Colleges:

The UC Irvine men’s volleyball program, last season’s NCAA champion, is not at the top of the heap this season. But the Anteaters proved last week that they can at least see the top from where they sit early in the 2010 campaign.

Coach John Speraw’s squad, which entered last week with the No. 3 national ranking, handled visiting No. 7-ranked Pepperdine in four games Wednesday.

The ’Eaters then trounced top-ranked USC the first two games Friday, before falling in five to the visiting Trojans in front of a vibrant crowd of 2,648 at the Bren Events Center.

USC, which fell to UCI in five games in the 2009 NCAA title match at BYU, returned all but its starting libero from that team, while UCI is replacing its starting libero, setter and one outside hitter.

Both coaches said that experience advantage was pivotal for the Trojans Friday, the first of what could be three or four meetings between the two programs this season.

“It’s absolutely what usually happens,” Speraw said of the difficulty of beating veterans with newcomers. “So, it’s about us continuing to improve and training hard and training our guys up. When we do that, we’ll be back in this battle again and I’m looking forward to it.”

The two Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rivals meet again April 1 at USC. They are likely to also square off in the MPSF postseason tournament, and possibly the four-team NCAA Tournament as well.

Speraw said psychology may be a big part of UCI’s attempt to gain revenge on the Trojans.

“We have to understand what our style of play is and make sure that we play that way,” Speraw said. “We didn’t necessarily do that [Friday]. We have a certain calm, deliberate style the way we play the game and I don’t think we did that. You could see that in the massive point swings. I think we just need to understand and mature a little bit and we addressed those issues pretty directly [in the locker room after Friday’s loss]. So they’re going to get better.”

 One area in which UCI is quickly eradicating its lack of experience is at libero, where senior newcomer Kevin Welch, a product of Corona del Mar High and Orange Coast College, has not only secured the starting job, but demonstrated great skill.

“The guy has become a great libero in a hurry,” Speraw said of the 6-foot-2 Welch, who as an outside hitter was the 2005 CIF Southern Section Division II Player of the Year at CdM, then a two-time all-state performer who was Co-Player of the Year as a sophomore at OCC in 2008.

Welch had planned to transfer to USC, but could not gain his eligibility there and wound up at UCI for his lone remaining year of eligibility.

He had 11 digs and made three service-receiving errors in 43 chances against USC, but several of his digs were of the spectacular variety.

“Goodness, I thought he was one of the best players on the floor, and he has zero [major college] experience,” Speraw said. “That is a huge, huge advantage for us down the stretch. He’ll be great.”

 The Vanguard University women’s basketball team is ranked No. 5 in the nation, but in third place in the Golden State Athletic Conference.

Coach Russ Davis’ perennial powerhouse suffered a 101-92 upset loss at No. 11-ranked Azusa Pacific Saturday, allowing APU (13-4, 6-1 in conference) to join conference-leading Point Loma Nazarene (16-1, 7-1), ranked No. 2 behind Union University of Tennessee, as teams ahead of Vanguard (9-2, 5-2) in the GSAC standings.

The Lions are being led by the backcourt trio of Rachel Copeland (20.5 points per game), Bridgette Reyes (19.7) and Diana Neves (15.4). Reyes, a senior, is also averaging 7.4 assists and 4.8 rebounds, the latter topped only by Molly Pfohl (5.2).

Vanguard plays host to Concordia today at 5:30 p.m., and visits Westmont Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

Bigger games ahead, all at home, include The Master’s, which is tied for third with a 5-2 conference mark (Jan. 30), Point Loma (Feb. 2) and APU (Feb. 20).

 The UC Irvine men’s basketball team has lost three straight Big West Conference games, all on the road, to fall into eighth place in the nine-team conference.

It will hope to rebound this week with home dates against Long Beach State (Thursday at 7:30 p.m.) and UC Riverside (Saturday at 8 p.m.)

Coach Pat Douglass’ squad (8-10, 2-4) has long squandered hopes for a 20-win season and now appears to be fighting to avoid being the lone conference program not to qualify for the postseason tournament.

UCI has 13 regular-season games remaining and has won more than one in a row only once this season, a three-game streak against Farleigh Dickinson, Hawaii and Vanguard.

The current three-game skid, which includes two-point setbacks to Long Beach State and UC Davis, is its longest of the season.

 Don’t look now, but college baseball season is right around the corner.

Vanguard opens at home Jan. 30 with a nonconference doubleheader against Oregon Tech.

Orange Coast opens a three-game series at home Feb. 4 against Cuesta.

And UCI opens at home Feb. 19 against Loyola Marymount. The UCI alumni game is Feb. 6 at 1 p.m.