Men’s Golf Places Fifth in Rain-Shortened Tourney
Santa Cruz, Calif. – March 29 – Rain forced the cancellation of the final round of the 59th annual Western Intercollegiate tournament at the Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz. The UC Irvine Men’s Golf team finished fifth in the competition before it was called off.
Oregon paced the competition and won the 36-hole tournament.
UCI’s freshman tandem of Garrett Sapp and Kenny Kim led the way. Sapp placed fifth and Kim finished 20th.
The team will head up the coast to Lompoc and take part in the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate at La Purisima Golf Club this Monday and Tuesday.
Baseball Splits First Two Games Against Fullerton
Fullerton, Calif. – April 2 – On the road against the second-ranked team in the nation and the defending national champions, the UC Irvine Baseball team (14-12, 1-1 Big West) split the first two games of the series against Cal State Fullerton (19-7, 1-1 Big West), winning the first game 5-1 on April 1 while dropping the second match 6-1 on April 2 at Goodwin Field.
In the first game, UCI’s junior hurler Chris Nicoll pitched a gem, allowing only one run on three hits in five innings of play. He striked out seven Titan batters to earn the win. Relief pitcher Steve Schroer recorded his first save of the season.
After taking an early 1-0 lead going into the top of the second, the Anteaters rallied to put two runs on the board in the top of the second and pulled ahead in the seventh on a CSUF error.
UCI was paced by junior outfielder Erik Johnson who went 2-4 on the evening.
However, UCI would not find the same type of success on the plate in the second game.
The Anteaters were only able to get three hits through the first eight innings, with Titan ace Wes Roemer pitching eight innings of one-run baseball.
Titan Sergio Pedroza, who committed the error in the top of the seventh inning the night before, bounced back by driving in three runs.
Men’s Volleyball Upsets Pacific On the Road
Stockton, Calif. – April 2 – Tied 9-9 in the fifth set, the No. 13 UC Irvine Men’s Volleyball team rallied and pulled ahead on a late surge to upset No. 11 Pacific, 3-2 (30-28, 27-30, 30-23, 28-30, 15-12), and finally end a nine-game skid on April 2 at the Spanos Center.
With the win, the Anteaters improve to 7-18 overall and 5-13 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play, while the Tigers drop to 12-15 and 6-13.
Freshman middle blocker Aaron Harrell tied a career high with 17 kills on the night.
Four other Anteaters joined Harrell in double figure kills during the match.
Gauchos Hand Anteaters’ Tennis Team Tough Loss
Santa Barbara, Calif. – April 2 – In their final match on the road this season, the UC Irvine Men’s Tennis team lost to UC Santa Barbara, 6-1, at the RecCen Courts. UCI drops to 10-7 on the season with the loss.
UCI’s Seniors Brian Morton and Rye Kashiwabara defeated UCSB’s Nick Brotman and Ivan d’Argence 8-6 for UCI’s lone doubles win.
In singles play, Anteater junior Olof Sjolund handed Gaucho Anders Dalskov a loss, 6-4, 6-4, for UCI’s lone point of the day. Senior Brian Morton lost in three sets in his singles match.
UCLA Sinks UCI Women’s Water Polo Team
Los Angeles, Calif. – March 31 – The No. 11 UC Irvine Women’s Water Polo team was no match for top-ranked UCLA as they lost on the road, 14-4, at the Sunset Recreation Center in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match on March 31.
UCLA scored early and often, racing out to a 3-0 lead in the first period before UCI’s sophomore Robyn Kaake stopped the run with a score of her own. Kaake scored two goals in the game, extending her scoring streak to 13 games. However, the Bruins would score nine unanswered to secure the win.
