SPORTSCOPE : Undefeated Bruin Men’s Track Team to Test Houston

The UCLA men’s and women’s track teams will play host to the University of Houston men and women on Saturday at Drake Stadium. Field events will begin at 11:30 a.m. for the women and at 1:15 p.m. for the men. The first women’s race is at 1:30 p.m. and the first men’s run at 2. The hammer throw will be at 10 a.m. at West Los Angeles College.

The Bruin men, 3-0 in dual meets this season, have a 44-0-1 dual record in Coach Bob Larsen”s sixth season.

At last week’s Texas Relays, several UCLA men excelled. Senior Victor Santa Maria was second in the invitational 5,000 meters in 14:26.27, senior Derek Knight won his 110 hurdle heat in a season-best 14.02 but pulled out of the final with a slight groin muscle strain, junior Jay Borick went a personal-best 17-5 in the pole vault, senior Brian Blutreich was third at 185-1 and senior Pete Thompston fourth at 179-1 in the discus and sophomore Sven Haug was fourth in the invitational 1,500 in a season-best 3:53.39.

UCLA junior shot-putter Tracie Millett was named the Pacific 10 Conference woman athlete of the week after she set a career-best mark of 51-9 3/4 at the Texas Relays.

At last weekend’s San Diego crew races, the UCLA women’s varsity and junior varsity boats won their races, the Bruin men’s varsity finished second to Harvard in the Copley Cup race and the UCLA freshman men took a first.

In the Copley Cup competition Harvard won in 6:11.31 and UCLA was second in 6:15.45. The final was a re-row after the first race, won by Washington.

The UCLA men will play host to California at 11 a.m. Saturday at the UCLA boathouse in Marina del Rey.

The top-ranked UCLA men’s volleyball team, 20-3 after last week’s loss to No. 2 USC in the finals of the Diet Pepsi/UCLA tournament, will play at No. 3 Hawaii tonight and Friday night. The first match counts as a Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. contest, and the second does not.

The Trojans beat the Bruins in four games at last week’s tournament. UCLA was led by junior Carl Henkel, who had 24 kills and nine digs.

The UCLA women’s softball team (38-5 and 7-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference) will entertain No. 8 California in a double-header at 1 p.m. Friday at the Sunset Canyon diamond on campus.

Last week UCLA’s Lisa Longaker (13-0) pitched the second perfect game of her career in the nightcap as the Bruins swept a double-header from Arizona State. UCLA also won a double-header from No. 11 San Jose State.

The No. 2 UCLA women’s tennis team (18-4, 4-3 in the Pac-10) will play host to No. 4 USC (17-4, 5-2) at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on campus.

Last week the Bruins lost 5-4 to top-ranked Stanford and No. 5 California.

The No. 4 Pepperdine men’s tennis team (22-3) will be idle because of final examinations until the West Coast Conference championships on April 20-22 in San Diego. Last week the Waves defeated No. 14 UC Irvine, 6-2.

The No. 8 UCLA men’s tennis team (19-3 overall, 4-1 in the Pac-10) will play host to No. 11 USC (17-6, 4-2) at 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on campus. When the teams met in March the Bruins won, 5-4, as UCLA’s Jason Netter upset Byron Black at No. 1 singles.

Last week the Bruins lost at No. 1 Stanford, 5-1. UCLA’s only winner was freshman Fritz Bissell, who defeated Jared Palmer.

The No. 6 UCLA women’s gymnastics team, which won last week’s NCAA West Regional title for the third time in the last four years, will be idle until the NCAA championships on April 20-21 at Corvallis, Ore. The Bruins are seeded fourth at the nationals behind Utah, Alabama and Georgia, respectively.

Last week senior Jill Andrews won the all-around title at the regional with a career-high score of 39.225, helping the Bruins score a season-high 192.05. Andrews won the vault at 9.9 and the beam with a score of 9.8, a record for the John Wooden Center. She also finished in a three-way tie for first in floor exercise as she and teammates Carol Ulrich, a freshman, and Renee Kelly, a junior, each scored 9.825 for another Wooden Center record.

Ulrich was third in the all-around at 38.35, second on the beam at 9.65 and third in the vault at 9.8.