Crush sign Sufi

The Orange County Crush, an American Basketball Association expansion

franchise set to play its home games at the Orange County Fairgrounds

in Costa Mesa, has signed former Mater Dei High and St. Mary’s

College guard Kamran Sufi.

Sufi has ABA experience with the Anaheim-based Southern California

Surf and spent part of last season playing for Crush Coach Earl

Cureton with the Long Beach Jam.

Sufi, who grew up in Fountain Valley, averaged 7.5 assists and two

steals per game at St. Mary’s.

He produced eight points and seven assists per game in the Fila

Summer Pro League.

“Sufi is definitely the type of player that will fit into the

scheme of the Orange County Crush basketball program,” Cureton said.

Sufi, the first Pakistani player to participate in the ABA, is the

only member of the roster to be announced, after Juaquin Hawkins left

the team to pursue an opportunity with the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Crush are tentatively scheduled to open their season Nov. 18

at home.

May receives honor

* VOLLEYBALL: Misty May, a Newport Harbor High product who teamed

with Kerri Walsh to win the gold medal in women’s beach volleyball at

the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, Greece, joins Walsh and gold-medal

men’s gymnast Paul Hamm as winners of the 2004 Olympic Spirit Award.

The award, presented by Nu Skin Enterprises, celebrates more than

gold-medal winning performances. It recognizes athletes who have

struggled to overcome adversity in their quest for an Olympic title

and who best exemplify the Olympic spirit through courage,

commitment, perseverance and vision. The award was created in 1968.

May and Walsh had been sitting on top of the international beach

volleyball rankings prior to arriving in Athens. In June 2004, May

was sidelined due to an abdominal strain, making it questionable

whether or not she would play with her long-time partner Walsh in the

Olympics.

Once they were cleared to compete, the duo did not lose a set in

their seven matches. They capped their Athens dominance with a 21-17,

21-11 victory in the gold medal match.

Winners of the 2004 U.S. Olympic Spirit Award were selected by the

public via online voting at www.usolympicteam.com and NuSkin

Enterprises internal voting at www.nuskinenterprises.com. More than

20,000 votes were cast online.

Utah State tops ‘Eaters

* SOCCER: The UC Irvine women’s soccer team outshot Big West

Conference host Utah State, 17-16, Sunday, but the Aggies claimed a

3-1 victory in Logah, Utah.

UCI senior Gina Scachetti scored with an assist from sophomore

Britney Webster in the 72nd minute, but, by that time, the Aggies

(6-7-1, 3-1-1 in conference) had already taken a 3-0 lead.

It was the fifth home win without a loss this season for Utah

State, while UCI (4-10-2, 1-4-0) fall to 1-7 on the road.

UCI earned its lone road win Friday at Idaho, knocking off the

Vandals, 3-2.

Anteaters’ sophomore goalkeeper Melissa Welliver had nine saves

Sunday.

Sage Hill wins another

* VOLLEYBALL: The Sage Hill School girls volleyball team defeated

Whitney 25-7, 25-9, 25-12, Friday in an Academy League match at Sage

Hill.

Vista Murphy led the Lightning (9-5, 3-1 in league) with nine

kills and two aces, while Cat Dailey had seven kills and four aces.

Lions’ Demos honored

* VOLLEYBALL: Vanguard University junior Sevryn Demos was named

Golden State Athletic Conference Libero of the Week.

Demos helped the Lions split two GSAC women’s volleyball matches,

amassing 57digs in eight games.

She had 32 digs in a four-game loss to No. 17-ranked Cal Baptist,

Sept. 28, then added 25 more in a four-game win Sept. 30 over host

Azusa Pacific. She also had two assists and did not commit an error

on 26 serves received against APU.