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SportsScope : Bruin Men, Women Gymnasts to Open Home Season With Double Dual Meet

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The UCLA men’s and women’s gymnastics teams will begin their home schedules with a double dual meet at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the John Wooden Center. The men, defending NCAA champions, will meet UC Santa Barbara. The women, third nationally last year, will face Arizona.

Coach Art Shurlock’s Bruin men, 22-2 last year, have a strong group of returning All-Americans, including seniors Tony Pineda, a 1984 Olympic performer for Mexico; defending NCAA high bar champion David Moriel, and juniors Curtis Holdsworth, regarded as the team’s best bet to make the 1988 U.S. Olympic team, and Michael Chaplin, one of the nation’s best performers on the rings.

Coach Jerry Tomlinson’s Bruin women also have a bunch of All-Americans. Top UCLA women performers include junior Tanya Service, excellent in the all-around, and sophomores Jill Andrews, strong in the vault, and Kim Hamilton, last year’s record-setting NCAA floor exercise champion.

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The Pepperdine men’s volleyball team, which won NCAA championships in 1985 and 1986, will host an alumni team at 3 p.m. Sunday at Firestone Fieldhouse. The Waves will open the regular season at home when they meet UC Irvine in a non-conference match at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday .

Rod Wilde, third-year head coach of the Waves, will be missing three All-Americans from last year’s lineup: Matt Rigg, Rob Scott and Troy Tanner. But Wilde has three starters returning: Doug Rigg, Matt’s brother; Randy Bergstedt, and Rob Keller.

Seven freshmen are on the Waves’ 15-man roster. Key newcomers include setters Dijon Douphner and George Thompson and middle blockers Geoff Hart and Mark Root. Last year Pepperdine advanced to the NCAA Western Selection Tournament, but was eliminated in a five-game championship match by USC.

The UCLA women’s basketball team (6-5) will try to extend its three-game winning streak when it opens its Pacific 10 Conference schedule at home this week. The Bruins will host Oregon State (5-5) at 5:15 this evening and Oregon State at 7 p.m Friday at Pauley Pavilion.

UCLA will play host to Pepperdine, 5-5 at the start of the week, at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Waves snapped a two-game losing streak with an 88-69 victory over visiting Columbia last Monday.

Oregon State is led by guard Chelle Flamoe, leading all Pac-10 scorers with an average of 21.4 points a game. Stefanie Kasperski, a 6-7 sophomore, averaging 15.5 points a game, paces Oregon.

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Bruin senior Dora Dome continues to top the team in scoring with an average of 19.5 points a game. She is tied for the team lead in rebounding with a 7.3 average.

Pepperdine, led by senior Earnesta Grace, will play New Mexico State at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Firestone Fieldhouse. Grace is averaging 11.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.3 blocks and 3.8 steals a game.

UCLA men’s and women’s tennis teams will be well represented in the Palm Springs Intercollegiate Championships, Friday through Sunday at the Mountain Shadow Resort and Racquet Club. Players from tennis powers USC, Pepperdine, Clemson, Louisiana State and Southern Methodist are also expected to compete.

In singles, the UCLA men will be Buff Farrow, Patrick Galbraith, Brian Garrow and Jason Netter, and in doubles the teams will be Galbraith-Garrow and Farrow-Robert Bierens. Bruin women in singles will be Allyson Cooper, Joni Urban, Stella Sampras and Jessica Emmons.

Pepperdine’s Robbie Weiss and Andrew Sznaidjer met last Sunday in the finals of the Florida Citrus Bowl tournament, and Weiss was the winner, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

The Pepperdine men’s team is ranked third in the nation and the UCLA men, sixth, in the preseason poll of the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Assn.

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The Pepperdine women’s swim team, 3-1 after a come-from-behind, 127-120 win over Oregon State last week, will meet Maine at 3:30 p.m. today at Raleigh Runnels Pool.

Against Oregon State, double winners for the Waves, who trailed 58-42 after six events, were freshman Jeryll Reed in the 100- (1:04.88) and 200-meter (2:20.73) backstroke events, junior Chris Carrauthers in the 50 (25.33) and 100 (55.81) freestyles and junior Bridget Kenehan, who remained undefeated in diving this season.

Sasa Poljak of Pepperdine and UCLA’s Fernando Carsalade and Alexis Rousseau were named first-team All-Americans by the U.S. Water Polo Coaches Assn. Pepperdine’s Aaron Chasen and Rafael Gandarillas received honorable mention.

The Pepperdine baseball team, 48-12 last year and with 17 lettermen returning, was ranked seventh in the nation in the preseason poll of the publication, Collegiate Baseball.

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