NOTEBOOK : Pepperdine, UCLA Go to the Heartland for Volleyball Talent

Although collegiate volleyball programs still recruit most of their talent from beach communities in Southern California, Pepperdine and UCLA have found the cream of another crop in America’s Dairyland.

Outside hitters Tom Sorensen of Pepperdine and Jeff Nygaard of UCLA grew up in Wisconsin and are two of the nation’s leading hitters.

Sorensen, a junior from Racine, is third in the nation in kill average with 7.25 a game and second in serving aces (.667). He also leads the Waves in kills (618).

Nygaard, a freshman from Madison, leads the nation in blocking with a 2.04 average and is 10th in hitting percentage (.431).

“It doesn’t make a difference if you learn to play volleyball on grass, asphalt, sand or dirt,” Pepperdine Coach Marv Dunphy said. “If you can play this game, you can play this game.”

Volleyball Monthly selected Sorensen the freshman player of the year in 1990 and first-team All-American in 1991. Nygaard is the leading candidate to become freshman player of the year.

Both players have been instrumental in the success of their teams. The Waves, ranked third in the nation, finished first in the DeGroot Division with a 12-4 record and are 21-4 overall. The fourth-ranked Bruins finished second with an 11-5 record.

Dunphy, who has recruited mostly from Southern California, isn’t surprised to see more good players outside the state.

“My philosophy is that it’s not where you are, but who you are,” Dunphy said. “For quite a while the talent was regionalized. You got the best high school players from your area and the best players came from Southern California.

“For the most part, that’s still accurate at the high school level. But the game is booming right now, and more players are playing the game. Now the best players come from where the best coaching is.”

Like his Southern California counterparts, Sorensen has played beach volleyball, but near a lake, not an ocean. He refined his game indoors.

“Most guys learn to play on the beach,” Sorensen said. “I’m kind of terrible on the beach. I practiced indoors every day whether it was a clear day or raining outside.”

Sorensen began playing as a high school freshman. He was a member of the United States Volleyball Assn. junior national team in 1989 and was discovered by Dunphy while playing at a camp at UC Santa Barbara.

Sorensen said the biggest drawback about playing in Wisconsin wasn’t the weather but the lack of competition.

“We don’t have as many talented players as you have in Southern California, and that affects the competition,” Sorensen said. “You have to strive to make yourself better and not play down to the level of competition. I had to work harder in practice and make sure that I improved some aspect of my game.”

Sorensen plays opposite the setter in the Waves’ rotation and spikes whether he is near the net or in the back row.

“We set a ton for (Sorensen) because he can hit a ton,” said Dunphy, who also has coached the U.S. national team. “At his position, he’s as good or better than anyone I have coached, obviously, at Pepperdine.”

Pepperdine played top-ranked Cal State Long Beach in the first round of the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. championship.

UCLA played eighth-ranked USC.

Star performance--St. Bernard middle-distance runner Kamara Mayberry and the Viking girls’ 1,600-meter relay team provided the lone bright spots for the Westside area Saturday in the Arcadia Invitational.

Mayberry finished second in the girls’ 800 meters in 2 minutes 12.15 seconds. Mayberry also ran a leg for the Vikings’ 1,600-meter relay team, which placed second in the seeded race in 3:58.04.

Robin Snowbeck of University, who was recovering from a cold, was a late scratch in the girls’ 1,600 meters.

Glory Dolphin of Santa Monica placed 13th in the long jump with a mark of 17 feet 2 3/4 inches.

Jesse Stern of Harvard-Westlake placed 15th in the pole vault at 13-6.

Signings--In addition to being tax day, Wednesday was also the first day of the regular signing period for high school seniors and community college sophomores for all sports but football.

All-state guard Dorian Manigo of Santa Monica College signed with Eastern Washington. Loyola Marymount is expected to receive commitments from shortstop Ryan Ott (Brea-Olinda) and right-handed pitchers Ryan Graves (Riverside Poly) and Andy Collett (Arroyo Grande).

UCLA received most of its recruits during the early signing periods.

Preparing for nationals--The UCLA men’s and women’s gymnastic teams qualified for the NCAA championships.

The men’s team scored a season-high 282.525 points to place fourth in the West Regionals on Saturday in Albuquerque, N.M. The championship will be held April 23-25 in Lincoln, Neb.

Senior Scott Keswick, a five-time All-American, is a leading candidate to win the all-around competition. He was runner-up last year and has won the Pacific 10 Conference all-around championship for two consecutive years.

The women’s team scored 192.725 points to place second in the West Regionals on Saturday at Berkeley. The women’s final will be held April 24-25 in Minneapolis.

UCLA junior Amy Thorne scored a career-best 9.95 to win the floor exercise.

Back together--Crossroads High Coach Chuck Ice faced his former employer, Santa Monica High, in a scheduled nonleague game Saturday for the first time since he left as Viking coach in 1981.

Despite watching his team lose to Santa Monica, 9-1, Ice hopes the two teams meet again soon.

“(Santa Monica High Coach) Jose Lopez and I agree that local schools need to play more games against each other,” Ice said. “I think we’ve played Santa Monica in a tournament game, but it’s been so long I don’t remember.”

All-star game--The 11th annual Westside-South Bay all-star basketball shootout will be held Friday at El Camino College, with the girls’ game beginning at 6:30 p.m. and the boys’ game at 8:30 p.m.

Ticket prices are $6 for adults, $4 for high school students with school identification and $2 for children under 12.

Small world--Geoff Lear of Pepperdine was the sixth selection overall in Tuesday’s World Basketball League draft.

Lear was selected by the Saskatchewan Storm. The WBL, which is for players under 6-foot-7, opens its fifth season May 1.

Staff writer Steven Herbert contributed to this notebook.