SportsScope : NCAA Champion Bruin Spikers Seeded Third in Tourney

The UCLA men’s volleyball team (28-9 overall), defending NCAA champion, is seeded third and Pepperdine (14-12), fourth in the Western Selection Tournament, a preliminary to the NCAA championships, which begins tonight and ends Saturday night at UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center.

In tonight’s matches, the Bruins will face second-seeded UC Santa Barbara (25-10) at 6 p.m., and the Waves will meet top-seeded Hawaii (24-4) at 8 p.m. Winners will meet at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Reserved seats are $6 and general admission is $3. Call (714)-856-5000.

The NCAA finals will be held May 6-7 in Fort Wayne, Ind.

UCLA sophomore Brian Garrow, was the surprise winner of the Pacific 10 Conference Southern Division singles tennis championship, part of last weekend’s Ojai Tournament. In team play, the Bruins tied for first with USC, each with 12 points.

Garrow, not ranked in the top 100 in collegiate singles, defeated 25th-ranked Bruin teammate Buff Farrow in the semifinals and then defeated Stanford’s Jeff Tarango, 6-2, 6-3, for the championship.

In dual-match play, the No. 9 Bruins are tied for second with No. 3 USC in the conference, each at 6-3, and will attempt to clinch second place when they face the Trojans at 1 p.m. Saturday at USC’s Marks Stadium. Stanford (9-0) has already won the championship. UCLA will play host to UC Irvine at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on campus.

Ranked third nationally, the UCLA women’s tennis team (18-4 overall and 6-3 in the Pac-10) will host No. 4 USC (16-4, 6-3) at 4 p.m. Friday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on campus.

The Bruins finished second with 10 points at last week’s Pac-10 Southern Division championships at the Ojai Tournament. No. 2 Stanford won with 15 points.

In individual competition, UCLA freshman Stella Sampras finished second in singles. She defeated Stanford’s Kay Tittle, 6-0, 6-1, in the semifinals but lost the final to Stanford’s Lisa Green, 6-3, 6-4.

A winner of its 16th consecutive West Coast Athletic Conference title, the No. 4 Pepperdine’s men’s tennis team (20-4 as the week began) will be on the road Tuesday at San Jose State and Wednesday at California.

Last week the Waves scored 99 points to 66 for the runner-up University of San Diego to win the WCAC crown at Pepperdine. In individual play, Pepperdine’s Robbie Weiss defeated teammate Craig Johnson, 6-1, 7-6, for the singles title, and the USD team of David Stewart-Scott Patridge won the doubles crown, defeating Pepperdine’s Johnson-Kevin O’Neill, 6-4, 6-3. Weiss, 21-1 in dual matches, is ranked first nationally in singles and teammate Andrew Sznadjer is No. 3.

Pepperdine’s women also won the WCAC crown, defeating runner-up USD, 62-44, at Santa Clara. The individual finals, delayed by rain, will be an all-Pepperdine competition played either today or Friday at Pepperdine. In singles, No. 9 Ginger Helgeson will meet No. 21 Janna Kovacevich. In doubles, it will be Helgeson-Carrie Crisell against Kovacevich-Anna Brunstrom.

The No. 17 Waves (21-3) are hoping for an invitation to the NCAA finals, May 11-19 at UCLA.

On a nine-game winning streak, the No. 1 UCLA women’s softball team (42-5 overall and 12-2 in the Pac-10) will play double headers Saturday at Oregon State, (12-31, 2-14) and Sunday at Oregon (29-23, 8-8).

Last week Lisa Longaker pitched and won four games, running her winning streak to 21, as the Bruins swept double-headers from Arizona State and Arizona. She had three shutouts, giving her 18 for the season. She is 23-1 with an earned run average of 0.16.

Bruin batting leaders are freshman outfielder Lorraine Maynez, hitting .341 with 50 hits and five triples, and junior third baseman Janice Parks, also with a .341 average as well as 8 doubles, 6 home runs and 36 runs batted in.

Pepperdine’s baseball team, chasing first-place Loyola Marymount in the WCAC, will play four games this weekend at the University of San Francisco. The Waves (28-19-1 overall and 13-2-1 in the WCAC) will play the Dons (3-13, 14-27) in a single game Friday, a Saturday double-header and a single game Sunday.

Loyola (42-11, 15-1) will play four this weekend at Santa Clara (32-14, 11-3-1).

Freshman designated hitter Jalal Leach tops the Waves with a .327 batting average and Pepperdine junior first baseman Scott Shockey is hitting .325 with 8 home runs and 48 RBI.

UCLA’s women’s track team (8-0) in dual meets will face USC at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Coliseum. Bruin Gail Devers is entered in the 100 and 200-meter runs, the 100 hurdles, the long jump and will also run with the 400 and 1,600 relay teams.

The UCLA women’s crew will play host for the annual Miller Cup races starting at 8 a.m. Saturday on Ballona Creek in Marina del Rey. Other teams are USC, Loyola Marymount, UC Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, San Diego State and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The finals are at 3 p.m.