NOTEBOOK / GARY KLEIN : Volleyball, Soccer Teams Begin Play for Cal Poly

The Cal Poly Pomona women’s volleyball team and men’s and women’s soccer teams begin intercollegiate competition this week.

The Pomona volleyball team, which lost only one starter from a 25-8 squad that fell a game short of reaching the NCAA Division II Elite Eight, will participate in a 16-team tournament that begins on Friday at Christ College Irvine.

Coach Rosie Wegrich begins her first season with the Broncos after coaching for 15 years at the University of Arizona.

Pomona is led by All-American candidate Mitsue Tomoyasu, a senior hitter from Japan who set a school single-season record with 517 kills in 1991. The Broncos should also benefit from the addition of sophomore blocker Aimee Achenbach, who transferred from Ohio State. Amy Sodek, an all-conference setter in 1991, and Trang Nguyen, who was redshirted last season after earning all-conference honors in 1990, give the Broncos two experienced floor leaders.

The men’s soccer team plays Saturday at Cal Lutheran. The Broncos, under Coach Brian Wiesner, are led by senior forward Carlo Casella, who scored a team-high four goals in 1991.

The women’s soccer team, coached by Wiesner, also opens at Cal Lutheran. Allison Thompson, who scored 12 goals in 1991, returns, as do Janice Schlientz and Trisha Enarson.

So close: Nicole Hummel of San Marino fell a victory short of qualifying for the main draw of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, losing to Alexandra Fusai of France, 6-4, 6-3, Saturday at the National Tennis Center in New York City.

Hummel, who had been eliminated in the first round of qualifying in 1991, had defeated Nan Miyagi of Japan, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6), and Silvia Farina of Italy, 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5, who was seeded ninth among qualifiers.

Staff writer Steven Herbert contributed to this notebook.