SPORTSCOPE : UCLA/Times Gymnastics Contest Saturday

Illinois, defending NCAA champion in men’s gymnastics, and four other teams that finished in the top 10 at last year’s NCAA meet, will be featured in the annual UCLA/Los Angeles Times invitational at 7 p.m. Saturday at Pauley Pavilion.

Other teams include second-place Nebraska, No. 3 Minnesota, No. 4 UCLA, No. 8 Arizona State and New Mexico.

Illinois won the invitational last year, ending UCLA’s six-year reign as champion, and Nebraska finished second.

Top individuals include Patrick Kirksey of Nebraska, defending NCAA and UCLA invitational champion in the all-around; Minnesota’s Mark McKiernan, who won the pommel horse in the 1989 invitational, and UCLA’s Chris Waller, who tied for first in the pommel horse at last year’s NCAA’s.

The top-ranked UCLA men’s volleyball team (6-0 overall at the start of the week) will play this weekend in the George Mason University tournament at American University in Washington, D.C.

On Friday, the Bruins will open against Ball State, and George Mason will play Navy. Consolation and championship matches will be played Saturday.

Last week the Bruins raised their record in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. to 3-0 with three-game victories over UC Irvine and Loyola Marymount.

Against Irvine, senior Mike Garcia had 10 kills and Trevor Schirman added six blocks. Against Loyola, freshman Rich Bland had a career-high 16 kills, and Schirman had nine kills and eight blocks.

The No. 7 Pepperdine men’s volleyball team (4-1 overall, 2-1 in the WIVA as the week began) will play host to No. 8 UC Santa Barbara (5-2, 1-1) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Firestone Fieldhouse.

Last week the Waves lost in Malibu to Cal State Northridge in three games, but defeated Penn State twice on the road, each time in four games.

Against Northridge, junior outside hitter Geoff Hart had 22 kills, and freshman middle blocker Tom Sorenson had 15 kills. In the first match against Penn State, Brian Merrick had 17 kills and freshman outside hitter Duane Cameron 16. Sorenson had 20 kills in the second match against the Nittany Lions.

The baseball team at Pepperdine (1-2) will open West Coast Conference play with a three-game series at home this weekend with the University of San Francisco and play UCLA at 1 p.m. Sunday at Jackie Robinson Stadium in West Los Angeles.

The Waves will play host to USF at 2 p.m. Friday and in a double-header that starts at 11 a.m. Saturday at Eddy D. Field Stadium.

They opened the season last week with an 8-5 victory over Westmont but lost two games to top-ranked USC, 6-5 in 10 innings and 15-8.

Pepperdine freshman first baseman Dan Melendez hit a home run in his debut against Westmont and is batting a team-high .636. Senior catcher Mike Truschke is hitting .444, and senior third baseman Jim Doyle and junior right fielder Jalal Leach are each batting .385.

UCLA men’s tennis Coach Glenn Bassett became the first active coach in NCAA Division I ranks to reach 500 career victories last week when his No. 3 Bruins (7-0) defeated Washington, 5-2.

Bassett’s 24-year record of 500-76-2 represents not only the most wins among active Division I coaches, but his .865 winning percentage is also the best.

Three Bruins--junior Jason Netter and sophomores Bill Barber and Mark Quinney--are competing in the Rolex National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, which end Sunday in Minneapolis.

Four members of the No. 2 UCLA women’s tennis team (5-0) are competing at the indoor championships in Minneapolis: junior Jessica Emmons and freshman Kimberly Po in singles and doubles and sophomore Mamie Ceniza and junior Stella Sampras in doubles.

Last week the Bruins defeated Pepperdine, 8-1; UC Santa Barbara, 8-0, and the University of San Diego, 7-2.

Pepperdine tennis players Ginger Helgeson and Janna Kovacevich are competing in the indoor championships in Minneapolis.

The No. 5 Waves (2-1) will play host to No. 17 San Diego State at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday. Pepperdine lost to UCLA last week but defeated Loyola Marymount and UC Irvine.

The No. 16 Pepperdine men’s tennis team (2-1 as the week began) will play at No. 9 UC Irvine at 1 p.m. Tuesday. Last week the Waves shut out Cal State Hayward, 6-0.

Santa Monica College men’s basketball team (23-5 overall, 7-2 in the Western State Conference as the week began) will play host to Glendale (17-10, 5-4) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Corsair Gymnasium.

Last week SMC, ranked sixth in the state by the JC Athletic Bureau, lost to Ventura, 73-66, and defeated Santa Barbara City, 83-65.

Against Ventura, Mark Moton scored 17 points, Cornelius Banks had 13, and Donald Smith and Chris Cook each had 10. Against Santa Barbara, Banks had 26 points, Moton 20 on nine-of-11 shooting, Smith 16, and Chico Langston had nine assists and five steals.

The UCLA women’s basketball team (11-8 overall, 6-3 in the Pacific 10 Conference) will entertain Arizona (9-11, 2-7) at 7 p.m. Friday at Pauley Pavilion and Arizona State (11-8, 3-6) at 2 p.m. Sunday at the John Wooden Center.

UCLA’s Rehema Stephens scored 21 points as the Bruins lost to No. 7 Washington, 76-63. In an 84-74 victory over Washington State, Sandra VanEmbricqs scored a season-high 23 points and Michele Wootton a season-high 16.

VanEmbricqs has scored 1,020 points in her career and is in 11th place in UCLA scoring, 68 points behind Jaime Brown.

The Pepperdine women’s basketball team (12-10 overall, 3-5 in the West Coast Conference) will play host to St. Mary’s (15-6, 6-1) at 7:30 p.m. Friday and to the University of San Francisco (15-5, 6-1) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Firestone Fieldhouse.

Last week the Waves lost to USF, 80-65, and to St. Mary’s, 94-71. Pepperdine sophomore forward Shannon Frowiss scored a career-high 30 points against USF and 29 against St. Mary’s. In conference play, Frowiss is averaging 23.5 points and 8.1 rebounds a game.

The Santa Monica College women’s basketball team (20-5 overall, 7-2 in the Western State Conference at the start of the week) will play host to Glendale at 5 p.m. Saturday at Corsair Gymnasium.

Last week the Corsairs won over Ventura, 82-68, and Santa Barbara City, 75-62. SMC played without leading scorer Jacki Nikzad, who injured her knee in practice last week.

Against Ventura, Judy Nakashima broke her own school record with eight three-point shots for 24 points, and Illana Mazingo had 23 points, 13 rebounds and seven steals.

In the Santa Barbara game, CoCo Jones scored a game-high 21 points, and Nakashima added 17 points.

The UCLA women’s softball team (1-1) will compete this weekend in the first Big West Conference/Pac-10 tournament at Cal State Fullerton.

The Bruins will play Fullerton at 1 p.m. Saturday and Fresno State at 3. On Sunday, UCLA will meet Fresno State at 11 a.m. and Fullerton at 3. Arizona State and Cal Poly Pomona are also in the tournament, but the Bruins will not face either of them.

Last week the Bruins opened the season by splitting a double-header with U S. International, winning, 2-0, and losing, 3-2. UCLA senior Lisa Longaker threw a one-hitter to win the first game, but Bruin freshman Lisa Fernandez lost the second game in her college debut. Fernandez had four hits in eight at bats in the double-header.

The women’s gymnastics team at UCLA (5-2) will compete Sunday at Arizona State (3-2).

Last week, the Bruins finished second at the Nebraska Master Invitational. Nebraska won with a total of 190.05 to 189.40 for UCLA, 187.65 for Cal State Fullerton and 184.80 for Washington.

UCLA senior Kim Hamilton won the all-around with 38.80, the beam with 9.75 and floor exercise with 9.80, and senior teammate Jill Andrews won the vault with 9.85 and was second in the all-around with 38.70, both season-best marks.

The UCLA men’s swim team (8-2 overall in dual meets) will compete Friday at Arizona State (7-2) and Saturday at Arizona (1-4).

Last week the Bruins defeated Stanford and California. Against Stanford, Mark Dean was a double winner in the 200-meter individual medley and the 200 butterfly, and UCLA’s 400 medley relay team won in a season best 3:18.93, despite a pool record of 49.52 in the 100 backstroke lead leg by Stanford’s Jeff Rouse.

Against California, Dean again doubled in the 200 IM and 200 fly, and his time of 1:46.67 in the butterfly was just short of the pool record of former Stanford All-American Pablo Morales. Dean has now won 10 straight victories in the fly in two years.

The No. 6 UCLA women’s swim team (6-2) will play host to USC (9-5) at noon Saturday at men’s gymnasium pool.

Last week the Bruins lost at Arizona State, 82-58, but won at Arizona, 83-57.

Against Arizona State, junior All-American Sheri Smith won the 500 freestyle, the 1,000 free and the 200 butterfly. Against Arizona, sophomore Kris Stoudt won the 200 free and 500 free.

The Pepperdine women’s swim team (6-7) will compete in its last dual meet of the season when it entertains Loyola Marymount at noon Saturday at Raleigh Runnels Pool.

In a triangular meet last week, the Waves defeated Cal State Bakersfield, 165-70, but lost to Fresno State, 185-73. The only first-place finish for Pepperdine was in the 200 medley relay team, but the Waves were second in six events.