Davis and Dent in Adoption Guild Tennis Semifinals

Top-seeded Scott Davis of Newport Beach will play former Pepperdine star Michael Jessup in the men’s open semifinals of the 39th Roy Emerson Adoption Guild tennis tournament today at 11 a.m. at the Newport Beach Tennis Club. Former UC Irvine standout Brett Hanson Dent will play fourth-seeded Marcin Rozpedski, who played last year at UCLA, in the other semifinal.

The men’s final will be Sunday at 11 a.m.

GYMNASTICS

Julie Knight, a member of the women’s gymnastics coaching staff at Cal State Fullerton since 1994, has signed a three-year contract to serve as head coach, school officials announced Friday.

Knight served as associate head coach to Lynn Rogers in 1999, when Rogers phased himself out of the day-to-day coaching duties to assist with campus fund-raising. Knight was selected Big West Conference coach of the year that season.

This season, she was interim coach after Rogers retired in December.

Knight, 42, competed on the first Titan women’s gymnastics team in 1976 for Rogers. She earned All-American awards on the vault, floor exercise and all-around.

BASEBALL

The California Baseball Coaches Assn. all-star series will be played June 9-11 at Cal State Fullerton.

The series matches 20 of the best high school players from Northern California against a team of all-stars from Southern California. The first two games of the series start at 7 p.m. The final game starts at 11 a.m.

Players from the South will be selected after tryouts in Orange and San Diego counties. One of the tryouts will be at Foothill High, Sunday at 9 a.m. The South coaches are Joe Phillips of La Mesa Grossmont, Joe Walters from Calvary Chapel and Vince Brown of Foothill.

Information: Iran Novick, (714) 993-5350, ext. 7602.

* Former Saddleback College catcher Lars Birkeland will play for Brigham Young next season.

Birkeland, a graduate of Olympus High in Salt Lake City in 1996, played two seasons at Saddleback before spending the past two years in the Pacific islands on a church mission.

During his sophomore year with the Gauchos, he batted .342 with 11 doubles and seven home runs, earning second-team all-conference honors.

SOCCER

Santa Margarita High’s Dan Hoffman and Jeff Regan have committed to play at St. Joseph’s College in Indiana. Hoffman and Regan, both defenders, helped the Eagles win their fourth consecutive Southern Section Division III championship.

FOOTBALL

Orange Coast players Amara Dunzo and David Yonts have decided where they will continue their football careers, Pirate Coach Mike Taylor said. Dunzo, an offensive lineman, will play at Lewis and Clark, and Yonts, a kicker, will play for Bethany.

MISCELLANY

* Costa Mesa High has three coaches to replace.

Girls’ volleyball Coach Jeff Culver and boys’ volleyball Coach Jon Carlew have resigned to allow more time for their jobs, Athletic Director Kirk Bauermeister said. Carlew is expected to remain with the boys’ volleyball program in some capacity.

Eric Berg left the Mustang boys’ and girls’ water polo programs to take a teaching position at Long Beach Wilson.