COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Pacific Christian Wins National Title

Pacific Christian defeated Northwest College of Kirkland, Wash., 9-15, 15-11, 12-15, 15-6, 15-10, Saturday to win the National Christian College Athletic Assn. Division II women’s volleyball championship at Toccoa Falls, Ga.

It was the school’s second title in five years.

Pacific Christian had to defeat the Nos. 1- and 3-seeded teams to reach the final and come back from 2-1 deficits in each of their last three matches to win in five games.

Tina Wagner and Kristen Hawks were named to the all-tournament team; Bill Silva was named Division II coach of the year Friday.

In the NAIA District 3 cross-country meet:

Three from Orange County qualify--Genevieve Graff-Ermeling of Concordia University and Nikee Pool and Jason Schaefer of Southern California College qualified for the NAIA nationals with high finishes in the meet at La Mirada Regional Park.

Ermeling was second in 18 minutes 0.7 seconds in the women’s race, and Pool was 10th in 19:58.2. Elizabeth Onyambu of Biola won in 17:44.9 for 5,000 meters.

In the men’s race, Schaefer prevented an Azusa Pacific sweep by finishing fourth in 26:32.0 behind winner Tony Bergman of Azusa, who ran 25:59.8 for five miles.

SCC finished fifth in the women’s team race with 111 points, and Concordia was sixth with 136. Westmont won with 35. SCC had fourth-best men’s score (110) to 17 for Azusa Pacific.

The top five runners not on qualifying teams advanced to the nationals Nov. 20 in Kenosha, Wis. Pool advanced because five Westmont women were among the top 10.

In the NAIA District 3 men’s soccer tournament:

Pt. Loma Nazarene 2, Southern California College 1--Brian Hiatt of Point Loma Nazarene ended SCC’s season with a penalty kick in the last seconds of the first-round game. SCC finished 10-10-1.

In the Rolex-ITA Southern California men’s tennis regionals:

Irvine players eliminated--Freshman Marc-Andre Tardif was defeated by Ari Nathan of Pepperdine, 6-3, 7-6, in a singles semifinal at Irvine.

In doubles quarterfinals, Chris Tont and Fred Bach of Irvine were eliminated by UCLA’s Eric Taino and Robert Janacek, 6-2, 6-2, and Kenny Cruz and Tardif were beaten by Matt Fote and Vuk Tapuskovic of Arizona, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

In today’s singles final, Nathan will meet Robert Janecek of UCLA at 10:30 a.m. The doubles final will match top-seeded Nathan and Cary Lothringer against USC’s Wayne Black and Jon Leach.

In Mountain Pacific Sports Federation water polo:

UC Irvine 11, Pepperdine 9 (OT)--Kurt Edler’s two-point goal lifted fifth-ranked UC Irvine (14-7) over eighth-ranked Pepperdine (7-15).

In nonconference women’s swimming:

Irvine second--Freshman Leishma Mesi of Irvine took first in the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:33.50 as the Anteaters finished behind host Pepperdine in the four-team meet.

Pepperdine won with 354 points, followed by UC Irvine with 157, San Diego with 76 and Loyola with 75.

In Golden State Athletic Conference women’s volleyball:

Concordia 3, Southern California College 0--Lori Funk had 12 kills to lead Concordia (11-9) to its first conference victory, 15-8, 16-14, 17-15.

In Big West Conference women’s volleyball:

Long Beach State 3, UC Irvine 0--Popi Edwards had 12 kills for Irvine (13-11, 6-8) in a 15-9, 15-6, 15-0 loss. Long Beach State is 21-2, 13-1.

New Mexico State 3, Cal State Fullerton 0--Jennifer Lipski had 10 kills for Fullerton (1-24, 0-14) in a 15-9, 15-11, 15-12 loss.