Briefs: UCI’s Wilder, Folker shine

UC Irvine junior Mike Wilder was named second-team All-Big West Conference and junior Adam Folker earned the conference’s Best Hustler award in men’s basketball.

Wilder, a 6-foot-2, forward, averaged a team-best 11.5 points and also contributed 5.2 rebounds per game for the Anteaters, who lost in the semifinals of the conference tournament to finish 12-20.

Wilder also led his team in three-pointers (78).

Folker, a 6-foot-9 center, averaged 8.2 points and a team-best 6.7 rebounds while shooting 56.3% from the field (112 for 199). He shot 56.9% from the field in conference regular-season games to lead the Big West.

Junior guard Daman Starring, who averaged 11.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists, received honorable mention in the all-conference voting.

UCI finished tied for sixth in the regular-season conference standings and was seeded No. 7 in the eight-team Big West Tournament. It upset No. 2-seeded Cal State Fullerton, 65-59, in the tournament quarterfinal on March 8 at Honda Center.

— From staff reports

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UCI’s Stevens lauded

UC Irvine junior Jeff Stephens was voted Big West Conference Player of the Week in baseball after helping the Anteaters go 3-2 last week.

Stephens, an outfielder who transferred from Sierra Community College, was 10 for 22 (.455) during the stretch of five games in five days, to up his season average to .400. He has multiple hits in six of the last seven games, including four straight.

He had a run batted in against Pepperdine on March 13 at Dodger Stadium, then went three for five with an RBI in a home win over Washington State on March 14.

He went two for four in the series opener at Nevada on March 15, and he was two for four to help UCI even the series on Friday.

In the rubber game at Nevada on Saturday, he doubled twice in a 6-5 victory that lasted 10 innings.

— From staff reports

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UCI’s Clark honored

UC Irvine senior opposite Carson Clark has been named National Player of the Week in men’s volleyball by the American Volleyball Coaches Assn.

The 6-foot-5 two-time All-American hit a blistering .667 with 17 kills in a three-game sweep at No. 13 Can State Northridge on March 14. He also added two aces, two block assists and five digs. In the final two sets at Northridge, Clark was almost unstoppable putting away 15 kills on 21 swings without an error (.714).

Clark continued the hot hand in the first set at No. 9-ranked Long Beach State on Saturday with four kills on seven attempts still not committing an error (.571). His contributed three aces and nine kills to help the No. 1-ranked Anteaters sweep the 49ers.

For the week, Clark bettered his season averages with 4.33 kills. 0.83 aces and 5.33 points while hitting .471. He committed just two hitting errors in six sets.

Following last week’s action, Clark became UCI’s all-time leader in kills with 1,712. He also owns the UCI career records for attack attempts (3,689) and aces (162). Clark currently ranks No. 1 in the country in ace average (0.56) and ranks eighth in kills per set (3.68) and 10th in hitting percentage (.337).

UCI plays next at home against UC Santa Barbara on March 30 at 7 p.m. at Crawford Court.

— From staff reports

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Croghan honored

UC Irvine sophomore attacker Hannah Croghan, who scored 13 goals in four games was named Big West Conference Player of the Week in women’s water polo for the week ending March 10.

Croghan scored four goals in a 19-5 win March 9 against Redlands and added four more in a 12-10 win March 10 against No. 6-ranked San Diego State.

— From staff reports

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UCI’s Yowell lauded

UC Irvine senior Jacob Yowell was named Big West Conference Track Athlete of the Week for the second straight time for the week ending March 10.

He won the 110-meter hurdles for the second straight at the Ben Brown Invitational in Fullerton with a time of 14.12 seconds March 10.

Yowell also ran a 47.3 split on UCI’s 4x400 relay that placed second among 27 entries with a time of 3:16.02.

— From staff reports