A number of athletes with local ties have been competing on the collegiate sports scene these last few months.
In women’s volleyball, Bentley College (Mass.) saw its hopes of a second straight appearance in the NCAA Division II Volleyball Sweet Sixteen and the regional championship come to an abrupt halt when it fell recently to C.W. Post.
Freshman Alex Kearney (La Jolla High) had 11 kills for Bentley, which finished its season at 27-11.
The Harvard women’s volleyball team fell to Yale, 3-0, in its final game of the 2006 season recently. Harvard finishes the 2006 season with an 11-14 overall mark.
Among the players contributing to Harvard’s efforts were freshman Lily Durwood (La Jolla High) and senior Sarah Cebron (The Bishop’s School). Durwood posted 10 digs and handed out 15 assists, while Cebron notched 18 assists.
On the season, Cebron and Durwood were the team’s top two setters, with 6.10 and 5.36 assists a game, respectively. Cebron finished the season with 201 digs and Durwood tallied 192.
At Lafayette College (Pa.), senior Veronica Canto-Ponce (The Bishop’s School) goes down as Lafayette’s career and single-season women’s volleyball record holder for kills and aces.
The Lady Leopards advanced into last weekend’s Patriot League Tournament as the fourth seed, sporting an overall record of 18-9, 9-5 in league play.
In football, sophomore linebacker Wes Pinkston (La Jolla Country Day School) led the Chapman University defense with a pair of quarterback sacks in the Panthers’ recent 21-14 homecoming win over Pomona-Pitzer.
Pinkston has been a menace behind the line of scrimmage this year, leading the team with 14 tackles for loss (49 yards) and ranking 23rd in the nation in that category. He’s also tied for the team lead with five QB sacks and has five QB hurries.
In women’s soccer, Ali Hawkins (La Jolla Country Day School) is a freshman defender for the top-ranked University of North Carolina squad.
North Carolina scored two goals in each half and held Navy to one shot on Nov. 12 as the Tar Heels beat the Midshipmen 4-0 in the second round of the 2006 NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Tournament. Carolina advanced to the NCAA Round of 16 for the 25th consecutive year and was to meet Tennessee in the third round last Saturday.
Krista Liskevych (La Jolla Country Day School) played this season as a freshman midfielder for the University of Wisconsin’s women’s soccer team.
The Lady Badgers recently dropped a 3-0 decision to second-seeded Illinois in the Big Ten tournament. Wisconsin finished the 2006 season with an overall record of 7-9-3.
Nico Sardo (The Bishop’s School) and the top-ranked USC men’s water polo team recently ran their consecutive winning streak to 40 games with a 14-5 win over Cal Baptist. Sardo had a goal in the game for the Trojans.