College Roundup: OCC men’s volleyball sweeps IVC

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Orange Coast def. Irvine Valley

The visiting Pirates, ranked No. 2 in the state, rolled, 25-20, 25-15, 25-12, against the top-ranked Lasers in the Orange Empire Conference match Friday.

Justin Kam had 14 kills and hit .545 to pace the Pirates (13-1, 3-0 in conference), who won their 12th straight match.

OCC middle blockers Brad Hankus and Austin Marriot had 11 kills on 15 swings with no errors.

OCC opposite Matt Ujkic three blocks and seven kills on eight swings with no errors, whole setters Jacob Gilliam and Colby Elder combined for 36 assists.

IVC is 11-1, 2-1.

BASEBALL

Orange Coast 1, Cypress 0

CYPRESS – Sophomore McKinley LeFore pitched a four-hit shutout, the visiting Pirates’ first complete game of the season, in the Orange Empire Conference game Friday.

LeFore struck out three and walked one and OCC’s lone run scored on an error in the third inning.

OCC, ranked No. 1 in the state, is 21-3, 8-1 in conference.

No. 6-ranked Cypress is 17-8, 4-5.

Golden West 8, Santa Ana 3

SANTA ANA – The visiting Rustlers took over sole possession of third place in the Orange Empire Conference on Friday.

Stephen Knipp allowed four hits and no earned runs in seven innings to improve to 5-2 and help Golden West move to 13-11, 5-4 in conference.

Justin Marquez, Myles Moran, Zakk Morgan and Jake Hinzo had two hits apiece, while Jeff Zordani drove in two runs for the Rustlers.

Santa Ana is 17-8, 3-6.

Houston 4, UC Irvine 3

The host Anteaters tied it in the eighth, but lost the nonconference game in the ninth on Friday.

Calvin Faucher, who came in No. 2 in the nation with eight saves, absorbed the loss when a single, two wild pitches and a single helped the Cougars (16-5) plate the winning run.

Keston Hiura was two for five, while Cole Kreuter was one for three with a home run, two runs and one stolen base for UCI (11-7).

Alex Guenette had two runs batted in for UCI.

The three-game series resumes Saturday at 2 p.m.

Westmont 5, Vanguard 4

SANTA BARBARA – Shane Elias-Calles was two for three with a home run and four runs batted in to lead the visiting Lions in the Golden State Athletic Conference game Friday.

Conner Grady, a Costa Mesa High product, was two for two for the No. 21-ranked Lions (19-14, 11-5 in conference).

Westmont is 16-11, 7-7.

SOFTBALL

Doubleheader

FULLERTON – Visiting Vanguard University split two Golden State Athletic Conference games at Hope International on Friday.

The No. 17-ranked Lions won the first game, 4-0, then dropped a 7-6 verdict to the No. 23-ranked Royals.

Vanessa Dwyer pitched a one-hit shutout in Game 1, improving to 13-3.

Kaitlin Estes had the Lions’ lone run batted in.

In Game 2, Cassie Balswick was two for four with two RBIs, while Payton Ross was two for five with one RBI and Morgan Pilbin was two for four for Vanguard (30-8, 9-3 in conference).

HIU is 22-6, 8-4.