SportsScope : Bruin Netters, Best in Country, Battle Tough Stanford and Cal

After extending its winning streak to 11 matches last week, the nationally top-ranked UCLA men’s tennis team will play host to No. 7 Stanford (8-2 overall and 2-0 in the Pacific 10 Conference) at 1:30 p.m. Friday and to No. 2 California (15-2, 1-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on campus.

The Bruins (19-1, 5-0) last week posted 6-0 victories over Arizona State and Arizona.

UCLA senior All-American Buff Farrow has a 5-0 record at the top singles spot since taking over for Brian Garrow at No. 1. Farrow is 13-1 overall. Garrow is 14-4 overall and 3-0 at No. 2.

The UCLA women’s tennis team, ranked third nationally, will play host to No. 6 California at 1 p.m. Saturday and to top-ranked Stanford at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.

Last week the Bruins (14-2 overall, 2-1 in the Pac-10) won three straight matches, defeating Harvard, Arizona State and Arizona, each by a 7-2 margin.

Bruin sophomore Jessica Emmons, ranked 12th nationally in singles, has won 15 of her last 16 matches to improve her record to 20-5.

The No. 12 Pepperdine women’s tennis team (14-7) will play at No. 9 USC at 1 p.m. today. The Trojans defeated the Waves, 5-4, earlier in Malibu.

Pepperdine ran its winning streak to seven matches last week, defeating Harvard and U.S. International, each by 6-1. All-Americans Ginger Helgeson and Janna Kovacevich lead the Waves. Helgeson, ranked 20th nationally, is 17-4, and 25th-ranked Kovacevich is 18-2.

The No. 14 Pepperdine men’s tennis team will play at No. 4 UC Irvine at 1:30 p.m. today. The Anteaters have defeated the Waves by 5-4 and 5-2 scores.

Last week Pepperdine (12-7) won two of three matches in the Blue-Gray Tournament at Montgomery, Ala. The Waves defeated Trinity, 4-3; lost to Mississippi, 4-3, and routed Michigan, 6-1, to finish in fifth place.

The Santa Monica College women’s tennis team (8-3 overall, 6-3 in the Western State Conference at the start of the week) will play at Bakersfield at 2 p.m. today and at conference leader Cuesta at 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Last week the Corsairs lost to Pierce, 6-3, but defeated Santa Barbara City, 8-1.

The Santa Monica College men’s tennis team (3-6 in the Western State Conference and overall as the week began) will play at Bakersfield at 1 p.m. today.

Last week the Corsairs lost to Pierce, Santa Barbara City and Cuesta.

The nationally top-ranked UCLA men’s volleyball team (21-3 overall and 13-1 in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn.) will break a 17-day layoff this weekend in the Clash of the Titans tournament at UC Santa Barbara.

The Bruins will open Friday against USC and play Santa Barbara on Saturday. The Trojans and Gauchos have defeated UCLA.

UCLA will play at Cal State Northridge at 7:30 p.m. Monday and play host to Cal State Long Beach at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Pauley Pavilion.

Bruin All-American Trevor Schirman leads the nation with a .447 hitting average and is fifth in the country in blocks with a 1.74 average. Teammate Mike Whitcomb is seventh in blocking average at 1.72.

The No. 6 Pepperdine men’s volleyball team (16-10, 8-8 in the WIVA as the week started) will be at San Diego State at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Last week the Waves ran their winning streak to eight matches with a victory over Cal State Northridge but lost two matches to Hawaii before defeating UC Santa Barbara.

The Santa Monica College men’s volleyball team will play at Westmont at 7 p.m. Friday.

About 24 teams from the Western Collegiate Cycling Conference will compete from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday in UCLA’s annual bicycle races at the Veterans Administration in West Los Angeles. The top men’s race begins at 3.

Pepperdine’s baseball team (21-12-1 overall, 6-2 and in first place in the West Coast Athletic Conference) will play host to St. Mary’s (13-21, 2-5) in a four-game series that begins with a single game at 2:30 p.m. Friday at Eddy D. Field Stadium.

There will be a noon double-header on Saturday and a single game at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Last week the Waves, who have won 17 of their last 24 games, swept a four-game series from the University of San Diego.

Senior second baseman Matt Howard leads Pepperdine with a .370 batting average. He is followed by Rick Hirtensteiner at .362, Scott Shockey at .344 and Richard Barnwell at .342. Outfielder Hirtensteiner has also shone as a relief pitcher; in seven appearances he is 2-0 with two saves and an earned-run average of 0.75.

The No. 3 UCLA women’s softball team (23-2, 9-1 in the Pac-10) will play a double-header at 1 p.m. Wednesday at No. 7 Cal Poly Pomona.

Last week the Bruins swept double-headers against St. Mary’s, No. 11 Cal and Oregon State but split two with No. 4 Oregon.

UCLA freshman outfielder Yvonne Gutierrez had seven hits in 13 at-bats against St. Mary’s and the Bears, raising her average to .324 from .273.

The Santa Monica College baseball team (12-17 overall, 3-6 in the WSC as the week began) will play host to Bakersfield at 1 p.m. Saturday at Marine Park.

Last week the Corsairs lost to Oxnard, 11-9, in 14 innings. SMC hitting leaders are Chico Garcia with a .375 average and Chad Cohen at .364.

The Santa Monica College women’s softball team will play at Pierce at 3:30 p.m. Friday.

Santa Monica College’s men’s and women’s swim teams (each 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the WSC) will play host to Valley at 2:30 p.m. Friday.

Last week the teams defeated Canyons, the women by 64-50 and the men by 50-48.

Against Canyons, Cecilia Henricksen broke her school record by winning the 200-yard individual medley in 2:16.98, Andrea Bardin did the same by winning the 200 freestyle in 1:59.07, and Karry O’Mahoney was a triple winner in 50 and 100 backstrokes and the 50 freestyle.