Bruins Will Retire Jersey of Hall of Fame Spiker Kirk Kilgour

The jersey of former UCLA All-American volleyball player Kirk Kilgour will be retired at the 10th Kilgour Cup, which will feature top-ranked UCLA against No. 3 USC at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Pauley Pavilion.

Kilgour, who led UCLA to its first NCAA championship in 1970 and to another 1971 and is a member of the university’s Athletic Hall of Fame, was left a quadriplegic in 1976 when his spinal cord was severed in an accident while practicing as a member of the Italian national team.

He has returned to the game as a coach at Pepperdine and as a television commentator for the Olympics and for college matches.

UCLA Coach Al Scates said the cup match “is a tribute to one of UCLA’s finest players. By retiring Kirk’s jersey, we are perpetuating the tradition of the event as well as commemorating his outstanding athletic ability.”

Scates, whose team was picked as No. 1 in the preseason by Volleyball Monthly, has four starters back from last year’s 30-9 squad, which finished second in the NCAA West Regional to Pepperdine, defending NCAA champion.

USC Coach Bob Yoder, whose Trojans were 27-2 last season and NCAA runners-up, also has four starters returning, including second-team All-American Tom Duke. USC is defending champion of the California Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn.

The Pepperdine men’s tennis team, runner-up to NCAA champion Stanford and tied for third with UCLA in the preseason national rankings of the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Assn., gets its first taste of action in the Adidas Invitational next Thursday at Palm Springs.

Wave Coach Allen Fox said he has “lost some obvious firepower” because four-time All-American Kelly Jones and Dani Leal are not back. But he added that Pepperdine “should be awfully solid from top to bottom.”

At the top are junior All-American Robbie Weiss, ranked fifth nationally in singles in the preseason and 16-8 in dual matches and 24-5 in tournament action last year, and senior Martin Laurendau, who was 22-8 last season, is ranked 14th and has won 66 dual matches at Pepperdine, second on the Waves’ career victory list.

Others returning are junior Craig Johnson, who was 17-4; sophomore Augustine Moreno, who was 21-8 and teamed with Jones as one of the nation’s best in doubles, and sophomore Grant Saacks, a South African who saw little action with Pepperdine but who was regarded as his country’s best junior player.

Depth will come from junior David Smith and sophomores Enrique Guajardo and David Klembith.

Freshmen Andrewe Sznaidjer, a Canadian who has enjoyed success on the professional circuit, and David Wells-Roth of Short Hills, N.J., one of America’s best juniors, are expected to make their mark in the collegiate ranks. Sznaidjer already has. In early January, the Canadian was runner-up to Richie Renenberg of Southern Methodist in the National Collegiate tournament at Cathedral City.

Glenn Bassett, entering his 21st year as UCLA’s men’s tennis coach, still has no set lineup. Sophomores Tim Trigueiro and Dan Nahirny are fighting for the top singles spot, five others are vying for the four other singles positions, and Trigueiro and sophomore Buff Farrow are the only doubles team returning from last year.

“We have only four matches to find our best lineup before playing Pepperdine at Malibu Jan. 30 in the big early-season test,” Bassett said.

The Bruins, tied for third with Pepperdine in the preseason national rankings of the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Assn., open the season against San Diego State at 1:30 p.m. Friday and play host to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on campus.

This is UCLA’s third year at the center, where the Bruins are 41-0. That record is short of UCLA’s 54 consecutive wins at home, set in 1974-77.

Besides Farrow, others in the battle for the four other singles spots are senior captain Brett Greenwood, junior Otis Smith, sophomore Pat Galbraith and freshman Brian Garrow.

The No. 9 UCLA women’s tennis team will open its home season against Cal State Long Beach at noon Friday and against Nevada Las Vegas at noon Saturday at the Sunset Canyon courts on campus.

The UCLA men’s gymnastics team, which defeated UC Santa Barbara, 276.95-248.65 in its season opener, will play host to Cal in a Pac-10 Conference meet at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at John Wooden Center.

Against the Gauchos, sophomore All-American Curtis Holdsworth won four events and was first in the all-around with a score of 57, and sophomore David St. Pierre won two events and was second with a career-best mark of 56.55. Bruin sophomore Michael Chaplin was third with a 54.45 and senior teammate Luc Teurlings fourth at 54.40.

The West Los Angeles College men’s basketball team, 2-0 in the Southern California Athletic Conference and 9-8 overall, will be on the road for the next two conference games. The Oilers will be at College of the Desert at 7:30 p.m. Friday and at Marymount College at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

In conference games last week, WLAC defeated Rio Hondo, 73-69, and East Los Angeles, 84-70.

LaVar Ball continues to lead the Oilers in scoring and rebounding, averaging about 21 points and 12 rebounds a game.

The UCLA women’s basketball team, 9-4 overall and 3-1 in the Pac 10 Conference, will play host to Oregon (8-2, 2-0) at 5:15 this evening and to Oregon State (10-2, 2-1) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.

Last week Dora Dome had career-high marks of 35 points and 13 points as the Bruins defeated Arizona State, 85-78. UCLA also edged Arizona, 66-65. Dome raised her team-leading scoring average to 17.8 points a game.

Starting freshman forward Sandra VanEmbricqs has missed the last eight games because of a strained knee, but senior Shari Biggs, who missed four games, saw limited action in the road games in Arizona.

Oregon nipped Oregon State last week, 65-63, and defeated Arizona, 83-63 last Monday. The Ducks are led by high-scoring Lauri Landerholm, who is averaging 19.6 points. Top scorer for the Beavers is Chelle Flamoe with a 17.8-point average.

On a four-game winning streak, the Pepperdine women’s basketball team (10-5 overall) will open West Coast Athletic Conference play at Santa Clara (5-6) on Friday night and play at the University of San Francisco (8-4) on Saturday night.

Last week the Waves downed Yale, 70-65, and Texas El Paso, 70-59, and Pepperdine Coach Ron Fortner said he likes the way his team has been playing. He looks for a close conference race.

Fortner has been getting double-figure scoring from junior center Earnesta Grace with a 12.5-point average and from junior forward Cindy Sanders, averaging 11. Grace has blocked 50 shots and is the top rebounder with an average of 7.3 a game, and sophomore guard Stephanie Meneze has a team-high of 5.5 assists a game.

Santa Clara is paced by junior forwards Dorinda Lindstrom, averaging 18.6 points and 8.5 rebounds, and Cindy Meckenstock, averaging 12.2 points and 5 rebounds. Senior forward Margaret Walsh is the Dons’ top scorer with an 18.8-point average.

The Loyola Marymount women’s basketball team, 3-11 at the start of the week, will play its last game before beginning West Coast Athletic Conference action when it takes on UCLA at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Pauley Pavilion.

Last week the Lions lost to New Mexico, 66-39, and to Texas El Paso, 74-66. Sylvia Bauer continues to lead Loyola in scoring with an average of 15.5 points a game.

The No. 4 UCLA women’s swim team, which last week routed Chico State, 71-24, and Southern Methodist, 93-46, will compete in the Longhorn Invitational on Friday and Saturday at the University of Texas.

Against Chico State, freshman Catherine Capriles won the 200 butterfly in 2:09.89 and the 200 breaststroke in 2:32.58. Against SMU, freshman Missy Herndon was a triple winner in the 200 freestyle in 1:51.82, the 500 free in 4:55.11 and the 200 individual medley in 2:07.21.