Uc Irvine

Despite getting a victory and two ties last weekend, the Surf-City Smackers of AYSO Region 143 saw their season come to an end at the Section II tournament held at UC Irvine. The Smackers finished two points behind North Irvine, who won the final to advance to the Tri-Section tournament. In their first game, the Smackers and North Irvine fought to a 1-1 tie. Amy Nunez scored on a penalty kick for the Smackers, and halfback Andrea Gonzalez and goalie Breanna Flynn paced the defense.

UC Irvine men's volleyball players Jayson Jablonsky and David Smith scored nine and eight points, respectively, in the United States junior national team's 25-22, 25-22, 35-33 pool play loss to Brazil at the FIVB men's U-21 world volleyball championships Sunday in Visakhapatnam, India. Jablonsky and Smith, playing for UCI Coach John Speraw, who is guiding the junior national team, will be juniors in the fall for the Anteaters. Smith, a 6-foot-7 middle blocker, had seven kills and one block.

The UC Irvine women's volleyball team has been picked to finish fifth in the Big West Conference in the coaches' preseason poll. UC Santa Barbara was picked to finish first, receiving six first-place votes. Long Beach State was chosen to finish second while University of the Pacific and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo were picked to finish third and fourth, respectively. The Anteaters, were 18-11 last season, 11-7 in conference. They finished in a fourth-place tie in the Big West and earned their second straight NCAA tournament berth.

UC Irvine junior Tim Hutten scored four goals -- all in the first half -- to lead the No. 7-ranked Anteaters past No. 15-ranked UC Santa Barbara, 10-5, in nonconference men's water polo action Sunday at UCI. Hutten scored three times in the second quarter as the Anteaters (7-6) built an 8-2 halftime lead. Six other UCI players scored one goal each and senior goalie Joe Wynne had four saves. Travis Watts led the Gauchos (7-7) with a pair of goals, both in the first quarter.

The Backstreet Girls, the reigning AYSO girls Under-10 Region 5 champion, took home the top prize by winning last weekend's Area 11-K playoffs. The Backstreet Girls dominated the opposition at Peterson Elementary School in Huntington Beach to win the title, thanks to a stellar defensive effort that shut out four of five opponents the squad faced. "It has been over 10 years since this region (5) has won the Area (playoffs)," Region 5 Director Dan Gabaldon said at an awards ceremony following the tournament.

A pair of climbers from ClimbX Indoor Rock Gym in Huntington Beach competed at the USA Climbing Nationals July 9 through 12 in Atlanta. Nathan Withey, 12, earned a 31st-place finish and Sara Griffith, 13, placed 34th in their division, which included 334 athletes who were judged in both difficulty and speed. Griffith competed in both categories and Withey in difficulty, their coach Bryan Leipper, co-owner of ClimbX Indoor Rock Gym, said. Leipper said that Withey and Griffith had to compete in three local events to qualify for nationals.

Jennifer Wells scored the lone goal of the match off an assist from Mandy Rice to give the Goald!, a Region 117 (Huntington Beach/Fountain Valley) girls Under-12 All-Star squad, a 1-0 victory over Region 5 (Fountain Valley) in Area K Tournament play Sunday. Goalies Rachel Hays and Christina Berardi combined their talents to post the shutout, and was helped out by a defense that was anchored by Julia Moreno, Katia Hadj-Hamou, and Erin McCarthy. Later that day, Melinda Rackliffe scored in the third period to break a scoreless halftime tie, and Goald!

Region 56's Gold all-stars, the H.B. Storm, faced a huge challenge at the Section 11 All-Star soccer tournament held last weekend at UC Irvine, facing the top teams from much of Southern California. After two days of competition, the Storm emerged as Sectional champions. They are the only boy's team in their age bracket from Orange County continuing on to the Tri-sectional State championship tournament. "More than 76,000 registered kids played in Section 11 this year" Coach Craig Ciandella said.

Send AROUND TOWN items to the Daily Pilot, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626; by e-mail to o7lindsay.sandhamf7o7@latimes.comf7; by fax to (714) 966-4667; or by calling (714) 966-4625. Include the time, date and location of the event, as well as a contact phone number. SEPT. 17 - OCT. 22 Project Playhouse, a six-week event with elaborate kid-size playhouses on display and sold at public auction, will be held at Fashion Island Center in Newport Beach.

After settling a lawsuit against Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister Co., Robb Havassy ended up with 365 surfboards. Ever since then, he's set out to diminish that number. On Thursday, he'll be raffling off 150 of the boards in Huntington Beach. Sixteen years ago, the Costa Mesa resident painted and gifted a board to his friend - a Hollister Co. photographer who lived in Florida. When a photograph of Havassy's creation, with a purple phoenix on one side and a shield constructed from the words "peace," "love," "life" and "surf" on the other, reached the Ohio-headquartered apparel behemoth, it became a key part of the company's surf-centric ad campaign.