Cal Poly Pomona Women Draw Cal State L.A. in NCAA Tennis

The Cal Poly Pomona women’s tennis team is expected to retain its title when it competes in the NCAA Division II championships that start Friday at West Texas State in Canyon, Tex.

But the Broncos didn’t draw an easy opponent in the first round of the eight-team tournament. They will meet California Collegiate Athletic Assn. rival Cal State Los Angeles, which handed the Broncos their only loss in dual match competition by a 5-4 score April 7 at Cal State L.A.

Pomona enters NCAA tournament with a 17-1 record, and Cal State L.A. is 11-8. Another CCAA team, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (12-7), will face second-seeded Grand Canyon (21-6) of Arizona in its opener.

The other seeded teams in the tournament are No. 3 UC Davis and No. 4 Northern Colorado. Davis will meet Pace of New York in its opener, and Northern Colorado will take on Abilene Christian of Texas.

First-round winners will play in the semifinals Saturday and the championship will be Sunday. Davis defeated Pomona for the title two years ago before the Broncos defeated the Aggies for the championship last season.

The Broncos will also send three singles players and two doubles teams into the NCAA individual championships that start Monday in Canyon. The Broncos have entered Julie Slattery, Rebecca Huereque and Diane Ewing in singles and the teams of Slattery and Huereque and Ewing and Cindi Laird in doubles.

Slattery, a senior who is ranked No. 3 in Division II in singles with a 31-7 record, was voted CCAA women’s player of the year last week, and Pomona’s Ann Lebedeff was selected CCAA coach of the year for the third season in a row.

Cal State L.A. will be represented in singles by Veronica Pasley, Melinda Phillips and Ephel Olivarez and by Pasley and Olivarez in doubles.

Two conference baseball champions were determined during the weekend when Azusa Pacific won the Golden State Athletic Conference title and Cal Lutheran wrapped up first place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Azusa Pacific won its third consecutive GSAC title by sweeping Christ College Irvine, 4-2 and 10-4, in a doubleheader Saturday at Azusa.

The Cougars, 29-11 overall and 14-4 in the GSAC, also qualified for the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics District 3 playoffs for the seventh year in a row.

Azusa will be top seeded and is expected to play host to the tournament May 7-9. The double-elimination tournament will also include Southern California College, Christ College Irvine and Biola.

The Cougars, ranked 24th in the NAIA, have a .309 batting average, led by first baseman Jeff Crockett at .382 and right fielder Steve Allyn at .341. The team’s top pitcher has been reliever Chris Matkin with a 4-1 record and 2.74 earned-run average.

In the SCIAC, Cal Lutheran clinched the title in its first season in the conference with a three-game sweep of defending champion Redlands, 4-0, 5-0 and 9-7, last week.

Cal Lutheran, ranked No. 1 in the NCAA Division III with a 33-2 record, is 17-1 in the SCIAC.

The Kingsmen will complete their regular season with a three-game series against Whittier on Friday and Saturday.

Cal Lutheran will open play in the Division III West Regional on May 14 at an undeterminedsite.

The Azusa Pacific women’s softball team will be in a familiar position when it plays host to the NAIA District 3 championships Friday and Saturday at Northside Park in Azusa.

The Cougars (28-18) shared the Golden State Athletic Conference title with Cal Baptist at 13-3, but Azusa Pacific will be top seeded in the district playoffs because it won three of four games in head-to-head competition between the teams.

After winning three consecutive NCAA Division II titles from 1988-90, it was a major surprise when the Cal State Bakersfield women’s softball team didn’t reach the playoffs last season.

But the Roadrunners appear to be back in a big way this year.

With the regular season winding down, Bakersfield is ranked No. 1 in Division II with a 44-13 record. The Roadrunners are also well on their way to their first California Collegiate Athletic Assn. championship.

First place in the SCIAC in women’s softball will be on the line when Cal Lutheran plays host to Redlands for in a doubleheader Friday in Thousand Oaks.

Cal Lutheran is 26-12 overall and 17-3 in the conference and Redlands is 23-9 and 18-4.

Either team can win the title with a sweep. But if the teams split, Cal Lutheran will need at least a split in its doubleheader Saturday against Pomona-Pitzer to take the top spot.

The teams split in the first meeting between the teams March 14 in Redlands. Redlands won the first game, 6-0, and lost the second, 13-6.

However, the conference winner does not have an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III playoffs; it would have to be selected as an at-large team.

The 20-team playoff field will be selected on Sunday and the regionals will start May 8 at six undetermined sites.

The finals will be May 14-17 at Central College in Iowa.

Nate Kirtman became the first ever Pomona-Pitzer football player to be selected in the NFL draft when he was chosen during the ninth round Monday by the Dallas Cowboys.

Kirtman played running back, defensive back and returned punts and kicks for the Sagehens,but is expected to be moved to wide receiver.

For the first time in school history, the Claremont-Mudd men’s and Pomona-Pitzer women’s track teams have completed their SCIAC dual meet seasons with 7-0 records.

The teams will bid for overall titles at the SCIAC track championships Thursday and Saturday at Caltech.

Deanne Vochatzer of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, three-time NCAA Division II women’s track and field and cross-country coach of the year, has resigned to become the women’s track coach at UC Davis, where she will be reunited with her husband, John, the men’s track coach.

Before taking the Cal Poly job in 1990, Vochatzer was an assistant cross-country coach atDavis.