SportsScope : Champion Bruin Women Spikers Will Begin Conference Schedule on Friday

The UCLA women’s volleyball team, defending Pacific 10 Conference champion and ranked third nationally, will begin its conference schedule when it plays host to No. 12 Arizona (7-1, 2-0 in the Pac-10) at 7 p.m. Friday and to Arizona State (7-4, 2-0) at 7 p.m. Saturday at the John Wooden Center.

The Bruins (5-1 overall) are coming off a victory in last week’s Chicago Sportmart tournament. UCLA defeated No. 17 Penn State in four games and No. 5 Illinois in five.

Senior middle blocker Daiva Tomkus was named the tournament’s most valuable player, and sophomore middle blocker Elaine Youngs was selected on the all-tourney team. In the two matches, Tomkus had 32 kills, 13 blocks, 18 digs and four service aces, and Youngs had 32 kills, 27 digs, four blocks and five aces. Freshman middle blocker Natalie Williams had 34 kills and nine blocks.

The Pepperdine women’s volleyball team (4-5 as the week began) will play host to Cal State Fullerton at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Last week the Waves finished second in the Colorado-Coors Invitational, defeating Indiana and South Carolina but losing the championship match to Colorado in four games.

Senior outside hitter Tami Seidenberg and sophomore setter Caolyn Hueth were named to the all-tournament team. Seidenberg leads the Waves in kills with 129, Delson has 114 kills and a team-high hitting percentage of .345, and freshman middle blocker Debbie Merandi tops the team with 28 blocks.

The Santa Monica College women’s volleyball team, two-time defending Western State Conference champion, will play host to Moorpark in a conference match at 7 tonight at Corsair Gymnasium. SMC will compete Saturday in the Rancho Santiago College Tournament in Santa Ana.

The Corsairs opened the season with non-conference losses to El Camino in three games and Citrus in five, but they bounced back to win their WSC opener last week, defeating Glendale in three games.

Setter-outside hitter Brigette McDonald and outside hitter Stephanie Tarvyd are returning SMC starters, and reserve defensive specialist Diane Renner is also back. Freshmen include Julie Foster and Tanja Elliot, both of Palisades High School; Heather Perini, and Michelle Bunting, both of Santa Monica High; Stacy Pierce of Venice High; Hollis Gans of Yosemite High; Ann-Marie Mandic of St. Monica High, and Marvette Williams and Cheryl Howard, both of Westchester High.

The No. 4 UCLA men’s soccer team, 6-0 after shutting out St. Mary’s, 3-0, last week, will play Saturday at the University of New Mexico (3-3) in Albuquerque.

Senior goalkeeper Anton Nistl posted his fourth straight shutout of the season, tying the school record of 30 shutouts by Tim Harris. Nistl has a goals against average of 0.18.

Sophomore midfielder Cobi Jones had a goal and an assist against St. Mary’s and has now figured in the scoring in all of the Bruins’ games. He leads UCLA with 13 points on four goals and five assists.

The Santa Monica College football team, ranked 11th in the state, will play host to Los Angeles Harbor in a Western State Conference opener at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Corsair Field.

SMC had a bye last week after opening the season with a 33-3 rout of Chaffey. In its season opener, Harbor trounced Victor Valley, 27-6.

Harbor is led by running backs Bill Harris and Cameron Pitcher, quarterback Glen Bonham and wide receiver Cedric Jenkins. Harris returned a kickoff 101 yards for an apparent touchdown against Victor Valley, but it was nullified by a penalty. The Seahawks are coached by Don Weems, former SMC defensive coordinator, who came to Harbor last summer from the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

Corsair linebacker Adonias Lucero was named the WSC defensive player of the week after his performance against Glendale. He was in on 22 tackles, recovered a fumble and broke up a pass play.

SMC offensive tackle Eduardo Vega was named a preseason All-American by the J.C. Grid-Wire, and the wire service called Corsair linebacker Randy Cole a player to watch.

The Pepperdine water polo team, 6-2 after finishing fifth in the UC Irvine Tournament, will compete this weekend in the Air Force Tournament at Colorado Springs. The Waves will play UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara on Saturday and West Point and Air Force on Sunday.

The Waves, ranked fifth nationally, were 4-2 at the Irvine tournament. They defeated UC San Diego, Cal State Long Beach and UC Davis and upset Stanford, which entered the tournament as the nation’s top-ranked team. Pepperdine lost to California and USC. Cal defeated Irvine in the title game, and USC took third by defeating UCLA.

Senior Sasa Poljak had 15 goals in the six matches, and sophomore Geoffrey Clark added 14. Sophomore goalkeeper Wells Guthrie had a season-high 15 saves against Stanford.

The UCLA women’s cross country team, led by freshman Kira Jorgensen, will compete Saturday in San Diego State’s Aztec Invitational. Jorgensen, of Vista, won her first collegiate race two weeks ago, posting a time of 18:23 at the Cal State Fullerton Invitational.

The Santa Monica College men’s and women’s cross country teams will run in a Western State Conference meet on Friday at Santa Barbara City College. The women will start at 2 p.m. and the men at 2:45.