Campus briefs

BYU

VOLLEYBALL: At San Diego, the Cougars took sole possession of first place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation with a 3-0 (30- 27, 30-21, 30-26) win over UC San Diego on Saturday night. BYU, ranked No. 1 in the nation, is now 12-2 overall and 10-2 in the conference; the Tritons are 1-12, 0-9.

Russell Holmes led the Cougars with nine kills and eight blocks while hitting .438. All three numbers were match highs. The Cougars earned the sweep despite hitting only .238 for the match. BYU overcame the poor hitting with defense, recording 12.0 team blocks and 23 digs.

BASEBALL: At San Jose, Calif., a three-run home run by Ben Saylor wasn't enough to beat San Jose State on Saturday afternoon as BYU lost 4-3. With three RBIs on the afternoon, Saylor now leads the Cougars with six this season. The Cougars return home before traveling again this week to California for three games at the River City Classic in Sacramento.

SOFTBALL: At Las Vegas, the Cougars swept their final two games, beating Cal-State Fullerton, 5-2, and Kansas, 2-1 at the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic. In the first game, BYU (8-2) jumped out of the gates early getting three runs in the first and two in the second. Ianeta Lei and Andrea Ramirez came up with a pair of two- out doubles in the first.

Utah Valley

BASEBALL: Fresno State got a strong pitching performance from southpaw Eddie Romero to top Utah Valley State 8-0 and win its second straight of a three-game series in Fresno, Calif. Romero struck out seven and allowed just four hits as he worked the first eight innings before giving way to Jason Breckely in the ninth. On Friday, after spotting Fresno State a big lead, Utah Valley State rallied, but the Bulldogs' lead proved insurmountable in a 13-9 Fresno win.

Utah State

GYMNASTICS: Meagan Lewis and Jessica Parenti finished in a four- way tie for first on the floor with a 9.75 as Utah State finished second to host Boise State on Friday night. Boise State won with a score of 193.525 while the Aggies finished second (192.225), followed by Seattle Pacific (188.375).

The 192.225 was the Aggies' second-lowest team score this year and brings them to 5-9 overall and 0-4 in the WAC.

Parenti led the Aggies, finishing tied for first on floor (9.75) and tied for second on both the beam (9.725) and bars (9.775). She finished second in the all-around with a 38.9 after finishing tied for eighth on the vault (9.650).

Lewis had the strongest showing for the Aggies on vault, scoring a 9.675 to finish seventh.

SOCCER: Erin Salmon of Mountain View High School has signed a letter of intent to join the Utah State soccer program in the fall of 2006. Salmon played for the Utah Avalanche soccer club and joins three other teammates who signed with Utah State earlier this month in Sydne Porter from Davis High, Lindsey Smart from Brighton High and Jessica Williams from Box Elder High.

SOFTBALL: USU (2-9) could manage only one run as it was swept by Illinois and Cal State Fullerton on the final day of the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic in Las Vegas on Saturday. With the losses, Utah State drops to 2-9 overall.

Utah

FOOTBALL: The Mountain West Conference has announced its fall All- Academic team, and 16 Utes made the list. To be eligible for selection, student-athletes must be starters or significant contributors with a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or better. Leading the way for Utah was senior linebacker Spencer Toone, a second-team Academic All-American, who compiled a team-best 3.85 GPA fall semester while taking graduate courses. Another graduate student to make the MWC all-academic team was senior center Jesse Boone, who posted a 3.483 GPA in his first semester of MBA school. Also on the Academic All-MWC team were: Kyle Brady, Freddie Brown, Casey Evans, Brian Hernandez, Brian Johnson, Travis LaTendresse, Brice McCain, Taylor Miller, Louie Sakoda, Ameen Shaheen, Ryan Smith, Cody Sorensen, Steve Tate and Charlie TeGantvoort.

BASEBALL: Utah scored just three runs Friday afternoon against the UC Davis Aggies in Davis, Calif. But that was just enough for Ute starting pitcher Josh Cooper. Cooper, along with two relievers, held UC Davis to just two runs and helped Utah to a 3-2 win in the first contest of the three-game set. Cooper (1-1) picked up the victory, going seven innings, striking out six and allowing just one run on five hits.

Westminster

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL: Westminster has signed six players, including three from Utah high schools: Melissa Osterloh, who prepped at Skyline High and is transferring from Portland State; and incoming freshmen Tahnie Taylor of Taylorsville and Alison Culp of Clearfield.

Southern Utah

GYMNASTICS: In Cedar City, Saturday evening was a rough night for beam, but fortunately for the Thunderbirds it was roughest for West Virginia, as No. 22 SUU took a 194.70-193.625 women's gymnastics win over the Mountaineers. After two events, SUU looked like it was on its way to its best meet of the season as the Thunderbirds posted season-high scores on vault (48.975) and bars (48.825) to take a 97.80-97.50 lead. But when the Thunderbirds went to beam, senior Sheena Shaw fell, Ashley Sharpe struggled and freshman Katie Hicks was unable to stay on, forcing the Thunderbirds to in effect count two falls and slip behind the Mountaineers, 146.075-145.725. Fortunately for SUU, Jess Langley (9.70) had a season-high in the event while both Leah Sakhitab and Rachel Tanner were solid at 9.80, giving the team a final beam mark of 47.925.