NOTEBOOK / GARY KLEIN : Four Area Players Are Expected to Compete in Tennis Championships

Four tennis players from San Gabriel Valley four-year colleges will compete in the Rolex National College Championships Nov. 1-3 at Corpus Christi, Tex.

Julie Slattery of Cal Poly Pomona qualified in Division II singles by defeating Rebecca Galassini of Grand Canyon College, 7-6, 6-0, last weekend at the regional final at Cal Poly Pomona.

Slattery and Rebecca Huereque also qualified in doubles by defeating Galassini and Lisa Shupe, 6-2, 6-2.

Pomona-Pitzer’s top-seeded team of Erin Hendricks and Shelly Keeler qualified in Division III doubles by defeating Pomona-Pitzer teammates Caryn Cranston and Brenda Pierce.

Claremont’s Chris Noyes fell short of qualifying in Division III singles by losing to Dave Mudawer of UC Santa Cruz, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.

Winners of the respective divisions at the national championships will play each other to determine a national college champion.

The national college champions earn automatic berths in the National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, Feb. 6-9 at Minneapolis.

A good run: The Bishop Amat boys’ cross-country team was as good as advertised Saturday as the Lancers won the 22nd annual San Gabriel Valley Invitational at Mt. San Antonio College.

The five top runners of each school competed against their similarly ranked counterparts in individual races. The winner was determined by computing the total times of each team member.

Bishop Amat won the Division I competition in 84 minutes 4 seconds. Rowland, the defending champion, was second in 85:21 and Nogales was third in 87:08.

The Diamond Bar girls’ team was first in Division I in 105:22. Bishop Amat (106:11) was second and Nogales (107:36) was third.

Covina won the Division II boys’ competition in 85:08 and was followed by Maranatha (86:06) and South Hills (87:19). South Hills won the girls’ Division II competition in 104:15. St Lucy’s (111:10) was second and Covina (111.23) was third.

Chasing a record: Former Edgewood High standout Irene Arguelles is within reach of eclipsing the NCAA record for assists in women’s volleyball.

Arguelles, a 5-foot-7 senior setter for Regis University, a Division II school in Denver, is currently fourth on the NCAA all-time assist list with 6,093. Former Penn State setter Michelle Jaworski holds the record with 6,596.

On Friday, Arguelles became only the fifth player in NCAA history to accumulate 6,000 assists and she could become the first player to amass 7,000 assists in a career.

Arguelles is also third on the all-time NCAA list for service aces with 428. The record is 509.

In her three-plus seasons at Regis, Arguelles has led the team to a 111-37 record, three Colorado Athletic Conference championships and three appearances in the Division II Elite Eight postseason tournament.

Arguelles and Regis will visit Cal Poly Pomona on Nov. 16.

Net gain: The Cal Poly Pomona women’s volleyball team, ranked 12th in Division II, travels to Chapman College Friday night for a California Intercollegiate Athletic Assn. match.

Pomona entered the week with a 10-3 record. The Broncos are 0-1 in the CCAA after being swept by fifth-ranked UC Riverside on Oct. 1.

The Cal State Los Angeles women’s volleyball team, which entered the week 7-10 overall and 0-2 in the CCAA, plays a conference match Friday at Cal State Bakersfield.

Guaranteed victory: Pomona-Pitzer plays Claremont Saturday in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football game at Claremont.

Because the SCIAC uses a tiebreaker system, only one of the teams will be left winless.

Pomona-Pitzer, coming off a 34-20 defeat to Whittier, is 0-4 overall and 0-3 in the SCIAC.

Claremont (0-4, 0-2) lost, 17-14, to unbeaten Occidental last week when the Stags allowed a touchdown and a field goal in the final 55 seconds.

La Verne (3-1, 2-1), which beat Azusa Pacific, 27-12, in a nonconference game on Saturday, plays host to Cal Lutheran Saturday afternoon.