UCLA Women Face Rugged Gym Tourney

The UCLA women’s gymnastics team, ranked fourth nationally, will compete Saturday at the NCAA West Regionals at Cal State Fullerton.

In the two-session competition, the Bruins will perform at 7:30 p.m. in a field that includes No. 6 Fullerton, No. 7 Oregon State and No. 14 Washington. The 4 p.m. session is for individuals and teams from California, Boise State and Stanford.

UCLA is led by senior Tanya Service, the Pacific 10 Conference gymnast of the year, and juniors Kim Hamilton, two-time defending NCAA floor exercise champion; Jill Andrews, last year’s NCAA vault champion, and Shawn McGinnis, who has surpassed personal records in five of UCLA’s nine meets this season.

The No. 2 UCLA men’s gymnastics team edged Stanford, 282.05 to 281, last week at Berkeley to win its seventh Pac-10 title in nine years.

The Bruins were led by David St. Pierre, who finished second in the all-around competition with a 111.3. He won the pommel horse and tied for first in floor exercise and vault. UCLA freshman Scott Keswich was third in the all-around at 109.75.

Other scorers for UCLA included Michael Chaplin, who won the rings, and Curtis Holdsworth, who tied for second in the pommel horse.

The Bruins will compete next in the NCAA championships April 13-15 at Lincoln, Neb.

The UCLA women’s softball team (18-1 overall, 6-0 in Pac-10 play) will play host to No. 4 Oregon (25-7, 4-0) in a double-header at 1 p.m. today at the Sunset Canyon diamond. UCLA is ranked second in the country.

The Bruins will play road double-headers Saturday at St. Mary’s and Sunday at No. 14 California.

UCLA swept a double-header from Oregon State this week. Freshman Tiffany Boyd won her seventh game and posted her sixth shutout in a 6-0 defeat of the Beavers, and junior Losa Longaker won her eighth by blanking Oregon State, 3-0.

The No. 2 UCLA men’s tennis team (16-1 overall, 3-1 in the Pac-10) will be on the road Friday against Arizona State (10-8, 1-4) and Saturday against No. 13 Arizona (15-7, 1-5). Arizona upset No. 1 Berkeley last week.

Bruin junior Brian Garrow, who is 11-1 in singles, has taken over the top singles spot from All-American Buff Farrow, who lost four of six matches at No. 1.

The No. 3 UCLA women’s tennis team (11-2, 0-1 in the Pac-10 as the week began) will play host to No. 10 Arizona State (12-8, 1-6) at noon Saturday and to No. 15 Arizona (7-7, 0-6) at noon Sunday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on campus.

UCLA’s Jessica Emmons is ranked 12th nationally in singles and teammate Alysia May is rated 18th.

The Pepperdine women’s tennis team (12-7), ranked 12th nationally, will play host to Harvard at 1:30 p.m. today and to U.S. International at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

Last week the Waves defeated Loyola Marymount, 8-1, and Pacific, 7-2. In singles, Pepperdine’s Ginger Helgeson is ranked 20th in the nation and teammate Janna Kovacevich, 25th.

The No. 14 Pepperdine men’s tennis team (10-6) will compete in this weekend’s Blue-Gray Tournament at Montgomery, Ala. The Waves open today against Trinity.

Five of the nation’s top 12 teams are in the tournament, including Kentucky and South Carolina, tied for sixth.

Last week the Waves lost to Kentucky, 5-1, but defeated Trinity, 5-4, and Texas Tech, 8-0.

The UCLA men’s track team, which has won 40 straight dual meets over three years, will open Pac-10 competition Saturday at Berkeley.

In their last meet on March 18, the Bruins won a triangular with 111 points to 38 for Iowa and 27 for Kansas State. UCLA’s Mike Marsh won the 400 meters in a personal-best 46.75 and anchored the first-place 400-meter relay team (40.01, a season best) and the winning 1,600 relay team, which a set a meet record of 3:11.19.

The UCLA women’s track team will compete Saturday in the West Coast Relays at Fresno State.

Bruins who have qualified for the Pac-10 meet in two or more events include middle-distance runner-hurdler Janeene Vickers, sprinter-long jumper Tonya Sedwick, shot-putters-discus throwers Tracie Millett and Kris Larson, and distance runner Laura Chapel.

The Pepperdine baseball team (16-11-1 overall, 2-2 in the West Coast Athletic Conference at the start of the week) will play a four-game series this weekend at the University of San Diego (14-11, 1-2).

There will be a single game Friday, a Saturday double-header and a single game Sunday.

Second baseman Matt Howard leads the Waves with 43 hits, 31 runs batted in, 11 doubles, four triples, four home runs, 74 total bases, 15 stolen bases and a .661 slugging percentage.

A winner of its last eight matches, the No. 7 Pepperdine men’s volleyball team (15-8 overall, 7-6 in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn.) will play host to Hawaii at 7:30 tonight and to UC Santa Barbara at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Firestone Fieldhouse.

The Waves are coming off four-game victories over Cal State Northridge and Cal State Long Beach. Against the 49ers, Wave outside hitter Dijon Douphner sprained his left ankle and will be sidelined for at least two weeks.