SPORTSCOPE : Bruin and Pepperdine Women Clash in Playoffs

The UCLA women’s volleyball team (27-2), top-ranked nationally, will play host to Pepperdine (20-9) in the first round of the NCAA playoffs at 7:30 p.m. Friday at John Wooden Center.

The Bruins won the Pacific Coast Conference championship with an 18-0 record. Pepperdine won the West Coast Conference title at 14-0.

Last week UCLA split two matches in the University of the Pacific/Wendy’s tournament, defeating No. 7 Illinois in four games and losing to No. 3 Pacific in five. Bruins named to the all-tournament team were senior middle blocker Daiva Tomkus, junior outside hitter Samantha Shaver and sophomore outside hitter Jenny Evans.

The Waves ended the regular season by losing to San Diego State in five games. Senior outside hitter Tami Seidenberg had 33 kills and sophomore outside hitter Cari Delson 24.

UCLA Coach Andy Banachowski said, “It’s good that we play an opponent outside the conference in the first round. Pepperdine runs a 6-2 offense, which we haven’t seen all year. Pepperdine is a solid team and will match up against us well.”

Pepperdine Coach Nina Matthies said her team “will have to play our best match of the year in order to beat UCLA . . . which has depth, experience and talent. They are one of the top contenders for the NCAA championship.

“We are looking to the challenge. It seems like we always play our best against top-ranked opposition.”

Seidenberg was named WCC player of the year and Pepperdine middle blocker Debbie Merandi was selected freshman of the year by a vote of conference coaches.

All-conference first-team selections included Pepperdine sophomore outside hitter Carolyn Hueth and Loyola Marymount junior outside hitter Kerry House. Second-team selections included Delson, Merandi and teammate Laura Fort, a senior setter.

The WCC all-freshman team included Pepperdine middle blocker Elaine Caraher and Loyola outside hitter Raquel Glenn.

The 42nd annual Western Hemisphere Marathon, second in age only to the Boston Marathon in the United States, will start at 8 a.m. Sunday at Culver Boulevard and Overland Avenue in Culver City.

The race has been the site of marathon trials for the U.S. Olympic team and Amateur Athletic Union national championships. In 1964, Peter McArdle and Billy Mills finished one-two in the Culver marathon, and Mills won the gold medal in the 10,000-meter run at the Tokyo Olympiad.

The 1971 Culver marathon was the first sanctioned by the AAU to allow women to compete with men. Three women’s world records were set in it: by Patricia Bridges in 1971, Miki Gorman in 1973 and Jacqueline Hansen in 1974.

Call (213) 202-5689.

The UCLA women’s basketball team (2-0) will compete Friday and Saturday in the University of Utah Tournament at Salt Lake City. UCLA will open against Texas A & M (2-0), and Utah (1-1) will face Iowa State (1-0). The consolation and championship games will be played Saturday.

The Bruins opened the season with a 73-70 victory over Eastern Illinois and then defeated West Virginia, 68-57. In the two games, UCLA senior forward Michele Wootton scored 27 points and had 11 rebounds, eight assists and five steals. Against Eastern Illinois, sophomore center Molly Tideback had 23 points, six rebounds and three steals.

The Pepperdine women’s basketball team (2-0 as the week began) will play Friday night at Colorado State (2-0) and Saturday evening at Wyoming (2-0).

Last week the Waves opened the season by defeating Air Force, 74-61, and Chapman, 56-51, winning the Chapman Doubletree tournament. Forward Shannon Frowiss led Pepperdine with 44 points and 23 rebounds in the tournament. Teammates Kristy Greenberg and Sherri Murrell also excelled; Greenberg had 23 points, 14 rebounds and six assists, and Murrell had 21 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists.

The Santa Monica College men’s basketball team (4-2 at the start of the week) is competing in the Antelope Valley College Tournament through Saturday.

Other teams in SMC’s bracket are Los Angeles Trade Tech, College of the Canyons, Barstow, Antelope Valley, Palomar, Porterville and Bakersfield. Teams in the other bracket include Los Angeles City, Riverside, Los Angeles Harbor and Glendale.

Last week the Corsairs defeated Trade Tech, 85-60, and lost to Los Angeles City, 88-86. Against Trade Tech, freshman forward Cornelius Banks led SMC with 17 points and eight rebounds, and sophomore forward Mark Moton added 14 points. Against LACC, freshman guard Donald Smith had 19 points, Moton had 16 points and 11 rebounds and Banks had 11 points and 13 rebounds.

The Santa Monica College women’s basketball team (2-0 as the week began) will play host to Howard College of Texas at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

The Corsairs opened the season on the road by defeating Compton, 72-51, and Antelope Valley, 65-46. In the two games, sophomore forward Jackie Nikzad scored 45 points and had 21 rebounds, and freshman guard CoCo Jones scored 34 points.

UCLA and Pepperdine women swimmers will compete Friday and Saturday in the Grand Prix Invitational at Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach.

Pepperdine’s water polo team completed its season with a 24-8 record and ranked fourth nationally after finishing fourth last week at the NCAA tournament. UC Irvine defeated California, 9-8, for the national championship.

Pepperdine opened the tournament with a 13-8 victory over Cal State Long Beach; lost to Cal, 10-9, and lost the third-place game to Stanford, 7-5.

Top scorers for the Waves this season were Geoffrey Clark with 90 goals, Sasa Poljak with 77 and Rafael Gandarillas with 54. Clark and Poljak were named to the All-NCAA tournament team.

The UCLA women’s golf team tied for eighth place with 944 at the Pioneer Electronics/Bruin Desert tournament last week. Oklahoma State won with 897. UCLA senior Jean Zedlitz shot 230 to tie for 14th among individuals.

Santa Monica College freshman quarterback Jeff Barrett was named Western State Conference Offensive Player of the week and Corsair sophomore linebacker Randy Cole was selected as Defensive Player for their play in the team’s final game, a 44-13 defeat of West Los Angeles.

Barrett completed 13 of 19 passes for 168 yards and three touchdowns. Cole had five unassisted tackles and 18 assists and intercepted two passes.

The Marymount High girls cross-country team finished fourth in Division III with 156 points at the state championships in Fresno. Altavista’s Bret Harte was division champion with 73 points.

Marymount senior Jill Stern finished 19th in 20.40. Other Marymount runners were seniors Laura Borgia, Candice Drosdick, Jennifer Rice, Kristin Schlater and Kristin VonTeuber, junior Karen Kneafsey and sophomores Darcy Bushnell and Ashley Cusato.