SPORTSCOPE : Crucial Gymnastics Meet Awaits UCLA Women

The UCLA women’s gymnastics team (17-3) is the top seed in the NCAA West Regional at 7 p.m. Saturday at the John Wooden Center on campus. Teams in the field besides the Bruins, ranked sixth nationally, are No. 7 Oregon State, No. 10 Cal State Fullerton, No. 16 Washington, No. 23 Boise State, No. 26 California and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

The teams will be vying to qualify for the NCAA championships on April 20-21 at Corvallis, Ore. Individuals who will compete for spots in the nationals in the all-around competition include Dina Amorosa, Jennifer Bloom and Erin McCann of Stanford, Yuri Hinson of UC Davis, Gail Schulz and Tammy Sutton of Seattle Pacific and Teri Frankie of the University of Alaska.

UCLA is led by senior All-American Jill Andrews, a winner of two individual NCAA championships who has won eight of 10 all-around titles in meets this year, and freshman Carol Ulrich, a member of the 1988 U.S. national team who has emerged as the Bruins’ second-best performer in the all-around.

The Bruins have won two of the last three NCAA West regionals.

The top-ranked UCLA men’s volleyball team (18-2 at the start of the week) will host the Diet Pepsi Collegiate tournament this weekend at Pauley Pavilion.

In Friday’s opening matches, UCLA will meet No. 10 UC Santa Barbara (9-11) at 5:30 p.m., and No. 2 USC (17-2) will face No. 4 Stanford (9-5) at 7:30. On Saturday there will be a consolation match at 5 p.m., and the championship match will start at 7:30 p.m.

UCLA, USC and Stanford have each been ranked No. 1 this season.

The No. 9 Pepperdine men’s volleyball team (9-11 overall and 4-9 in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn.) will end the regular season by playing host to Brigham Young (5-16, 1-9) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and to Stanford (9-5, 9-4) at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Firestone Fieldhouse.

Despite losing 10 of its last 13 matches, the Waves still could earn a berth in the WIVA playoffs.

In last week’s four-game loss to USC, Wave freshman Duane Cameron returned from an ankle injury and had seven kills in 11 attempts.

The No. 2 UCLA women’s tennis team (18-2 overall and 4-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference) will play host to No. 1 Stanford (18-0, 5-0) at 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on campus. The Bruins will entertain California (15-5, 3-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday at the LATC.

Last year Stanford defeated the Bruins for the NCAA championship and beat UCLA this year to win a national indoor team title.

UCLA junior Stella Sampras has won 13 consecutive singles matches and is 20-5 overall.

The No. 5 Pepperdine men’s tennis team (21-3 as the week began) will host No. 9 UC Irvine at 1:30 p.m. Friday and play at Cal State Long Beach at 1:30 p.m. Monday. Last week the Waves defeated No. 7 Harvard, 5-3.

The No. 8 UCLA men’s tennis team (19-2, 4-0 in the Pac-10) will play Friday at top-ranked Stanford (13-0, 2-0) and Saturday at No. 2 California (14-4, 2-0).

Last week the Bruins swept Arizona, 6-3, and Arizona State, 5-3. UCLA freshman Fritz Bissell won his two singles matches, raising his dual-match record to 14-3, and he and partner Mark Knowles also won twice in doubles, improving their record to 13-1.

The No. 9 Pepperdine women’s tennis team (13-9 at the start of the week) will host No. 2 UCLA at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Without the services of top singles players Ginger Helgeson, Janna Kovacevich and Noelle Porter, the Waves have lost recently to Harvard, Oklahoma State and the University of San Diego. Helgeson and Kovacevich have had foot problems, and Porter has yet to play in a dual match this season because of a shoulder injury.

The Santa Monica College men’s tennis team (10-5 overall and 7-4 in the Western State Conference at the start of the week) will play at West Los Angeles College at 1 p.m. today. Last week the Corsairs edged Bakersfield, 5-4, and blanked Cuesta, 7-0.

The No. 2 UCLA women’s softball team (34-5, 5-1 in the Pac-10) will host Arizona State (28-20, 4-4) in a double header at 1 p.m. Saturday and No. 11 San Jose State (21-13) in a twin bill at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Sunset Canyon diamond.

Last week the Bruins swept double headers from No. 8 California and Santa Clara. UCLA senior pitcher Lisa Longaker improved to 12-0 with a 2-1 victory over Cal.

The Pepperdine baseball team (22-14, 13-6 in the West Coast Conference) will entertain U.S. International in a non-conference double header at noon Saturday at Eddy D. Field Stadium, play at Loyola Marymount (26-9, 14-4) at 2 p.m. Tuesday and host Cal Lutheran at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Last week the Waves won three of four games from Santa Clara, which fell to 18-7-1 and 11-10.

In Pepperdine’s last four games, junior outfielder Jalal Leach had 11 hits in 14 at bats (including two home runs and a double) for a .786 average, scored nine runs and batted in five runs. Leach is hitting a team-best .377.

The Santa Monica College softball team (5-9 overall, 3-4 in the WSC as the week started) will play at Bakersfield College at 3:30 p.m. Friday. Last week the Corsairs lost, 2-1, to both Southwestern and Ventura and, 7-1, to Moorpark.

The UCLA men’s track team will compete Friday and Saturday in the Texas Relays at Austin.

Last week the Bruins defeated California, 93-69, gaining their 21st straight victory over the Golden Bears in a dual match. UCLA senior Derek Knight was a double winner in the 110-meter high hurdles in a season-best 14.08 and the 400 intermediate hurdles in 51.79.

Steve Lewis, the Bruins’ two-time gold medalist in the 1988 Olympics, was leading in the 400-meter run against Cal but pulled up with an injury to his right hamstring. UCLA sprint Coach John Smith said that Lewis tore scar tissue from the same injury that kept him out of the 1989 NCAA outdoor meet but that he should return in a couple of weeks.

Several members of the Santa Monica College men’s and women’s track teams will compete Friday and Saturday at the Fresno Relays.

The local contingent will be led by the men’s 4-by-100 meter relay team of Mark Ricks, Marlon Singleton, Sidney Morris and Adelbert Baylis and the women’s sprint relay team of Nichelle Watson, Sherry Morris, Bridgette Robinson and LaTanya Davenport.

The men’s relay team turned in a 44.07 in the 4-by-100 at last week’s Bakersfield Relays, the fastest time this season by Western State Conference runners.

The Santa Monica College men’s and women’s swim teams will compete at Los Angeles Valley at 2:30 p.m. Friday.

Against College of the Canyons last week, the SMC men (6-0, 4-0 in the WSC) won, 59-39, and the Corsair women (5-1, 3-1) won, 69-59. Double winners for the SMC women were sophomore All-American Cecilia Henricksen in the 100-yard butterfly and the 100 individual medley and freshman Heidi Schugar in the 200 IM in a career-best 2:25.28 and the 100 back stroke.

The No. 9 UCLA women’s golf team will compete Monday through Wednesday in the Arizona State Invitational at Tempe. Last week the Bruins finished second in the Hawaii Invitational with 919 to 903 for first-place Arizona.

UCLA freshman Elizabeth Bowman and sophomore teammate Christy Erb each shot 226, tying for third place. Bruin freshman Carrie Leary shot 233 for 13th place, her best showing this year.

The Pepperdine men’s golf team will compete Friday and Saturday in the Fresno State/Pepsi Cola tournament. Last week the Waves finished ninth in the Pacific Collegiate Invitational with 901 to 875 for first-place San Jose State.

Sixteen world-class croquet players will compete today through Sunday in the Beverly Hills Croquet Club’s open singles tournament at Roxbury Memorial Park in Beverly Hills.

The field includes former U.S. champion Jim Bast, U.S. Western regional champion Michael Mehas and Australia’s highly ranked Neil Spooner.

The tournament begins at 9 a.m. today and ends with the championship game at noon Sunday.