SPORTSCOPE : Pepperdine and Loyola Will Slug It Out in 3-Game Series

The Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount baseball teams, preseason favorites in the West Coast Conference, will meet in a three-game series this weekend at George C. Page Stadium in Westchester.

The teams will play a single game at 2 p.m. Friday and a double header at 11 a.m. Saturday .

Pepperdine is 4-4 overall and 2-1 in conference. The Lions are 6-4, 2-1. The Waves are ranked 23rd nationally by Baseball America and 29th by Collegiate Baseball. The Lions are ranked 13th by Baseball America and are unranked in the other poll.

The Waves, who opened conference play by winning two of three games from the University of San Francisco, will play at 2:30 p.m. Monday at UC Irvine and play host to Cal State Los Angeles at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at Eddy D. Field Stadium.

Pepperdine Coach Andy Lopez is pleased with his team’s .327 batting average but displeased with his relief pitching. “We have lost a few late-inning leads because we cannot find someone to take charge on the mound,” he said. “Right now I am searching for a pitcher who can be a stopper for us.”

Top hitters for the Waves are Mike Truschke, batting .458; freshman Dan Melendez at .444, freshman Steve Rodriguez at .379 and Chris Martin at .364 with a team-high 13 runs batted in.

The No. 5 Pepperdine women’s tennis team, led by Ginger Helgeson and 5-1 as the week began, will play host to No. 6 USC at 1:30 p.m. today and No. 16 University of San Diego at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday .

Last week Helgeson became the first Wave woman to win a major college singles championship. She defeated Andrea Farley of Florida, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, in the final of the Intercollegiate Tennis Coaches Assn.’s national indoor hardcourt championships in Minneapolis.

The No. 2 UCLA women’s tennis team (5-0) will entertain U. S. International at 1:30 p.m. today at the Sunset Canyon courts and play Saturday at San Diego State.

The No. 3 UCLA men’s tennis team (8-0 at the start of the week) will open Pacific 10 Conference action when it plays host to Arizona State at 1:30 p.m. Friday and Arizona at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on campus.

The Bruins will play at Pepperdine at 1:30 p.m. Monday .

At last week’s ITCA championships, the Bruin doubles team of Bill Barber and Mark Quinney were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Luis Ruette and Sandon Stolle of Texas Christian, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5).

The No. 16 Pepperdine men’s tennis team (3-1 as the week began) will play host to Rice at 1:30 p.m. Saturday and to No. 3 UCLA at 1:30 p.m. Monday .

Last week the Waves shut out U.S. International, 8-0.

The top-ranked UCLA men’s volleyball team (9-0 overall, 4-0 in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. at the start of the week) will play Saturday night at Brigham Young (2-3, 0-2) and entertain No. 9 Pepperdine (5-1, 3-1) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Pauley Pavilion.

Last week the Bruins won the championship of the George Mason University tournament, defeating the host school in the finals in four games. In the first round, UCLA posted a four-game victory over Ball State.

Against Ball State, middle blockers Mike Whitcomb and Trevor Schirman combined for 33 kills and 11 blocks. In the George Mason match, Whitcomb had 20 kills without an error, and Schirman had a season-high 15 blocks.

Schirman was named the tournament’s most valuable player, and Whitcomb and UCLA freshman Rich Bland were selected on the all-tournament team.

The No. 9 Pepperdine men’s volleyball team (5-1 overall, 3-1 in the WIVA as the week began) will play at No. 6 San Diego State (6-5, 0-3) at 7:30 p.m. Friday and at No. 1 UCLA (9-0, 4-0) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Pauley Pavilion.

Last week the Waves defeated UC Irvine in four games to improve their road record to 4-0. Outside hitter Geoff Hart led Pepperdine against the Anteaters with 16 kills, freshman middle blocker Tom Sorenson had 12 kills and nine blocks, and middle blocker Brian Merrick had 11 kills and five blocks.

Hart has a team-high 96 kills, Sorenson has 91 kills and leads the team with 49 blocks and 13 service aces. Merrick has 86 kills and is hitting a team-high .589.

Karch Kiraly, former UCLA All-American who starred on the U.S. volleyball team that won a gold medal at the 1988 Olympics, has been selected as the Player of the 1980s in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. by a vote of conference coaches.

Other players on the All-1980s first team are Tim Hovland, Dusty Dvorak and Steve Timmons of USC, Asbjorn Volstad of UCLA and Pepperdine’s Jeff Stork.

Second-team members are Ricci Luyties and Doug Partie of UCLA, Bob Ctvrtlik of Pepperdine, Pat Powers of USC, Scott Fortune of Stanford and Allen Allen of Hawaii.

Honorable mention went to Craig Buck and Troy Tanner of Pepperdine and Adam Johnson and Bill Yardley of USC.

The Peter Vidmar International Boys’ Gymnastics Invitational will be held at 4:30 p.m., Feb. 24 and 25 at University High School, 11800 Texas St., West Los Angeles.

More than 350 boys from 25 states and three foreign countries will compete in the event sponsored by Vidmar’s foundation and the Broadway Gymnastic School and Foundation. Vidmar, the former UCLA All-American, was on the gold-medal U. S. gymnastics team at the 1984 Olympics and also won a gold and a silver medal in individual competition at the Los Angeles games.

The invitational will feature competitors ranging from age 7 to elite gymnasts in their 20s. Top gymnasts at the Feb. 25 session will include Charles Lakes of the 1988 U. S. Olympic team, former UCLA star and U. S. national team member David St. Pierre, and Tony Pineda, who also competed for UCLA and in the 1988 Olympics, and is Mexico’s national champion.

For tickets, call (213) 450-0012.

The UCLA women’s basketball team (13-8 overall and 8-3 in the Pac-10) will play tonight at UC Berkeley (13-8, 5-6) and Saturday (2-17) at No. 2 Stanford (20-1, 10-1).

Last week the Bruins defeated Arizona State, 90-75, and Arizona, 73-69. Against Arizona State, Rehema Stephens had career-highs of 33 points and 12 rebounds.

Trying to snap a four-game losing streak, the Pepperdine women’s basketball team (12-12 overall and 3-7 in the West Coast Conference as the week started) will play host to Loyola Marymount (13-11, 6-4) at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Firestone Fieldhouse.

Shannon Frowiss leads the Waves with averages of 18.1 points and eight rebounds a game, while Sherri Murrell is averaging 12.8 points and a team-high 4.9 assists.

The top-ranked UCLA women’s softball team (4-2) begins play today in the University of Arizona tournament, which ends Sunday. UCLA will play host to Loyola Marymount at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Sunset Canyon diamond.

Last week the Bruins won three of four games in the Big West Conference-Pac-10 tournament. Freshman DeDe Weiman made her first start for UCLA in a 1-0 victory over Cal State Fullerton. Another freshman, Heather Compton, made her pitching debut and got the win over Fresno State. Lisa Longaker was the pitcher of record as the Bruins defeated Fresno State, 5-1. The Bruins lost the final to Cal State Fullerton, 2-0.

UCLA’s Shelly Montgomery got five hits in nine at-bats in the tournament, and teammate Missy Phillips had three hits including a home run, four RBIs and scored two runs.

The UCLA men’s swim team (9-3 overall and 3-1 in the Pac-10) will compete against USC at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Coliseum Olympic Pool.

Last week the Bruins lost to Arizona State, 64-49, and defeated Arizona, 59-54. Bruin Mark Dean won his 11th and 12th consecutive victories in the 200-yard butterfly against the Arizona schools.

USC leads the series with UCLA, 24-9, and has won four straight meets, including a 57-56 decision last year at UCLA.

The No. 7 UCLA women’s swim team (7-2) is idle this week after defeating No. 10 USC, 86-54.

Against the Trojans, freshman Christy Richards set a UCLA record of 1:03.76 in winning the 100 breast-stroke and also won the 200 breast-stroke. Other Bruin double winners were Sheri Smith in the 500 and 1,650 freestyles and Kris Stoudt in the 50 and 100 freestyles.