Fermin, Snyder Win Easter Bowl Doubles

Serena Fermin of Troy High and Taylynn Snyder of Santa Margarita won the girls’ 14-and-under doubles title Friday at the Easter Bowl junior tennis tournament at Riviera Resort and Racquet Club in Palm Springs.

Fermin and Snyder rallied to defeat Elizabeth Lumpkin of Naperville, Ill., and Bryce Marable of Darien, Ill., 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

In the semifinals of the boys’ 16s, 12th-seeded Rylan Rizza of Palos Verdes Peninsula advanced with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over John Isner of Greensboro, N.C. Rizza will play 14th-seeded James Pade of Woodside, Calif., in today’s final. Pade defeated Eric Hechtman of Miami, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5.

BASKETBALL

Senior guard Jaime Gast of Concordia has been invited to attend a two-day women’s professional tryout camp in front of WNBA and European scouts.

The camp will be June 7-8 in Charlottesville, Va.

“I’m nervous, but I’m also really excited,” Gast said. “I just want to see if I can play with that level of competition.”

Gast, a third-team All-American, averaged 19.8 points, 11th-best in the NAIA last season, and 8.4 rebounds. She holds Concordia career records for free throws made (521) and steals (281), ranks second in total points (1,785) and third in rebounding (764) and assists (356).

* Mater Dei guard Maile Shimoda has committed to play basketball at the Naval Academy, according to her mother Diane Shimoda.

Shimoda, a four-year varsity player for the Monarchs, was team MVP the past three years and a Times Orange County first-team selection for the past two years. She averaged 14.7 points and five assists a game, while shooting 44.7 percent from three-point range.

GOLF

Ryan Armstrong, Nick Asbrock, Jeff Coburn, Mike Lavery and Brandon Murray are part of a youth movement at UC Irvine.

They’re the five freshmen expected to tee off for the Anteaters Monday at the Big West Conference men’s championships at Serrano Country Club in El Dorado Hills.

The 36-hole event concludes Tuesday.

Coburn, who is from Ojai, has had a blistering spring. He won the Ojai city championship last weekend and bested the course record by three strokes in the process. Last month he won the Orange County Championships at Strawberry Farms. He leads the Anteaters with a stroke average of 75.17, followed by Armstrong (75.22) and Lavery (75.30), formerly of Irvine High.

* Saddleback College is favored to win the Orange Empire Conference tournament Monday at Singing Hills in El Cajon.

The Gauchos won the conference title for the 22nd time in 31 years by defeating Golden West, 371-375, on April 12.

The Southern California regional finals are May 1 at Bakersfield Country Club and the state championship is May 8 at Glendora Country Club.

TENNIS

UC Irvine’s women’s tennis team will be seeded No. 1 for the first time in school history at next week’s Big West Championships.

The Anteaters, ranked No. 50 in the nation, open Thursday at 11 a.m. against the winner of Wednesday’s Long Beach State-Cal Poly San Luis Obispo match. UCI freshman Maureen Diaz is the Big West’s No. 1 singles player. She is 14-5 in dual matches and ranked No. 50 in the nation. The Anteater doubles team of Darian Chappell and Jonni Seymour, also tops in the conference, is ranked No. 42 and is 18-3 with a 13-match winning streak.

The UCI men’s team is seeded No. 4 and opens the conference tournament against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at 8 a.m. Friday.

The event, at the Ojai Valley Racquet Club, concludes April 30.

VOLLEYBALL

Julie Renfrow of Golden West, MVP of the Orange Empire Conference in women’s volleyball, has signed with Wichita State, Golden West Coach Albert Gasparian announced.

Renfrow, from Marina High, was a starting middle blocker on the Vikings’ 1997 state championship team and played for two state championship teams with the Rustlers. Golden West had a 54-0 record during her career.

As a sophomore, Renfrow led the Rustlers in kills (329), aces (36) and digs (313) and was named to the all-state tournament team.

ROWING

Veronica Karpinski, a member of the Orange Coast College rowing team, has signed to compete next season for Sacramento State.

Karpinski, a graduate of Aliso Niguel High, competed for the UC Santa Barbara swimming team in 1998 before transferring to Orange Coast in the spring of 1999.