April 21, 2013
UCI Baseball Update

UC Irvine men’s baseball team was home against Cal State Northridge in a three-game series.

On Friday night at Cicerone Field, third baseman Taylor Sparks became a hero with his 11th-inning walk-off single to right that drove in Connor Spencer from second as the Anteaters edged Cal State Northridge 4-3. Friday night’s victory marked the sixth W in a row for the ’Eaters, making it the longest win-streak of the season.

UC Irvine took an early 2-0 lead with single runs in the first and third. As Thurman cruised through the first three innings, he gave up a hit and a run by Josh Goossen-Brown in the fourth. Irvine was held scoreless by Jerry Keel and the Matador bullpen for the next six innings, and gave Northridge a chance to tie the game, which they did in the eighth with an RBI single by Michael Livingston.

As they went into extra innings, the Matadors would take their first lead of the game in the top of the 10th on Kyle Attl’s first hit of the game against reliever Race Parmenter to drive in the go-ahead run. However, UCI fought back in the bottom of the inning and tied the score at 3-3 on an RBI single by Jerry McClanahan.

With one out in the top of the 11th, CSUN reliever Brycen Rutherford walked Spencer. Spencer took second on a wild pitch, and Sparks worked the count full before hitting the ball to shallow right field. Spencer was waved around third and slid around catcher Alexis Mercado for the win.

Sparks went 3/6 with two runs batted in as he led the game in both hits and RBI. Starter Andrew Thurman held the Matadors to two runs on five hits while striking out nine in 7.2 innings, but did not factor in the decision. Mitch Merten came out of the Anteater bullpen in the 11th and struck out the side while giving up only one hit as he earned the win to climb to a 3-1 record.

On a Saturday afternoon in the chilly Anteater Ballpark, the Anteaters had their six-game win streak snapped after being held to one run in a 2-1 loss to Cal State Northridge.

Putting the first run on the board, Spencer took the 1-0 lead in the first for Irvine after Matador starter Calvin Copping threw one past the catcher giving Spencer enough time to sneak home.  Unfortunately, the ’Eaters struggled offensively in the innings that followed. The Matadors took advantage of the quiet UCI bats and tied the game at 1-1 in the third before Michael Livingston drove in the game-winner in the seventh.

The Anteaters had opportunities in the second, with runners on first and third with no outs, and in the fifth, with runners at the corners with two outs but would come out scoreless.

The team’s last chance to score came in the eighth with two outs and Sparks on third. However, CSUN reliever DJ Milam would force a flyout to right to threaten the inning.

UCI starter Matt Whitehouse pitched well but suffered the loss, falling to 3-3 after dealing six innings and giving up two runs on nine hits. He struck out eight and walked two.

Copping, on the other hand, improved to 3-3 after 7.2 innings and only surrendered one run on seven hits. Milam had his first save of the season after a hitless and scoreless 1.1 innings.

After holding the Matadors scoreless on Sunday’s outing, left-handed pitcher Andrew Morales and reliever Mitch Merten led the ’Eaters to victory, clinching the series 2-1 after a 2-0 finish.

Morales now has a perfect 8-0 record on the season and, after Sunday’s game, has now pitched 14.1 scoreless innings. In seven innings Sunday, Morales gave up six hits while striking out six and walking two.

Merten earned his second save of the season while striking out two in the ninth frame.

Ronnie Shaeffer drove in the game winner in the fourth inning on a double that scored Connor. In the fifth inning, Grant Palmer led off with a double and took third base on a sacrifice bunt from Jonathan Herkins. Chris Rabago would get an RBI on a sacrifice fly, scoring Palmer for the 2-0 final.

The ’Eaters return to the diamond on Tuesday at Anteater Ballpark for a showdown against non-conference foe UCLA. Irvine then travels to Stockton for a three-game series versus Big West opponent, Pacific.

From the Anteater Ballpark, I’m Alex Chung, KUCI News.

April 20, 2013
Take Back the Night — Candlelight Vigil

Take Back the Night — Candlelight Vigil 

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The annual event “Take Back the night” was hosted on campus on Wednesday Evening, by the campus flagpoles, where hundreds of students gathered to listen to guest speakers and a performance.

The public event seeks to raise awareness of sexual assault and honor survivors through a candle light vigil, a march and a rally. A set-up with mics, a band, and plenty of volunteers handing out pamphlets helped to create a positive and energetic educational environment,

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The night was initiated by a musical performance by Ashley and The Band, followed by two guest speakers Mike Knox—director of UCI new student programs—followed by Dawn Foor, community service programs and sexual assault victim services. The two speakers discussed the importance of creating a better and safer campus for current students and all future generations and also stunned the audience with statistics of sexual assaulted victims.

Meanwhile, 500+ candles were lit and dispersed amongst students and the public to initiate the march. Volunteers led groups of 50 students around Ring Road as they recited through megaphones chants such as:
“NO MORE DATE RAPE!” and  “SEXIST, RAPISTS, ANTI-GAY—DON’T YOU TAKE OUR NIGHT AWAY!” image

After marching all of Ring Road—some groups also crossing Aldrich Park’s intricate pathways—students were led back to the flagpole area, where several booths hosted drawings, games, and other special artistic displays to help raised awareness of sexual violence and abuse.

Students had the opportunity to get a pamphlet stamped at each booth in order to win prizes and other goods. With a total of 25 different stations, Take Back the Night successfully offered students several resources and definitely resonated its message as it seemed that with the hours of the night more and more students seemed to arrive.

The evening ended with a final word from Mandy Mount and Lisa Mahaffey who urged students to speak out against sexual violence and encouraged students to use their newly attained knowledge to help reduce and eliminate sexual assault for current and future generations to enjoy a more positive and safe environment.

Overall UCI’s Resource Services in collaboration with others successfully hosted Take Back the Night. 

*For more Resource information and future candlelight vigils, contact UCI Campus Assault Resources and Education at 949-824-RAPE or visit www.care.uci.edu

April 17, 2013
UCI Men’s Volleyball Match Against Penn State University


UCI Men’s Volleyball Match Against Penn State University

UC Irvine won its fifth consecutive match with a 3-0 victory over Penn State in a non-conference match at the Bren Center on Saturday.

The Anteaters led an offense kill led by Kevin Tillie’s 12 kills and five digs. Zack La Cavera had 10 kills, five digs and three block assists. Outside hitter Kyle Russell had eight kills, two aces and three total blocks. Middle blocker Scott Kevorken had four total blocks and with five total kills. Setter Chris Austin had three kills, 33 set assists and three digs and libero Michael Brinkley added eight digs for a match high.

Penn State was led by Nick Goodell with nine kills and four digs, Aaron Russell with six kills, and Taylor Hammond with a 20 set assist, three digs and a block assist.

Penn State led 9-8 in the first round, but the Anteaters quickly caught up(16-9) with Kyle Russell serving. Russell had two kills and ace, while Kevin Tillie had three kills. A kill by Russell decided a 25-20 win.

A block by Russell, Zack La Cavera and Scott Kevorken put UCI ahead 13-11 in the second set. Kills by Connor Hughes plus an ace from Tillie placed UCI at 22-19. Tillie with yet another two kills and Collin Mehring had a solo block to end the set, 25-20. The Anteaters had 4.5 blocks and hit .458 (13-2-24), while the Nittany Lions hit just .125 (10-7-24).

UCI started the third set 5-0 and set a streak, winning 25-14. Tillie and La Cavera each had four kills in the set. Penn State hit .040 (6-5-25).

UCI out-hit (.368-.130), out-blocked (8.5-7.5), out-dug (24-16) and out-served (7-1) Penn State.

UCI records its fifth victory in a row and its fourth consecutive sweep to improve to 22-6 overall.

UCI will be up against seventh-seeded UC Santa Barbara in a MPSF quarterfinal match next Saturday (Apr. 20) at the Bren Center. Make sure you’re there!

 

For UC Irvine Athletics ticket information, please call (949) 824-5000 or e-mail athletics.tickets@uci.edu.

April 11, 2013
UCI Sports Update 04/11/2013

Good Morning Irvine, I’m Todd Kilroy here with your, UCI Sports Update on 88.9 KUCI News.

The men’s basketball season has come to a close after making a run into the second round of the College Insider Postseason Tournament, defeating High Point, 80-71 in the first round and falling to Oral Roberts, 76-62 9 in the quarter finals.

Coach Russell Turner’s UCI squad finished 21-16 overall, tying the record for thethe third most wins in the school’s history, and registering the program’s most wins since the 2002-03 team finished 20-9. The current record is held by 2000-01 squad who finished with 25 wins.

The UCI Men’s Baseball team defeated Hawaii three times in a row in a triple header this last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. They defeated them 4-1 in their first two meetings and again 9-0 on Sunday.

The team also defeated San Diego University on Tuesday 11-3 to continue a 5 game win streak, after losing to Riverside 3 times in a row the previous weekend. UCI is now 21-8 overall and 3-3 in the Big West Conference.

The Anteaters will take on the CSUN Matadors at home this weekend, Friday at 6:30,  Saturday at 1:00  and again Sunday at 1:00 to resume conference play.

The Men’s volleyball team completed their last MPSF conference match up last night with a win at home over No. 10 Cal State Northridge, sweeping them 3-0. Defeating them 25-19 in the first two sets, and 25-22 in the third to take the victory Zack La Cavera led the Anteaters with 14 kills followed by Scott Kevorken with 10 and Kevin Tillie with 8. Chris Austin had 31 assists.

The Matadors fall to 11-14 overall and 8-14 in the MPSF.To add to that this victory last Friday and Saturday night UCI in a similar fashion also swept No. 8 Stanford, and Pacific, making it the third game in row that Irvine has swept an opponent.

The team hit a season high .515 percent against Pacific while  Kevin Russell had a career high 14 kills against Stanford.

Pacific falls to 8-17 on the year and 5-16 in the MPSF, Stanford falls to 13-11 overall and 10-11 in the MPSF.

With the wins over UC San Diego, Stanford, Pacific, and Cal State Northridge UCI advances their overall record to 21-6, and finishes with an 18-6 record in the MPSF.

UCI is now on a 4 game win streak as they look to finish up their final game of the season in a non-conference match-up vs. No. 13 Penn State this coming Saturday April 10, at 7:00pm at the Bren events center where UCI will honor seniors Chris Austin, Kevin Tillie and Ian Castellana.

For UC Irvine Athletics ticket information, please call (949) 824-5000 or e-mail athletics.tickets@uci.edu.

That covers sports this I’m Todd Kilroy on 88.9 KUCI News

March 14, 2013
Visitor Night at Observatory

Visitor Night at Observatory

 

 

UCI’s department of physics and astronomy hosted its fourth “Visitor’s Night” of the year that took place Saturday March 9th at the University’s very own observatory reeling in an estimated number of about 300 plus visitors.

 

Arranged by Tammy Smecker-Hane, an astronomy and physics professor at UCI, the event included a lecture by postdoctoral researcher—Dr. Evan Kirby—who discussed the highlights of the night: Jupiter, the Orion Nebula, and the Pleiades (PLAY-ah-dees) star cluster.

 

Professor Tammy Smecker spoke with KUCI News to discuss particulars about the free event.

 

 

“Visitor night is when we open the observatory to the general public, and invite people to come and listen to a short lecture—about half an hour long—on some hot-topic in astronomy. Usually it’s something one of the professors or post-doctoral researchers are doing research on. Then they get to stargaze with all the telescopes that we have here. “

 

 

»> Visitor Nights are rarely hosted, and inevitably quite popular. Especially when there’s a special occurrence in the night-sky.

 

“We host about six visitor nights a year and then we also host more informal events when there’s something going on, that’s not on a Saturday night—like meteorshowers. They can be on different days of the week. So we have informal visitor nights for those events. for meteorshowers, solar eclipses, lunar eclipses and when venus is transiting across the face of the sun, we actually had 4000 people here.”

 

 

»»>Weekends are particularly unique, and therefore an ideal time for stargazing.

 

“Tonight is kind of special because it’s a Saturday night, when the moon is not out. So we chose this night for visitor night, because when the moon is not out the sky is the darkest, and then you can see best the fainter objects in the night sky.”

 

 

 

»> Depending on the expected number of attendees, the physics department provides a set amount of telescopes each night for the use of the public.

 

“We have a large 24 inch telescope under the dome. Then, we usually have six to eight other portable telescopes that we set up to look at different objects, like whatever planet is visible or the moon, star clusters, planetary nebula. Sometimes even galaxies.”

 

 

»>While many visitors took advantage of the five portable telescopes that were on display, most of them gravitated towards the substantially larger telescope, encased in white dome-like hut.

 

“This main telescope has a mirror that is twenty-four inches across; the bigger the mirror, the better you can see the fainter objects, you can see them more magnified. So this telescope is looking at the Orion Nebula. Inside in the little sword of the constellation, Orion, theres a little thing that looks like a star when you look at it. But actually, with a telescope, you get to see that it’s actually a giant cloud of gas out of which stars are forming today. So deep down in the cloud, there are bright mass of stars that are lighting the cloud up from the inside. “

 

»> The observatory is a unique spot, that not enough students take advantage of. But the isolated location, Tammy discusses, is outstanding for its purposes.

 

“We have kind of a nice location. It’s one of the darkest places you can have in Irvine, because we’ve got blank fields around us. So the darker the sky is, the fainter the objects you can see.”

 

»»While a growing number of visitors waited in line for the big telescope, Tammy utilized her own iPad to teach students about the night-sky.

 

“So we have an app called “Go-Sky-Watch.” It’s a free app, and when you point it at any direction in the sky, it shows you what you’re looking at in the night sky and it’ll show you a picture of what’s there, it’ll show you the constellation, it’ll tell you—it’ll pop up a little picture, like a star cluster. It’ll tell you what the distance is, and what its name is.”

 

»> While the event is free, the physics program encourages donations. Tammy estimated an approximate $2,000 dollars invested in funding the night. This includes charter buses that transport visitors, small monies for the students presenting at each telescope’s station, as well as porta potties and other facilities for the visitors. Because the events are dependent on the Dean’s approval for funds, Tammy claims that donations are a key in demonstrating the importance of the event.  

 

“We like to show the Dean that so many people appreciate what’s going on.”

 

»> This was only the fourth of seven “Visitor Nights” for the school year. Anticipated construction of housing in the near future suggests that the observatory may be moving to a new location. Tammy says that the department is currently seeking new funds and a new place, not far from the current location.

Tammy gave KUCI News the “OK” to help spread the word, and hopefully encourage more students to take advantage of the observatory’s free events.

 

“You can go to our website— just GOOGLE “UCI Observatory—and you’ll go to our website, and you can read down there where you can e-mail us and sign up to receive e-mails notices.”

 

The next visitor’s night will take place on Sunday, April 21st for the viewing of the Lyrid Meteorshower. Noted as one of the more popular stargazing events, expected numbers vary within 800-1000 visitors throughout the night.  

March 14, 2013
EEE to be Update

EEE to be Updated

UCI students will find the Electronic Education Environment to be down at the tail end of March.

 

EEE, as the site is usually referred to as, is primarily used to view grades, assignments, and important calendar dates. The shutdown comes at a time when traffic to the site swells, due to the submission of final grades for the quarter.

 

EEE posted an explanation last week which recognized the disruption the shutdown will cause. However, due to end-of-support for the operating system and the aging hardware, an update is “critically necessary”.

 

So as to prevent any date loss or corruption, the website must have full downtime during the update process.

 

Friday the 29th and Saturday the 30th were chosen. These dates were deemed the least disruptive since the shutdown occurs after Winter instruction and grade submission, over Spring Break, and before Spring instruction begins.

 

From the KUCI Newsroom, Erick Ramirez, KUCI News

March 7, 2013
Lucy Exhibit at the Bowers Museum

After discovering the fossil AL 288-1 near the Awash River in Ethiopia in 1974, the responsible team of scientists celebrated all night, and listened several times to the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”  Their discovery, the collection of several hundred pieces of bone around 3.2 million years old, and representing about 40% of the skeleton of an individual Australopithecus afarensis are now more commonly known by the discovery team’s nickname for her, Lucy. Others call her nothing less than “the missing link” between modern humans and our ancestors, since she is either a direct ancestor to humans, or evolutionarily close to our ancestor.
 
Lucy is currently being featured in an exhibit at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana. I recently visited the exhibit “Lucy’s Legacy: The Hidden Treasure of Ethiopia” with UCI’s Professor Of Evolutionary Biology Anthony Long. He helped explain the important of Lucy to our understanding of humans’ evolution from the apes.
 
“DNA and other fossil evidence suggests that humans and other great apes, so chimps, gorillas, orangutans shared a most recent common ancestor six to seven million years ago, so that’s when we think evolutionary theorists would say we probably split from the other apes. Lucy’s age is about 3.2 million years, so she’s about exactly half way when that split occurred.
 
“Temporally, she’s extremely important. We’re far enough along that we’re starting to see some humanlike features, but we’re also seeing chimp or apelike features retained in Lucy.”
 
Illustrations in the exhibit show ape-like creatures covered with hair, with skulls and facial features that resemble an ape’s. But what is striking is that, unlike apes, they are walking on two feet. Again, Professor Long:
 
“It’s clear the knee, the pelvis, the femur’s starting to get longer, and clearly adapted to upright walking.”
 
He shares speculation about what Lucy’s daily life was like. In addition to being on the “raw food diet,” since controlled use of fire was well over a million years away,  
 
“She was probably spending evenings in the trees still for safety. Her type would come down and forage bipedaly by day and maybe even travel distances, I don’t know, and then they’d go up in the trees at night is the thinking. I don’t know if people think what she was thinking is much different than what a gorilla was thinking, but of course, we’ll never know.”
 
One of the mysteries that the discovery of Lucy helped unlock was the chicken-and-egg question of brain size versus walking upright.
 
“At the time Lucy was discovered, there was a debate if human evolution involved an increase in brain size first, and then bipedalism followed, or whether the opposite happened. Lucy makes it extremely clear bipedalism occurred long before an increase in brain size.”
 
The exhibition has drawn some criticism from various experts who feel that the fossil’s importance and extreme fragility make it unfit for travel. She is being displayed in an airtight chamber, behind bullet-proof glass.
 
Supporters in the museum community feel that her importance to our understanding of where we came from argues that she should reach as wide an audience as possible.
 
I asked Professor Long whether he experienced an emotional reaction to seeing Lucy.
 
“Absolutely. For me, yeah. This is probably THE most important early homonid fossil, one of THE most important fossils of all time. So, yeah; if you’re interested in evolution, human history, it’s really, a really neat experience to see it.”
 
“Lucy’s Legacy” will run through April 28 at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana. A link to the museum and to the exhibit can be found on our website. From the KUCI, studios, Nicole Nelson, KUCI news.

March 7, 2013
From Survivors to Thrivers

From Survivors to Thrivers…

 

Nearly 120 students, faculty, and children filled the Student Center with acoustic music for the “We Step Into the Light” program for sexual assault survivors last week. At the event, survivors were referred to as “thrivers.”

 

Standing tall and carrying smiles were 11 thrivers of sexual assault whose presence was depicted by their paired artists. 15 art pieces were on display.

 

ASUCI President Tracy Ishigo, said at Wednesday’s event that the main objective was to show how artwork helps empower survivors of sexual assault. She said sexual assault was an issue that “affects their lives but does not define who they are.”

 

The 10 art murals that hung on a large black board were draped with small colorful Christmas lights along with the description of the artist, materials used in the pieces, and a commentary in black bold letters. The remaining five pieces were propped on easels.

A thriver named Ana Sanchez said that her experience with sexual abuse as a child profoundly impacted the way she viewed her self-image. In her poem titled, “I Wish I Was Beautiful,” she read with the crowd clapping in unison and shouting words of support. She said: “I’d like to think I could become a Latino Barbie doll, who would cook the pollo, watch the novella, do the laundry, and shake my booty all around the bedroom while consistently keeping my apron spotless and my mouth shut.”

The founder of CARE is Dr. Desmonette Hazley. Dr. Hazley’s mission was to have survivors who experienced trauma to continue thriving in their daily lives.

 

At this year’s first collaboration with ASUCI, artists were paired with a survivor and created the pieces inspired off of their story. Tonight’s ASUCI event is a preview for CARE’s art exhibit that will be held the following day on Feb. 28 and will include numerous testimonials and spoken word performances at “The Center for Living Peace,” located across the University Town Center.

 

Artist and psychology major Suzi Khrom created an inspirational piece titled, “Goddess Rashmi.”

 

Khrom said: “One of the first nights I met her, she said she really liked nature. Trees symbolize strength for her, so then I got the idea to paint her as a tree. In each leaf, has a word on it, which connects to a story which is parts of her personality and life and confession.”

 

The piece portrays a woman with a dark shade of brown swaying branches and a lighter brown trunk that drapes around the lower half of the woman’s body as a toga-like ensemble. Around the woman are various shades of green leaves that embody a specific meaning. 

 

On the stage, singers took the spotlight, individually sitting on the lone white chair underneath a small white tent draped with nine medium-sized white lanterns. At least 10 performances consisted of songs, and with each song or poem, the crowd applauded in unison, snapping their fingers, singing along with the gentle acoustic music while munching on free slices of various cheese, vegetable, and pepperoni pizza.

 

Zahabiyah Khorakiwala, Violence Prevention Coordinator, said that there was much to be done to reach out through their Listserv, Facebook page and Anteater Weekly. She said that they contacted professors in the art department, and also collaborated with the ASUCI Art Lab because they have so many artists who they already work with.

 

Student coordinator Kevin Lam was assigned the task of pairing artists with survivors. Lam said that with “help from ASUCI, from the CARE office, from the Greek community,” the night’s event was a success, especially when sexual violence is a difficult issue to understand on a college campus.

 

Lam made the final comments at 7:30 pm. Meanwhile, a figures took a quick glance at the art. Others occupied benches and took in the cold air and art murals. The event meant a lot, to a lot of people. 

 

From the Student Center, Thao Ta, KUCI News

March 7, 2013
Professor’s research highlights STEM inequalities

Socoiology Professor Andrew Pennerspoke about his research on the gender gap in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics, or STEM, fields last week. The talk focused on where women “rejected” from these fields go, and how men over-persist in their efforts in STEM college coursework.

STEM is traditionally considered to be male dominated and few women enter STEM majors at the college level. Far fewer will even enter a STEM workplace upon graduation.

 It’s best to imagine STEM as a pipline for people. It begins as a wide pipeline that continues to narrow the further down you go. The pipline had holes in which women were being “leaked” out or taken off the road of the STEM career. What contributes to this leakage of women was cited as a chilly climate both in academia and the job market in combination with difficult weed out classes in college coursework.

Penner relayed three stories, that of Meg Whitman, Angela Markel and Margaret Thatcher. All  three were “victims” of such obstacles. While their initial desires for the STEM career and coursework were diverted, each individual’s success in other fields cannot be denied. The same can be said of other women who opt out of a STEM major in college. Women, unlike men, will look somewhere else for career and course choices when STEM does not seem the fit.

 This contrast was put into context with the story of a professor who noticed men retaking his math gatekeeper course over and over again. Such over-persistence was also found in another study in which students taking a particular unnamed STEM class revealed men did indeed retake the related class. In comparison, the national study also revealed that in a non-STEM class had men and women retake the class at about the same rate.

Penner offered a psychological reason; perhaps men retake these classes in an effort to assert their masculinity. It is the contest of the biggest nerd, the male who can proclaim their superiority in what many perceive to be male dominated and thus should be asserted by men privately if not publically.

Penner also spoke of the metaphor where male scientists grow up wanting to be scientists, an entire narrative leading up to the accomplishment of becoming the scientist.

Penner ended on admonishing to distinguish between gender inequity and STEM workforce policy goals. That is to say that more women should work in STEM if they so desire, and not make blanket statements about simply putting more women into the fields. He said:“it is almost like wanting to make women like hell more.”

 

8:29pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZMCWZufmdHew
Filed under: KUCI News 
March 7, 2013
UCI Sprts 03/06/2013

Good Morning Irvine…Im Todd Kilroy here with UCI sports on 88.9 KUCI News

 

Mike Wilder finishes with a double-double on senior night as the UC Irvine men’s basketball team take-down conference leader, and division rival Long Beach State Mustangs 72-69 last Saturday, for the first time since January of 2010 in a Big West Conference match up.

 

Seniors Adam Folker, and Derrick Flowers, Daman Starring, Michael Wilder who were met by parents, over 1200 students, and a total attendance of 3,035 fans to celebrate their last guaranteed home game this season.

 

Both teams came out battling for the win as five lead changes were exchanged between the two teams in the first 13 minutes of play.

 

The Anteaters would go on a 13-5 run to end the half leading, 33-22,

 

UCI shot 50 percent from the field with 9 turnovers in the first, while the Mustang’s shot a mere 20 percent from the field with 7 turnovers. 

 

The Mustang’s weren’t ready to admit defeat, as they were able to go on two 11-4 runs in the second half the first allowing to pull within three of the Anteaters at 37-34, later able to shorten the lead to 1pt, 49-50 with 4:54 left to play only to fall behind by seven a minute later.

The Mustang’s were able to construct another 11-4 run this time, to tie the game at 63 after a huge dunk by James Ennis of Long Beach State.

 

Seconds later with 1:09 left to play, Mike Wilder, senior forward for the UC Irvine Men’s Basketball hit a tie breaking 3-pointer to pulling him within two points of his third double-double for the season, and giving the anteaters the lead 66-63. Daman Starring would follow the three hitting pair of free throws, extending the lead to five.

 

Mike Caffey would respond immediately with a quick three, at the other end, with 21.0 seconds left to play pulling within two of the Anteaters.

 

Another pair of free throws would be made by freshman Guard Alex Young to be overshadowed again by another astounding three by Caffey cutting the Anteaters lead again to just one point to 69-70 with 4.5 second left to play.

 

Mike Wilder would complete the last two points needed for his double- double on a foul shot with 3.8 seconds left that would prove to be the final points of the game: UCI finishing with-72  and LBSU- 69

 

The win continues a five game winning streak for the Anteaters, the longest winning streak since 2006 who hold the record with at 8. They have also won their last 7 of 9

 

The Anteaters improve their record to 17-9 overall and 10-6 in conference,

 

Both teams would finish the game with 4 players hitting double digits

 

Folker led the Anteaters with 16 points and 7 rebounds; while Will Davis II had 12 points and 8 blocks, tying his singled school record.  Starring and Wilder finished with 10 Travis Souza, 9 and Flowers 10 

 

Mike Caffey, Sophomore guard, led LBSU, with a game high 23 points including 5 three pointers followed by teammates Keala King with 14 points James Ennis with 12, and Dan Jennings with 10 who also had a team high 9 rebounds

 

Long Beach falls to 13-3 in conference, their only other losses in conference coming from Hawaii 94-73 and Cal Poly 79-73. With the loss they also fall to 17-11 overall, but still lead stand alone in first place in the Big West followed by Pacific then UCI.

 

The Anteaters would finish undefeated, 8-0, at home in conference games and 11-1 overall when playing at the Bren. 

 

The Anteaters will conclude their regular season with two Big West Conference games on the road vs Pacific Thursday and UC Davis Saturday. If the Anteaters can pull of these last two wins they will propel themselves into second place, and would be a half game behind the school’s best record in basketball since 2001.

 

The Anteaters have beaten both Pacific, 68-59, and UC Davis, 69-58, in their last match-ups. However, UCI is only 4-11 on the road an obstacle the team looks to over come in their remaining conference games and as they get ready to begin the Big West Tournament, where they will compete not only for the Big West title, but also for the Big West’s only guaranteed slot in the NCAA March Madness Tournament.

 

The Women’s basketball team also played their last home game at the Bren Events Center last week facing off against Pacific last Saturday, just two days before though they also had a match up against UC Davis.

 

The Lady Anteaters fell to UC Davis after leading by 9 with 5:03 left to play allowing Davis to score the final 13 points of the game to take the win 47-43.

 

The Anteaters fell early in the game 18-9 to Davis, but were able to claw back within two points 20-18 at half time.

 

Entering the second half the Anteaters seemed to make the correct adjustments getting up early and extending the lead to 9 points at one point.

 

The run was snapped after Sydnee Fipps hit a shot with 5:03 left the play, the bucket was followed by three consecutive 3-pointers to set off a 13-0 run to end the game and give the Aggies the victory.

 

UC Davis dominated from the perimeter where 33 of their 47 points come from long range, hitting 11 three-pointers with seven drained in the second half.  UCI was 3-15 from three-point distance.

 

The last time Irvine scored in that game was off a pair of free throws by Jennifer Tsuromoto with 5:16 left to play.

UC Irvine snapped a four-match winning streak and goes to 9-18 overall and 5-10 in the Big West. UC Davis is 12-15 on the year and 7-9 in league play

Last Saturday UCI seniors Anete Klintsone, Cheyenne Cathey and Pernilla Hanson celebrated their senior night at the Bren in a match-up against Pacific.

The Anteaters opened the game with an 8-2 run followed by 5 point run by Pacific to pull within one point. The score would be tied for the sixth time on an Erica McKenzie three-pointer at 2:37. Pacific’s Ashley Wakefield would score the next basket and UCI would close out the half scoring the final eight points to take a 36-30 lead in to the break.

Pacific would go on to out-score UC Irvine 35-17 in the second half on the way to a 65-53 victory at the Bren Events Center Saturday.

Pacific shot 45.3% from the field, while Irvine shot 32.8.

The Anteaters fall to 9-19 overall and 5-11in the Big West, while league-leading Pacific improves to 23-6 and 13-4 in the Big West.

UCI will end the regular season traveling to Cal Poly Thursday (Feb. 7) and UC Santa Barbara Saturday (Feb. 9).

The men’s volleyball team 11 game win streak was snapped last weak in an epic battle between the top two teams in the country UCI vs. BYU

BYU fell 2-0 in the match losing the first two sets 22-25 and 24-26 before rallying to win the last three sets 25-23, 25-23, and 15-11

Anteaters go to 15-4 overall and 12-4 in the MPSF. BYU improves to 12-3 on the year and 11-2 in the MPSF.

UCI middle blocker Collin Mehring set a school record with a career-high 14 block assists to go with 11 kills. Outside hitter Kevin Tillie led UCI in kills with 20 as well as recording 11 digs, four aces and five block assists. Opposite Zack La Cavera had 15 kills, six digs and six block assists, while outside hitter Jeremy Dejno added nine kills and three service aces. Libero Michael Brinkley totaled 12 digs and setter Daniel Stork recorded a career-high 52 set assists, four block assists

While BYU’s Ben Patch led all players with a career-high 35 kills

UCI will travel to Long Beach State next Saturday (Mar. 9) in a Black & Blue Rivalry Series presented by Duke’s of Huntington Beach match at the Walter Pyramid beginning at 7:00 p.m

For UC Irvine Athletics ticket information, please call (949) 824-5000 or e-mail athletics.tickets@uci.edu.

That’s covers sports this week I’m Todd Kilroy here on 88.9, KUCI News…Adam

 

 

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