletic Conference

doubleheader Saturday.

The Sea Lions won the opener, 13-3, then topped the Lions, 1-0, in

the seven-inning finale.

Vanguard fell to 13-28, 9-17 in conference, while Point Loma

improved to 31-12, 17-8.

VU’s Matt Voorhies went 2 for 4 with an RBI, while Nik Crouch hit

a solo home run in the opener for the Lions.