Olivarez’s Career Is Incomplete Without the Division II Crown

In nearly every respect, Edna Olivarez of Cal State Los Angeles has had a brilliant college tennis career.

Since she started playing for the Golden Eagles in 1986, Olivarez has consistently been regarded among the top players in the NCAA Division II, and is ranked No. 1 in singles and No. 2 in doubles this season.

But as her college career winds down, the 23-year-old senior from the Philippines has unfinished business.

Olivarez has never won an NCAA title--as an individual or with the team. She hopes to change that at the Division II tournament May 6-12 at UC Davis.

Olivarez’s first three seasons with the Golden Eagles ended in disappointment. She was defeated in the singles semifinals in her freshman and sophomore years and was upset in the second round as a junior.

Disappointment with her performance as a junior prompted her to sit out last season as a redshirt.

“I just needed a break,” she said. “Before that, I didn’t have a good year. I get bored with tennis sometimes, so it was nice to get away from it for a little. I played in a few (local) tournaments, but mostly I just played for fun. I didn’t really practice hard until the fall, and our season doesn’t start until winter.”

The time off, she says, may have improved her game.

“Now I’m playing better and hitting better than before,” Olivarez said. “At least I think so.”

Olivarez might have dropped a hint of things to come when she finished second in the Rolex Small College Championships in February in Bloomington, Minn. She has a 33-4 record in singles matches and an 18-10 record in doubles with Jennifer Choi as her primary partner.

She is determined to make a strong bid for the Division II title.

“I really want it more than ever,” Olivarez said. “It’s my last year and I want to give it a good fight, but I know it will be tough. I know I have to play hard and not put too much pressure on myself.”

In previous seasons, Olivarez might have tried a little too hard, but she has changed her attitude.

“The most important thing is, I just want to go there and have fun and not put pressure on myself,” she said.

Olivarez realizes that will be difficult, though.

“It feels like everyone wants to beat me,” she said. “They’re the underdogs and they have nothing to lose. The pressure is on me.”

Fortunately, Olivarez probably will not have to go into the tournament alone. Cal State L.A. is ranked No. 6 in Division II and is expected to qualify for team play.

She also has a younger sister, Ephel, who is seeded No. 2 in singles on the team and ranks 15th in Division II. They have a brother, Eric, who plays for the men’s team at Cal State L.A. and another sister, Eva, playing at San Diego State.

Olivarez, whose parents live in Manila, credits her father with getting her started in the sport at 11.

“I wasn’t really good at first, but after about three years of practice I was doing a lot better,” she said. “My dad pushed me a lot at first.”

Before she arrived at Cal State L.A., Olivarez had been the top-ranked women’s player in the Philippines, although she admitted, “the competition’s not real tough there.”

When she arrived in the United States, Olivarez was mostly interested in playing junior tennis.

“I was just really going to play some junior tennis and go back,” she said. “I didn’t plan to stay but my sister said I should stay, and we found (former Cal State Los Angeles coach) Tom Yamaguchi, and he offered me a scholarship and I came here.”

Although she had approached coaches from other schools at the time, she said Yamaguchi appeared most interested.

“I couldn’t afford to pay to go to school here without a scholarship, because it’s expensive for foreign students to go here,” she said. “So I was lucky he offered me a scholarship.”

After the Division II tournament, Olivarez said she probably will focus on getting her degree. She is close to graduating and hopes to take her certified public accountant examination in May.

“That’s really a priority now,” she admitted. “I just have a few credits to go.”

But Olivarez also has one last opportunity for a national title, and this time she hopes to come out a winner.

There will be a familiar face returning to coach the Biola men’s basketball team next season.

The school has announced that Dave Holmquist, who has the best winning percentage of any basketball coach in the school’s history, will be back after having spent the 1989-90 season as Biola’s athletic director.

Before becoming athletic director, Holmquist had a 275-59 record over 10 seasons for a winning percentage of .823. During that span, Biola averaged 28 victories a season and won six titles in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics’ District 3.

Holmquist’s best season was 1981-82, when he guided Biola to a 39-1 record and was named NAIA co-coach of the year. He has also been selected National Christian College coach of the year twice.

Biola is hoping the return of Holmquist will mark a return to success on the court. The team struggled to a 9-21 record last season under Howard Lyon.

In his previous 10 years as coach, Holmquist’s teams never lost more than eight games in a season. Holmquist will continue as athletic director.

Lance Harter of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the most successful women’s track and field and cross-country coach in NCAA Division II history, has announced he is resigning after this season to accept a similar position at the University of Arkansas.

Harter will be leaving San Luis Obispo with impressive credentials.

In 11 years, he has guided the Mustangs to eight consecutive Division II women’s cross-country titles from 1982-89, four Division II women’s track championships and one national track title in the now defunct Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women.

He also has coached the Mustangs to an unprecedented 11 consecutive California Collegiate Athletic Assn. titles in cross-country and nine conference championships in track. He has coached 174 All-Americans in track and 52 in cross-country.

In addition, he has been named women’s Division II coach of the year six times in cross-country and four times in track.

Harter will remain at San Luis Obispo through the track season, which he is hoping to cap with another Division II title in May.

College Division Notes

Senior Robert Stone of Redlands, an All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference selection in basketball last season, was one of four NCAA Division II and III players named as a 1990 scholarship winner by the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship Committee. Stone a political science major, averaged 17 points as a starting forward the last two seasons. . . . Offensive lineman Barry Vorhees became the first Cal State Northridge player in recent years to be selected in the National Football League draft when he was chosen by the New York Giants in the eighth round Monday. Vorhees, 6-5 and 290, was an All-Western Football Conference selection as a senior.

Craig Grebeck, former Cal State Dominguez Hills baseball star, became the first player in school history to reach the major leagues when he earned a spot on the Chicago White Sox roster two weeks ago. A 5-foot-6 shortstop, Grebeck graduated from Dominguez Hills in 1986. . . . Senior forward Teri Paine-Walsh of the Cal State San Bernardino women’s basketball team has been named to the American Women’s Sports Federation All-American first team for the NCAA Division III. She averaged 20.5 points and 7.5 rebounds. San Bernardino guard Laura Beeman and forward Lori Peters received honorable mention.

Gary Schwartz, who guided Cal State San Bernardino to a 24-4 record in his first season as women’s basketball coach, has been named state Division III coach of the year by California Basketball magazine. . . . Donald H. Lowry, acting tennis coach at UC Santa Barbara, has been named permanent coach there.