SPORTSCOPE : Bruin Women Seek Gymnastics Title

The UCLA women’s gymnastics team is seeded fourth in the NCAA championships on Saturday and Sunday at Corvallis, Ore. Utah is the top seed, Alabama is second and defending national champion Georgia is third.

Other teams in the field, in descending seeding order after UCLA, are Nebraska, Louisiana State, Cal State Fullerton, Florida, Oregon State, Arizona, Towson State and Ohio State.

The Bruins are led by senior Jill Andrews, the nation’s best in the all-around and the vault, and by freshman Carol Ulrich, the nation’s 12th-ranked all-arounder, who was second in the all-around at the NCAA West Regionals.

The UCLA men’s volleyball team, which finished the regular season with a 21-4 overall record and a 13-3 mark in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn., will compete in the WIVA playoffs the evening of April 26 at Cal State Northridge.

The Bruins, champions of the league’s Burt DeGroot Division, will meet the winner of the April 25 playoff match between UC Santa Barbara and the team that finishes second in the WIVA’s Harry Wilson Division.

Last week UCLA split matches at Hawaii, losing to the Rainbows in four games but winning in five. In the first match, Bruin senior Trevor Schirman had 21 kills and seven blocks. In the second, UCLA was led by junior Carl Henkel with 23 kills, six digs and six blocks and by freshman Rich Bland with 22 kills, 10 digs and six blocks.

The Pepperdine men’s volleyball team (10-13 overall, 5-11 in the WIVA) will end its season this weekend in the “Clash of Titans” tournament at UC Santa Barbara.

On Friday, Santa Barbara will face Cal State Long Beach at 5:30 p.m., and the Waves will meet USC at 7:30. On Saturday, the consolation match is at 5:30 p.m. and the championship match at 7:30.

Pepperdine missed a chance to go to the WIVA playoffs by losing to Stanford last week in four games.

The UCLA men’s tennis team (20-3 overall, 5-1 in the Pac-10) will play host to California at 1:30 p.m. Friday (4-20) and to Stanford at 1 p.m. Saturday (4-21) at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on campus.

The Golden Bears defeated UCLA, 5-3, in a tournament in February and upset top-ranked Stanford, 5-4, last week. The Cardinal defeated the Bruins, 5-1, in early April.

Last week the Bruins defeated USC, 5-1.

Most of the Santa Monica College men’s and women’s athletic teams are returning to action this week following a break for the Easter holidays.

The men’s and women’s track teams will be in the Mount San Antonio College Relays today. The men’s and women’s swim teams will play host to Los Angeles Valley in their final dual meet of the season at 2:30 p.m. Friday. The women’s tennis team will play host to Glendale at 2 p.m. today, while the men will be at Glendale at 2 p.m. today.

The baseball team will play at Glendale at 1 p.m. Saturday, and the women’s softball team will entertain Los Angeles Valley at 3:30 p.m. Friday and compete Saturday and Sunday in the Cerritos College tournament. The men’s volleyball team will play at College of the Canyons at 7 p.m. Friday.

A team of all-star senior basketball players from Westside high schools will meet its counterpart from the South Bay in the annual Optimist Club game at 8 p.m. Friday at El Camino College.

St. Monica High Coach Leo Klemm will be in charge of the Westside team that includes three of his own players: Cleveland Jackson, John McFarland and Craig Martin.

Other Westside players include Greg Vernon of University, Damian Wilson and Mike Mulligan of Westchester, Peter Micelli of Beverly Hills, Ijumaa Armstrong and Michael Bloodworth of Palisades, DeWayne Lewis, Reece Stovall and Tyrone Mays of Hamilton; Martin Smith of St. Bernard, Brandon Wilkerson of Crossroads, Greg Hooks of Culver City and Jacoby Day and Devon London of Santa Monica.

The Pepperdine baseball team, ranked 23rd nationally by Collegiate Baseball, will be at home this weekend for a three-game West Coast Conference series with Nevada Reno and play a non-conference game at UC Santa Barbara at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The Waves (26-15 overall, 14-6 in the WCC) will play host to Nevada Reno (20-18, 7-10) in a doubleheader at 11 a.m. Saturday and a single game at 1 p.m. Sunday at Eddy D. Field Stadium.

Last week the Waves defeated league-leading Loyola Marymount, 7-6, to pull within 3 1/2 games of first place. Senior pitcher Britt Craven earned the victory, improving his record to 8-2, and freshman Steve Duda picked up his first save of the season. Pepperdine has won 13 of its last 16 games.

The UCLA men’s and women’s track teams will send contingents to the Mount San Antonio College Relays this weekend.

Last week both teams defeated Houston, the men by an 83-62 score and the women by 75-60.