University of California, Davis

The Sacramento State women finished 18th, and the Hornets men placed 20th. • Melanie Adams tallied a career-high 24 kills and served four of her team's 11 aces to lead host UC Davis (19-10, 10-5 Big West Conference) to a 26-28, 28-26, 25-23, 22-25, 15-6 win over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (8-20...

Payne is back, though. So is fellow junior Joe Harden, who joins Payne on the preseason All-Big West Conference team. Senior center Dominic Calegari? Yeah, he's back in the paint. UC Davis coach Gary Stewart is more tempered in his expectations.

As odd as it sounds, the Aggies might have too many good players. Preseason All-Big West Conference picks Paige Mintun and Haylee Donaghe must be on the court. Same story with Heidi Heintz, a talented USF transfer who can make plays from all over the floor.

• Kayla Varney had a team-high 11 kills, but visiting UC Davis still lost 25-20, 25-22, 25-22 to Long Beach State in a Big West Conference match. Melanie Adams (Oak Ridge) had nine kills for UC Davis (18-9, 9-4). The 49ers (16-6, 9-3) got a team-high 15 kills from Caitlin Ledoux.

Oliver finished his four-year UCD career last season as the school's third-leading scorer all-time. He led the Aggies with 15.4 points per game in 2008-09 and became the first UCD player to be named first-team All-Big West Conference.

Sacramento State clinched its first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular-season men's soccer title since 2001 with a 1-1 double-overtime tie against host UNLV on Sunday. • UC Riverside scored two second-half goals to beat visiting UC Davis 2-0 in Big West Conference women's soc...

UC Davis runner wins title Sarah Sumpter claimed the first individual Big West Conference Cross Country Championships title in UC Davis' Division I history with a time of 20 minutes, 34.0 seconds in the six-kilometer race in Riverside. The UCD women finished second behind UC Santa Barbar...

UC Davis women's volleyball tops Irvine Kayla Varney had 15 kills and Allison Whitson 14 as the Aggies (17-7, 8-2) defeated visiting UC Irvine (17-5, 7-3) 3-1 in a Big West Conference showdown. The Aggies won 25-22, 18-25, 25-17, 25-22.

The Sacramento State men's soccer team improved to 3-0 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play with a 1-0 victory over Seattle University on Friday in Tukwila, Wash. • The UC Santa Barbara women (8-8-1, 5-1-0 Big West Conference) scored three times in the first 10 minutes en route to a 4...

UC Davis men's soccer falls in OT The UC Davis men lost a double-overtime Big West Conference soccer match to visiting Cal State Fullerton. Rene Cuellar's goal at 69:07 pulled the Aggies (5-8, 2-2) even at 2-2 with the Titans (6-5-1, 2-1). But Cal State Fullerton's Celso Alvarez scored the w...

By Tribune staff report -- The Cal Poly men’s soccer team remained unbeaten in the Big West Conference with a 1-0 win over UC Davis on Sunday, setting up a Wednesday showdown at rival UC Santa Barbara with first place on the line. In front of 2,023 at Alex G. Spanos Stadium, senior midfielder Da...

UC Davis' Joe Harden maneuvers against Pacific's Bryan LeDuc in a Big West Conference quarterfinal Thursday night.ANAHEIM – An unexpected role reversal defined UC Davis' second game in the Big West Conference men's basketball tournament Thursday night.

By mmcneal@sacbee.com (Martin McNeal) With two regular-season games left on its schedule, UC Davis knows it will play in the upcoming Big West Conference men's tournament. The Aggies will need help, however, with both Pacific (15-11, 8-6) and UC Riverside (16-10, 7-6) in third and fourth, respectively.

By mmcneal@sacbee.com (Martin McNeal) UC Davis is 11-14 overall and 6-6 in the Big West. That earns the Aggies a tie for fifth in the conference with UC Riverside. Meanwhile, Cal State Fullerton improved to 13-12, 7-6. The Titans are a half game ahead of the Aggies and Highlanders.

By mmcneal@sacbee.com (Martin McNeal) The UC Davis men's basketball team begins a three-game homestand tonight at the Pavilion against the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos that could provide separation in the Big West Conference. UC Davis (8-10, 3-2) is tied for second with Pacific and UC Irvine, and Cal State Northridge is 3-3.

By mmcneal@sacbee.com (Martin McNeal) So far, the Big West Conference is what UC Davis coach Gary Stewart thought it would become. Last season, the league was top heavy with four teams (including Pacific) that separated themselves," Stewart said Wednesday. "I thought there would be more balance this year.

By mmcneal@sacbee.com (Martin McNeal) What they are to coach Gary Stewart is a two-headed key to UCD becoming a factor in the 2008-2009 Big West Conference men's basketball race. When things didn't go well at Notre Dame, I had been talking to Mark as usual. I was thinking about coming back to California and going to school closer to...

By mmcneal@sacbee.com (Martin McNeal) The UC Davis Aggies needed all the help they could get as they attempted to reverse a sluggish start to their 2008-09 men's basketball season. More importantly, defending well against Dartmouth provided momentum for an Aggies crew that begins Big West Conference play Jan. 5 at Cal State No...

By mmcneal@sacbee.com (Martin McNeal) Oliver and the Aggies have two games and 15 days before their Jan. 5 Big West Conference opener at Cal State Northridge. Oliver's goal appears quite lofty when considering the Aggies finished last season 9-22 overall, including 2-14 in conference.

By mmcneal@sacbee.com (Martin McNeal) The Aggies have lost two in a row, including Wednesday night's 82-70 defeat at Sacramento State. That's the team many people picked to win our league," Stewart said of the Big West Conference. "We know (the Roadrunners) are talented."