Briefs: Breakers retain Gibbs

The Orange County Breakers of World Team Tennis announced Friday that Nicole Gibbs will compete for them in 2016.

Gibbs, 23, was a five-time All-American at Stanford who is now ranked No. 95 in the world on the WTA Tour.

“I’m really happy to be playing for the Orange County Breakers during their first season back,” said Gibbs, who is from Santa Monica, in a release. “With the venue so close to my home, I can’t wait to engage my community and get to know more tennis fans in Southern California. I have heard nothing but great things about the fans and atmosphere from when the Breakers were last in Orange County, so I can’t wait for the season to begin.”

Gibbs played for the franchise last summer when it was the Austin Aces, helping Austin win the Western Conference Championship and the World Team Tennis Final. She was second among WTT women’s singles players by winning 47 games.

The Breakers were able to retain Gibbs due to the league’s player protection rule, which allows teams to protect players who were on the team the previous year.

“Having a local and experienced player like Nicole (Gibbs) is exciting for the team and our fans,” Breakers Coach Rick Leach said in the release. “She played a huge role in leading this franchise to a Western Conference Championship and the Mylan WTT Final in 2015.”

The Breakers, who will be playing at the Newport Beach Tennis Club when the season begins July 31, will finalize their roster during the WTT Draft that takes place March 25 in Miami. Orange County will need to draft at least three more players for the upcoming season. The Breakers still have their first-round Marquee Draft pick available, as well as second through fourth-round Roster Draft picks.

— Matt Szabo

—

Gilchrist, Musselman to compete in Olympic qualifying

Newport Beach’s Kaleigh Gilchrist and Maddie Musselman will compete for the United States women’s senior national water polo team at the 2016 Olympic Qualification Tournament in the Netherlands, which begins March 21.

Gilchrist, the former Newport Harbor High and USC star, and the former CdM standout Musselman were among 13 chosen to the roster. Most recently, they helped Team USA, the reigning world champions, win the FINA Intercontinental Tournament last month in Texas.

The event in the Netherlands is Team USA’s only chance to qualify for this summer’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Team USA, which won gold at the 2012 Olympics in London, will have to finish top four at this tournament to qualify for Rio.

Team USA will play Japan, Canada, Spain, Greece and South Africa in the group stage from March 21-25. The important quarterfinals round will be on March 26.

Gilchrist and Musselman are both vying to make their first Olympics. Four returners from the 2012 team are on the Olympic Qualification Tournament roster, including team captain Maggie Steffens, Courtney Mathewson, Melissa Seidemann and Kami Craig.

— Matt Szabo

—

UCI gets two first-team picks

Three UC Irvine men’s basketball players have been named All-Big West Conference, including an unprecedented two Anteaters on the first team.

Mamadou Ndiaye, a 7-foot-6 junior center, is joined on the first team by junior guard Luke Nelson, while senior point guard Alex Young is a second-team honoree.

Ndiaye was also named Defensive Player of the Year for the second time in three seasons. He averaged 12.5 points and 7.2 rebounds and had 78 blocked shots in the regular season.

Nelson leads UCI at 13.3 points per game and is averaging 4.1 assists per contest.

Young, the school’s career assist leader with 551, is averaging 10 points and 4.4 assists per game.

Stefan Jankovic, a 6-11 junior forward for Hawaii, was named Conference Player of the Year.

Long Beach State senior guard Nick Faust is the Newcomer of the Year and Cal State Fullerton guard Khalil Ahmad is the Freshman of the Year.

Hawaii’s Eran Ganot is the Coach of the Year.

—

UCI’s Ritter lauded

Andee Ritter, who played just 10 games for the UC Irvine women’s basketball team, has been named to the Big West Conference All-Freshman team.

Ritter, a 6-foot guard out of Medfor, Ore. who started seven games, averaged six points per game.

UCI junior Mokun Fajemisin, a 6-0 forward who will forego her senior season, received honorable mention in all-conference voting.

Fajemisin averaged 9.1 points and 7.3 rebounds for the Anteaters (4-22), who were eliminated by UC Santa Barbara in the first round of the Big West Tournament on Tuesday.

UC Riverside senior guard Brittany Crain repeated as Player of the Year, while Channon Fluker of Cal State Northridge was the Freshman of the Year.

UC Riverside’s John Margaritis was Coach of the Year.

—

Lions’ Patrick lauded

Vanguard University junior Trai Patrick has been named Golden State Athletic Conference Player of the Week in baseball.

The third baseman, a transfer from Bellevue College in Washington, went seven for 12 with one home run and six runs batted in to key the No. 22-ranked Lions’ three-game sweep of Golden State Athletic Conference rival Hope International last week.

Patrick slugged .940 in the three wins for Vanguard (16-5-1, 9-3 in conference).

Patrick entered this week batting .284 with two homers and 16 RBIs.

—

Lions’ duo honored

Sophomore Kimberlee Estes and senior Taylor Doyle have been named Golden State Athletic Conference Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, in softball.

Estes, a first baseman, went three for five with one home run and five runs batted in during a nonconference doubleheader sweep of Marymount of California on Saturday.

She was two for two with three RBIs and a homer in an 8-0 Game 2 win, after going one for three with two RBIs in a 6-4 triumph in the opener.

Doyle pitched four shutout innings to earn the victory in Game 2, allowing one hit and striking out two.

No. 18-ranked Vanguard entered the week 15-8.

— From staff reports