COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Irvine Stuns No. 1 Stanford, Reaches Water Polo Semifinals

UC Irvine’s fifth-ranked water polo team upset No. 1 Stanford and also defeated No. 6 UCLA Saturday in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

The victories meant Irvine (16-7) is assured a bid in the upcoming NCAA tournament.

Playing without leading scorer Marc Hunt, who was resting an injured left hand, the Anteaters built a 9-5 lead on a two-point goal by Kurt Elder with 6:24 to play and held on to beat Stanford, 9-8.

David Brunner scored three goals for Irvine, which ran its winning streak to six. Elder, Greg Hakim and Peter Muller scored two each.

Anteater goaltender Mike Rall had 10 saves and closed the door after former San Clemente star Jeremy Laster cut Stanford’s deficit to one goal with 2:57 to play.

Antonio Busquets led Stanford with three goals, and Laster had two.

Hunt scored three goals in the 8-7 first-round victory over UCLA as the Anteaters came back from a 4-3 deficit in the fourth quarter.

The victory over Stanford was Irvine’s second over the nation’s No. 1 team this year. The first, on Sept. 18, was 9-8 in overtime over Cal, which will be the Anteaters’ semifinal opponent at 10:30 a.m. today.

In Big West Conference women’s volleyball:

UC Santa Barbara 3, UC Irvine 0--Popi Edwards, Stacy Mitchell and Alison Batel each had nine kills for Irvine in the 15-7, 15-5, 15-8 loss to Santa Barbara at Irvine.

Irvine fell to 14-12 and 7-9. Santa Barbara is 25-3 and 16-1.

Long Beach State 3, Fullerton 0--No. 3-ranked Long Beach had no trouble with the Titans, winning in 62 minutes, 15-0, 15-2, 15-11. The 49ers improved to 22-2 and 15-1 with their 21st sweep of the season. Nichelle Burton had 12 kills.

Jennifer Lipski finished with 11 kills for Fullerton, which fell to 1-26 and 0-16.

In nonconference women’s swimming:

UC Irvine splits--Irvine defeated San Diego, 144-70, but was swamped by Northern Arizona, 172-56, in a tri-meet at San Diego.

Irvine’s 400 medley relay team of Gwen Yoshizumi, Leisha Masi, Liz Koch and Danielle Bries took second in 4 minutes 5.34 seconds.