SPORTSCOPE : UCLA Women to Play Volleyball Home Opener

The UCLA women’s volleyball team (7-1 overall, 2-0 in the Pacific 10 Conference) is ranked third nationally. The Bruins will play their home opener against San Diego State (6-5) at 7 p.m. Friday at the John Wooden Center and play at No. 6 Cal State Long Beach at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and at UC Santa Barbara at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

In conference road games last week, the Bruins defeated Oregon in three games and Oregon State in five. UCLA outside hitter Natalie Williams had 46 kills, 10 blocks and 19 digs in the two matches.

The No. 14 Pepperdine women’s volleyball team (6-4 overall as the week began) will start its West Coast Conference schedule when it plays host to the University of San Diego (8-6) at 7 p.m. Friday and to Santa Clara (8-5) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Firestone Fieldhouse. The Waves were idle for 10 days until this week.

The No. 2 UCLA water polo team (6-2) will play No. 3 Cal State Long Beach at 7 tonight at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach and play its first home match at 11 a.m. Sunday at the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center.

Last Sunday, UCLA defeated Air Force, 9-6, as Bruins Bill Lenihan and Mike Wilmink each scored two goals. UCLA goaltender Eric Bockstahler had eight saves.

The No. 6 Pepperdine water polo team (5-2) will play Friday and Saturday at the 12-team NorCal Tournament at Berkeley. Pepperdine will play matches against Chaminade, No. 18 UC Davis, No. 7 USC and No. 5 Stanford.

Last week the Waves defeated UC San Diego, 11-9. Leading scorers for Pepperdine were Craig Stenberg with three goals and Geoffrey Clark and Zachary Holder, each with two.

The No. 6 UCLA men’s soccer team (5-2) will play host to Cal State Los Angeles at 2 p.m. Sunday at the North Soccer Field on campus.

In last week’s Goal Rush tournament at Fresno State, the Bruins defeated No. 22 Creighton, 6-0, but lost the championship match to Fresno State, 1-0. Against Creighton, Joe-Max Moore had two goals and an assist.

The UCLA and Pepperdine women’s and men’s cross-country teams will compete Saturday at the UC Riverside Invitational. The women’s race will start at 9 a.m. and the men’s at 10.

At last week’s San Diego State meet, the UCLA women placed fifth behind first-place Arkansas. Bruin Nicole Nugent placed 25th in the five-kilometer run in 18 minutes 44 seconds, and teammate Beth Bartholomew was 28th in 18:45.

In a dual meet against Loyola Marymount, the Pepperdine women won and the Wave men lost. In the women’s 5-K run, the Waves took the top three spots, with Jen Fritz at 19:40, Sheila Logan at 20:20 and Lee Hendrix at 20:44. In the men’s 4.5-mile race, Pepperdine freshman Jon Ferguson won in a course-record 27:02.

Pepperdine Athletic Director Wayne Wright has been appointed to serve out the term of J. Dudley Pewitt on the NCAA Council. Pewitt, vice president of administration at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, recently resigned. Wright will serve through the 1992 NCAA convention and then be eligible for appointment to a four-year term.