SCC Hopes Volleyball Slide Is Over

Southern California College women’s volleyball Coach Becky Pines hopes a five-game victory Tuesday over Christ College Irvine has stopped her team’s midseason slide.

It was the Vanguards’ first victory in five Golden State Athletic Conference matches this season and only their second in the past 10 matches.

All this after SCC began the season--Pines’ second as coach--12-5 and appeared ready to challenge the top teams in the conference. The Vanguards defeated NCAA Division II schools Humboldt State and Cal State Stanislaus, won the Whittier College Tournament and twice won a game from Cal Poly Pomona, the sixth-ranked team in Division II.

The Vanguards’ extended slump started in Hawaii against some tough competition. They lost four matches in four days, the final coming against Hawaii Hilo, which is ranked fourth in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics poll.

“We really had hoped after Hawaii that we would start dominating in conference play,” Pines said. “I have to give some credit to our conference opponents because they’re strong, but we’re in a slump.”

The Golden State Athletic Conference has one of the strongest fields at its level. Fresno Pacific, defending NAIA champion, is ranked fifth in the latest poll and two other conference teams--Azusa Pacific and Westmont--are ranked in the top 20.

“I feel we could do great at nationals if we could get past our conference,” Pines said.

If SCC is to continue its rebound, it must get strong play from middle blockers Heather Frewin and Leslie Lastrapes and outside hitter Krista Hoover. Frewin and Hoover, a junior from El Dorado High School, each had 15 kills in the Vanguards’ victory over Christ College. Lastrapes had 14 kills and 23 digs.

After a District 3 match Friday at Biola, the Vanguards (14-13, 1-4 in the conference) meet Westmont at 7:30 tonight at Santa Barbara City College. Westmont, ranked 18th in the NAIA, also has had trouble in the conference, losing its first three matches, before defeating Christ College Irvine in three games Thursday.

Sherwin Durham, a former SCC, Golden West College and Bolsa Grande High School basketball player, has signed a contract to play for the Harlem Globetrotters.

Durham, who in two seasons (1983-84 and 1984-85) as SCC’s point guard, was twice an all-district player and an honorable mention All-American in 1985 after averaging 14.9 points and a district-leading 8.8 assists a game.

The past few years, the 5-foot-11 Durham has been playing with the Shooting Stars, Meadowlark Lemon’s touring team, SCC Coach Bill Reynolds said.

“Everyone used to call him mini-Magic at SCC--just a slight difference in size and ability--but he had a big smile and an infectious personality,” Reynolds said.

Two Chapman tennis players have earned a shot at a national championship after winning titles at the Division II ITCA/Rolex Southern California championships last weekend.

Mike Zuercher won the singles championship and joined Laurent Dropsy to win the doubles title Sunday at Cal Poly Pomona. The players qualified for the national championships in February at Corpus Christi, Tex.

Zuercher, who was ranked No. 18 in Division II at the end of last season, defeated Cal Poly Pomona’s Juan Garcia, 6-0, 7-6 (7-3), in the final to become the first Chapman player to win the Southern California title since Miles Walker in 1987.

College Division Notes

Christ College Irvine volleyball player Miriam Paulus, who was named the NAIA District 3 player of the week last week, had 22 kills in 27 attempts in the Eagles’ loss to SCC Tuesday. Her .741 attack percentage set a Christ College single-game record and she leads the district with 193 kills. . . . The Chapman women’s volleyball team, ranked No. 13 in the nation, opened its California Collegiate Athletic Assn. season Tuesday with a three-game loss to No. 6 Cal Poly Pomona. The Panthers (13-9, 0-1) lost, 15-8, 15-11, 16-14.