COLLEGE ROUNDUP:

COSTA MESA — Junior Heather DeJongh recorded a match-high 20 kills to lead the Vanguard women’s volleyball team to a 25-22, 22-25, 25-20, 27-25 win over Union of Tennessee in the first round of the NAIA tournament Saturday night.

Junior Kelsey Wirt added 17 kills, senior Michal Shortridge had 10 kills and junior Meghan Walsh amassed 52 assists for the Lions (16-10), who were making their first NAIA tournament appearance under first-year coach Marisaa Cothran.

Union dropped to 27-8.

Vanguard, which received one of nine at-large berths, will now be put in pool play of a 24-school field that will be broken into six four-team pools. Round-robin pool play begins Dec. 2 at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa.

 

CROSS COUNTRY

California Community

College State

Championships

FRESNO — Sophomore Crystal Reed won her second straight state crown and helped lead the Pirates to the women’s title Saturday at Woodward Park.

OCC edged Glendale, 84-86, to win its seventh state title in eight years.

Reed finished in 17 minutes, 35.11 seconds on the 5K course.

OCC’s Cassie Mitchell finished third at 18:08.36. Kimone Hewitt (25th, 19:02.85), Andrea Guerra (31st, 19:11.9) and Janina Emery (33rd 19:15.76) rounded out the Pirate scorers.

On the men’s side, the Pirates placed third with 147 points, behind San Bernardino Valley (50 points) and San Diego Mesa (77).

The Pirates were led by standout Russell Westphal, who finished 16th on the four-mile course with a time of 20:51.96. Teammates Luis Gallardo (33rd, 21:07.82), Sergio Olivarrias (21:10.16) and Pedro Saucedo (21:15.54) completed the scoring for OCC.

 

NAIA Championships

KENOSHA, Wis. — Vanguard freshman Fitsum Tesfa became the second male NAIA All-American in Lions’ history after placing ninth, the highest finish for a Vanguard male runner, Saturday.

He finished in 24 minutes, 20.6 seconds on the 8K-course, lowering his school record by two seconds.

On the women’s side, senior Rebecca Sopp, who made her record-setting fourth NAIA appearance, finished 75th in 18:48.1.

 

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Vanguard 95,

Academy of Arts 56

COSTAS MESA — Junior Rachel Copeland scored a game-high 34 points to lead the defending NAIA national champions in their home opener Saturday.

Lauren Gregory added 13 points and Sarah Boyd scored 11 for Vanguard (4-0), which hit 15 of its 37 three-pointers. Copleand connected on 10 of her 18 three-pointers.

Nonconference

Vanguard 95, Academy of Arts 56

VU – Copeland 34, Gregory 13, Boyd 11, Johnson 8, Pfohl 7, Blied 6, Reyes 6, Sterling 5, Neves 3, Halberg 2.

3-pt. goals – Copeland 10, Blied 2, Gregory 1, Neves 1, Reyes 1.

 

MEN’S WATER POLO

Long Beach State 7,

UC Irvine 4

LONG BEACH — The host 49ers earned the No. 7 seed in the eight-team Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament, relegating the Anteaters to the No. 8 seed, with Saturday’s regular-season-ending conference match.

Senior Jesse Hatch scored twice for UCI (10-13, 1-7 in conference), which received 11 saves from sophomore goalie Matt Johnson.

UCI will play No. 1-seeded USC (24-0, 8-0) in the conference tournament quarterfinals, Friday at 10 a. m. at Pepperdine.