SportsScope : Nationally Rated Bruin, Wave Spikers Open Season in Santa Barbara Tourney

Nationally third-ranked UCLA and No. 6 Pepperdine will open the volleyball season in the UC Santa Barbara Collegiate Tournament on Friday through Saturday night.

Ten UCLA lettermen, including All-American starters Trevor Schirman, a junior middle blocker, and Matt Sonnichsen, a senior setter, return for Coach Al Scates. Scates begins his 26th year coaching the Bruins with a 701-101 record that includes 12 national titles in 19 years of NCAA-sanctioned play.

Marv Dunphy returns for his seventh season as Pepperdine coach after a leave to coach the U.S. national team, which won a gold medal in the 1988 Olympics. Dunphy’s record with the Waves is 117-32 and includes two NCAA championships.

Dunphy has nine lettermen, including outside hitters Randy Bergstedt, a senior, and Geoff Hart, a sophomore, and middle blockers Brian Merrick, a sophomore, and Robert Keller. Hart was a second-team selection on the All-Western Intercollegiate Volleyball team last year, and Bergstedt was named to the third team.

UCLA, 28-10 last year, will play host to an alumni team at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Pauley Pavilion. Alumni players include four who played for Dunphy on the U.S. team at Seoul: Karch Kiraly, Dave Saunders, Ricci Luyties and Doug Partie. Others are former All-Americans Don Dendinger, Jeff Williams, Sinjin Smith and Wally Goodrick.

Pepperdine, 14-13 last year, will play at UC San Diego at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

The Pepperdine women’s basketball team (5-8 as the week began) will open West Coast Athletic Coast Conference play with games on Friday night at Santa Clara (4-10) and on Saturday night at the University of San Francisco (4-8).

The Waves are led by junior guard Dionne Burgess, who is averaging 14.8 points a game; senior forward April Marion, 13.5 points and 8.7 rebounds, and freshman center Susan Tousey, 13.2 points and 6.2 rebounds.

The UCLA women’s basketball team (4-7 overall and 1-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference at the start of the week) will play USC at 5:45 tonight at the Sports Arena.

Last week the Bruins defeated California, 72-57, and lost to Stanford, 73-71. Junior forward Sandra VanEmbricqs came off the bench in the second half to score 19 points against Cal. Against Stanford, freshman center Molly Tideback led the Bruins with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

UCLA’s fourth-ranked men’s swim team (4-0 in dual meets) will begin Pac-10 competition when it plays host to No. 9 Arizona State at 2 p.m. Friday and to Arizona at 2 p.m. Saturday at the men’s gymnasium.

At home last week, the Bruins won 9 of 13 events and defeated Texas, the defending NCAA champion, 71-42. UCLA was led by three performers who competed in the Seoul Olympics: Craig Oppel, Rodrigo Gonzalez and Mark Dean.

Oppel, who swam on the U.S. 800-meter freestyle relay team that won a gold medal, won the 100 freestyle against the Longhorns in 45.67. Gonzalez, who represented Mexico in the Olympics, won the 200 free in 1:39.38. Dean won the 200 butterfly in 1:48.38.

Arizona State (2-0) is led by Olympians Ross Anderson of New Zealand, Paul Howe of Great Britain and David LeBlanc of France.

The UCLA women’s swim team, 5-0 in dual meets after last week’s 81-41 victory over Colorado State, will open Pac-10 competition when it entertains Arizona State at noon Friday and Arizona at noon Saturday at the men’s gym.

Against Colorado State, sophomore Sheri Smith, senior Jenny Susser and senior Monica Ward were double winners for the Bruins. Smith won the 200-meter freestyle in 1:53.13 and the 1,000 free in 10:18.11, Susser the 50 free in 23.69 and the 100 free in 52.02 and Ward the 200 butterfly in 2:07.82 and 500 free in 5:06.93.

The UCLA women’s gymnastics team will open its season by playing host to Minnesota (1-0) and UC Santa Barbara (1-0) in a triangular at 7:30 p.m. Friday at John Wooden Center.

The Bruins, who finished third at last year’s NCAA meet, have 12 gymnasts returning, including six All-Americans.

Angela Rolfe of Dorsey High School, Keir Scott of Hamilton High, Danny Jordan of Westchester High and the Westchester boys 8-by-160-yard relay team are among Westside entrants in the high school section of the Sunkist Invitational indoor track meet, which starts at 4:30 p.m. Jan. 20 at the Sports Arena.

Rolfe will compete in the girls 500-yard run, Scott in the boys 880 and Jordan in the boys mile.

In last Thursday’s edition, Rolfe was incorrectly identified as having finished fourth in the 400-meter run at last year’s state meet, according to information provided by Sunkist meet promoters. Rolfe was the state champion last year in the 400 and finished fourth in that event at the 1987 state meet, promoters said.

The UCLA doubles team of Pat Galbraith and Brian Garrow won its second straight preseason tennis title in the Palm Springs Invitational last weekend, and UCLA freshman Bill Behrens lost in the singles final to USC’s Greg Fallia, 7-5, 6-4.

Galbraith and Garrow, defending NCAA champions and ranked first nationally, defeated Kentucky’s Ian Skidmore and John Yancey, 6-1, 6-1. In October, the pair won the Volvo Collegiate Championship doubles title at UCLA’s Los Angeles Tennis Center.

Top-ranked UCLA, which has five All-Americans, will begin dual-match play when it plays host to San Diego State at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 20 at the Tennis Center.

The No. 12 Pepperdine men’s tennis team has lost its top three players from last year: NCAA singles champion Robby Weiss, Andrew Sznajder and Craig Johnson. Weiss and Johnson completed their eligibility, while Sznajder turned professional after two seasons.

Returning for the Waves are veterans Grant Saacks of South Africa, a senior, and juniors David Wells-Roth and Kevin O’Neill. In November, Saacks won the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Assn. District 8 singles title at UC Irvine.

Pepperdine newcomers include junior Tomer Zimmerman of Israel and freshmen Marc LeClair of Canada, Christophe Van de Weghe of Belgium and Louis Addesso, a highly ranked U.S. junior player.

The Waves will begin dual-match play by entertaining UC Irvine at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 31.