Fine season for Younker
The following are updates on area athletes at the collegiate level.
Rian Younker (St. Francis High, 2009) junior, defensive tackle, California Lutheran University football: Younker picked up a prestigious award after helping the Kingsmen go 8-2 and 6-0 in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for first place. Since Younker arrived at California Lutheran, the Kingsmen have gone undefeated in winning three conference titles.
After registering a 40 tackles in 10 games, Younker’s work was recognized when he was recently named to the D3football.com All-West Region Team. Younker earned a spot on the second team for the second season in a row. Younker led the conference in sacks with seven and tackles for loss with 12 1/2.
He finished with 21 solo tackles for the Kingsmen, who saw their season come to a close Nov. 19 with a 30-27 first-round road playoff defeat against Linfield. Younker recorded three tackles and one sack in the game.
Teammate Chris Cabrera, a St. Francis graduate, collected eight tackles (six solo) against Linfield.
Jenna Orlandini (Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, 2009) sophomore, defensive specialist/libero, University of Washington women’s volleyball: The former All-Area first-team pick and the Huskies saw their season wind up in heartbreaking fashion during the second round of the NCAA Championships on Dec. 3 against host Minnesota.
Orlandini finished with a team-high 25 digs for Washington, which saw Minnesota rally for an 18-25, 20-25, 25-17, 25-21, 15-11 victory. Washington finished its season at 24-8 and 15-7 to tie for fourth place with Stanford in the PAC-12.
Orlandini played a significant role in helping Washington record a first-round victory against Central Michigan on Dec. 2 at Minnesota. Orlandini finished with 26 digs to spur the Huskies to a 25-13, 20-25, 25-22, 25-16 victory.
Orlandini finished the season with a team-best 479 digs in 104 games.
Nick Dragovich (Crescenta Valley High, 2010) sophomore forward, Chapman University men’s basketball: Dragovich came off the bench and provided Chapman with a spark during Saturday’s 58-54 nonconference home victory against California Lutheran University.
In 26 minutes, Dragovich contributed four points, two defensive rebounds and one steal to help the Panthers improve to 5-4.
In eight games, Dragovich is averaging 5.9 points and four rebounds per game.
