Sorensen Was a Real Ace for Pepperdine

Fittingly, Pepperdine’s Tom Sorensen capped a victory over Stanford in the NCAA men’s volleyball championship match in Muncie, Ind., on April 25 with a service ace.

Sorensen finished the season in second place in the nation in service aces with 61 in 97 games. Eric Wenstrom of New Jersey Tech served 89 aces in 117 games for first place.

Sorensen’s service ace at Ball State in the championship match concluded a 15-7, 15-13, 16-14 victory, giving Pepperdine its fourth NCAA title in 15 years.

Sorensen, a junior, has been the Waves’ ace since coming to Pepperdine from Racine-Case high in Wisconsin, where he was the state’s two-time most valuable player.

Before being recruited by Pepperdine, Sorensen believed he would stay in the Midwest and attend Ball State. But playing volleyball for a West Coast power has brought Sorensen good fortune.

“If I had gone to Ball State, I probably wouldn’t have strived to achieve as much as I did at Pepperdine,” Sorensen said. “Going into our gym, you can see the three banners on the wall. . . . There is a lot more expectation when you are playing at Pepperdine.”

Sorensen has fulfilled high hopes, having led Pepperdine in kills the past three years. He was named Volleyball Monthly’s freshman of the year in 1990 and has been a first-team All-American selection the past two years by the magazine.

Sorensen was an American Volleyball Coaches Assn. second-team selection last season, but was left off the AVCA All-American team this season after Pepperdine failed to send in his nomination by the April 13 deadline.

Pepperdine (24-4) finished the season top-ranked by Volleyball Monthly and No. 2, behind Stanford, in the AVCA poll.

Playing under Pepperdine Coach Marv Dunphy for the past three years likely improved Sorensen’s chances of making the U.S. national team. Dunphy served as the head coach of the national team from 1985-1988 and led the top-ranked United States to victories in nearly every major international tournament, including the 1988 Olympics.

Sorensen, who spent the summer playing with the U.S. national B team, aspires to represent the United States in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

“If he (Sorensen) keeps training and keeps doing the things that he is doing,” Dunphy said, “he will not only play for the national team, I think he could be a significant player for our national team.”

But before that, Sorensen has next season to look forward to, when Pepperdine’s entire team returns to defend the NCAA title.

Noelle Porter, has been one of the biggest names in collegiate tennis on the West Coast in her career at Pepperdine.

Porter, a senior, is currently enjoying her best season and her No. 16 ranking is her highest college ranking. Porter is 20-2 overall in singles matches, her two losses coming to No. 48 Tracee Lee of University of Pacific on Feb. 17, when Porter was forced to retire due to a foot injury, and to No. 6 Erika deLone of Harvard on March 26.

Porter won her second consecutive West Coast Conference flight A singles title in the WCC women’s tennis championships April 26 at St. Mary’s College. She defeated 25th-ranked Laura Richards of San Diego, 6-3, 6-3, to win the title.

No. 10 Pepperdine (15-5) won its fifth consecutive WCC team championship by winning all three singles matches, including Porter’s, over opponents from No. 14 San Diego.

The power behind four of those titles has been Porter, who is undecided about playing professionally after college.

Porter will play her last collegiate match in the NCAA championships, which begin May 13 at Stanford.

When No. 4 Mark Knowles of the UCLA men’s tennis team reached the Pac-10 singles championship match in Ojai on April 26, he found a familiar opponent in No. 2 Alex O’Brien of Stanford, the defending conference champion.

O’Brien, who defeated Knowles last season in the semifinals of the Pac-10 singles championships before winning in the finals, beat Knowles again, 6-4, 6-4, to defend his conference title.

Knowles and O’Brien have met many times over their college years and on the ATP tour. The two have developed a friendly rivalry.

“It has been a good rivalry,” Knowles said. “We are pretty good friends and still can compete at a competitive level.”

O’Brien and Knowles split matches in dual-match play this season.

The NCAA men’s tennis championships, which begin May 15 in Athens, Ga., will be the last time the two meet as college opponents, because both are expected to turn professional after this season.

Notes

A key Pac-10 softball doubleheader scheduled for Saturday between top-ranked UCLA and second-ranked Arizona at Gittings Field in Tucson was postponed due to the civic unrest in Los Angeles and its effect on team travel. Arizona Coach Mike Candrea said in a press release that the Pac-10 office would hold a conference call today to determine when the game will be held. The Wildcats (52-4, 15-1 in Pac-10) are currently in first place in the conference, one game ahead of UCLA (46-1, 13-1 in conference). . . . Only 55 of the nation’s top 100 collegiate men’s tennis players are from the United States. The others hail from 19 other countries. . . . Team and individual selections for the NCAA men’s and women’s tennis championships will be announced this week.

The Pepperdine men’s volleyball team was 23-0 this season in matches in which they won the first game. . . . Brent Hilliard of the Cal State Long Beach men’s volleyball team was selected as the player of the year by both the AVCA and Volleyball Monthly. . . . The sixth-ranked UCLA women’s golf team finished fourth and No. 14 USC finished sixth in the Pac-10 championships in Tempe, Ariz., on April 26. UCLA’s Jenny Park placed fifth with a 220 score over the 54-hole tournament. . . . Defending champion Pepperdine won the WCC men’s golf championships in San Diego April 28 with an 855 team score over the 54-hole tournament. Loyola Marymount finished tied for fourth place with St. Mary’s at 919. Pepperdine’s Steve Val Alstyne won the individual championship with a six-under-par total of 210.