UCD roundup: Tears sets an Aggie diving record

Juniors Liliana Alvarez and Samantha Shellem plus freshman diver Hanna Tears — who set a school record on the 1-meter board — each captured two individual event wins to lead the UC Davis swimming and diving team to a 176-113 victory over Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday at Schaal Aquatics Center.

Tears, a native of Trabuco Canyon, scored a 278.40 on the low board to eclipse Erica Stricker’s previous benchmark of 265.80, set in 2011 against Pacific.

Tears followed with a 292.35 on the 3-meter board, narrowly missing Jamie Flynn’s five-year-old record of 293.55. Both scores, along with teammate Lucy LaFranchise’s 266.48 on 1-meter, punched tickets to the NCAA Zone Regionals in March.

Alvarez took both breaststroke events, with her time of one minute, 4.80 seconds edging teammate Morgan Lee’s 1:05.32 in a 1-2-3 Aggie sweep of the 100-yard race. Alvarez then dominated the field in the 200 breast, touching in 2:22.57, more than seven seconds faster than her nearest competitor.

Shellem captured the 1,650 freestyle with a time of 17:14.73, the fastest at Schaal Aquatics Center since Denver’s Michele Lowry set the pool record of 17:07.82 in January 2006. She was more than 20 seconds faster than teammate and runner-up Cara Silvas, who touched the final pad in 17:35.07. Shellem later won the 200 backstroke — an event she doesn’t usually swim — at 2:07.39.

In addition, UCD went 1-2-3 on both diving boards with Lauren Jesse (1-meter) and Shannon Stewart (3-meter) finished behind Tears and Lafranchise. The Aggies also swept the 200 individual medley with Katie Edwards winning in 2:06.59.

UCD women’s tennis

The UC Davis women’s tennis team split its first two matches of the season on Friday and Saturday in Arizona.

First, the Aggies swept through singles play and picked up a victory at No. 2 doubles to claim a 6-1 win over Northern Arizona at the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center in Tucson.

NAU claimed the doubles point with wins at the No. 1 and 3 positions, but the UCD duo of Ellie Edles and Tiffany Pham thwarted the Lumberjacks’ attempt at a sweep by edging Ghizelene Doballah and Nicole Perez 8-7 (7-3).

“You find out early on what a team is made of and to lose that doubles point and come back to sweep the singles showed a lot of character,” Aggie head coach Bill Maze said after Friday’s match.

The Aggies then dominated in singles as junior Megan Heneghan picked up the team’s first point with a 6-0, 6-3 straight-set win over Hannah Stone at the No. 1 position. Lauren Curry followed that with a straight-set win of her own, defeating Doballah 6-3, 6-1 at No. 2.

Melissa Kobayakawa won UCD’s third point at No. 6 singles, rallying from a first-set loss to Perez. After dropping the first set 2-6, the Aggie junior took 6-1 and 6-0 decisions.

Pham — the former Laguna Creek star — claimed the deciding point in her collegiate debut, defeating NAU senior Alice Pacaut 6-2, 7-5 at the No. 5 spot before Layla Sanders and Edles wrapped up wins of their own.

On Saturday, Kobayakawa claimed a 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 6 singles but UCD fell, 6-1 to No. 29 Arizona.

The Aggies wraps up their season-opening weekend on Sunday with their third match in as many days, facing Arizona State at 11 a.m.

UCD men’s tennis

Parker Kelley earned a 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 singles victory over Ilya Osintsev in the Aggies’ season opener at the Degheri Tennis Center in Santa Clara, but that was all UCD would get in a 7-1 loss to the 36th-ranked Broncos on Saturday.

After Kelley opened the match by taking the first set 7-5, Osintsev — the Northwest Region’s No. 17 player — responded by winning the following set to force a decisive third frame. Once Kelley broke Osintsev’s serve, he pulled away to win the third set and record the lone point for the Aggies on the afternoon.

Aggie Toki Sherbakov won his first set of singles competition, 6-2, over the Broncos’ John Lamble in the second of two singles matches that needed all three sets to declare a victor.

Lamble entered Saturday’s nonconference contest ranked No. 2 in the region and No. 65 in the nation.

UCD gymnastics

Senior Michelle Ho won the individual uneven bars for a third straight week while junior Anna Shumaker crushed her career high in the all-around to lead the Aggies to a season-best 193.525 team score on Friday at the Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion. Host Washington won the meet at 194.800, outpacing Cal’s 194.125. University of Illinois-Chicago finished fourth at 191.350, more than two full points behind the Aggies.

Ho scored a 9.850 on bars to share first-place honors with Cal’s Madisyn O’Brien. The two-time reigning Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Gymnast of the Week turned in another strong performance, adding a 9.675 on beam and a 9.775 on floor.

Shumaker, competing in her first season as an all-arounder after recovering from a shoulder surgery in 2012, amassed a four-event total of 38.825 to place third at the meet. She opened with a 9.700 on beam, added a 9.650 on floor, then posted scores of 9.750 (bars) and 9.725 (vault).

Freshman Stephanie Stamates enjoyed a high finish for the Aggies, placing second on floor exercise with a 9.800, while UCD’s Katie Yamamura scored a team-beat 9.825 on vault. Sophomore Tiana Montell also had a solid night, scoring 9.725 on both vault and bars.

UCD women’s soccer

The Aggie program will host a wine-tasting fundraiser on Saturday, Feb. 9, at the West Sacramento Civic Galleria, 1110 West Capitol Ave., beginning at 6:30 p.m.

The annual event will feature hors d’oeuvres, wine and beer and silent and live auctions. The cost is $50 per person, with RSVPs requested by Jan. 30 to Bryn Aitken-Young at either bdaitkenyoung@ucdavis.edu or 530-754-7548.