COLLEGES / ALAN OTA : Former Bruin Plumer Is Back in the Running

After 10 years of frustration and disappointment because of injuries, former UCLA runner Polly Plumer took another step in a winning direction by taking first place in the UC Riverside cross-country invitational Saturday.

Plumer’s time for the 5-K was 17 minutes 2 seconds.

This marks the first time she has enjoyed consecutive injury-free years since graduating from Irvine University High in 1982, where she established the still-standing national interscholastic record for the mile run (4:35.42).

Plumer, 27, now the assistant cross-country coach at Mesa College in San Diego, suffered an assortment of medical problems since high school that included a gastrointestinal blockage needing surgery. After qualifying for the Olympic Trials in the 3,000-meter run last year, Plumer now feels hopeful for the future.

“This is the best I’ve felt in years,” Plumer said. “Next spring, I’m working on my speed to see how I can do in the 1,500.”

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San Diego State soccer Coach Chuck Clegg is not looking forward to his team’s visit to UCLA Sunday. The Bruins are undefeated (7-0-1) and their defense has given up only one goal.

The Aztecs (4-3-1) have already lost five starters to season-ending injuries and have been replaced by freshmen. “And it’s been a painful learning experience,” Clegg said.

Sunday’s match on the UCLA North Soccer Field at 2 p.m. will be the first Southern Conference game in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation for both teams.

Clegg knows it will be tough for his squad to match the speed of the Bruins.

“Their second team could finish second or third in the league,” Clegg said.

Over the weekend at a tournament in Norfolk, Va., UCLA tied William and Mary, 0-0 in overtime, and defeated Old Dominion, 1-0.

In the victory over Old Dominion, Bruin goalkeeper Brad Friedel turned away five second-half shots and was named the tournament’s most valuable player. Senior defender Dan Beaney and junior defender Tayt Ianni were named to the all-tournament team.

Old Dominion’s Coach Ralph Perez, who previously coached at Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Los Angeles, Santa Clara and Cal State San Bernardino, is now 0-10 in matches with UCLA Coach Sigi Schmid.

“I have to take my hat off to Coach Schmid,” Perez said. “I just can’t beat the man.”

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The top-ranked and two-time defending national champion UCLA women’s volleyball team (9-0, 4-0 in Pac-10) will continue conference play this weekend in the Bay Area.

The Bruins will meet Cal (4-4, 1-1) on Friday. Leading the Bear attack in kills for its past four matches has been 6-foot junior middle-blocker Shaney Fink, a former standout at University High. UCLA will play No. 2 Stanford (8-0, 4-0) on Saturday.

Stanford Coach Don Shaw is impressed with the Bruins but understands the pressure they are under.

“With the experienced players they have, I don’t think there’s ever been as strong a team assembled,” Shaw said. “UCLA is at point right now that if they don’t win and win big, they’ll disappoint a lot of people. For them, the only place to go is down.”

The two teams met three times last year with the Cardinal winning two conference matches and the Bruins winning the NCAA West Regional at Stanford. One of the top Cardinal recruits is 5-foot-11 freshman hitter Wendy Hromadka, who led Palisades High to three City Section championships.

Senior outside hitter Natalie Williams leads UCLA in kills with 146. Junior setter Julie Bremmer has 403 assists.

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In the UCLA women’s volleyball win over Washington (15-5, 15-2, 15-5) on Friday, the Huskies were penalized a point at the start of each game for a rule violation because their new uniforms had outlined but not full contrasting numerals. The large outlined numbers on the Washington jerseys which were of two layers of tackle twill fabric, one of purple over a slightly larger gold layer, did not meet the standard guidelines. “And UCLA is not exactly the team to spot any points,” Washington Coach Bill Neville said. “The uniforms and the numbers looked really good. The referees just didn’t think so.”

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The Pepperdine water polo team will compete this weekend in the 19-team NorCal tournament at Stanford.

On Saturday the second-ranked Waves (6-2) will play No. 3 USC at 10 a.m. and No. 1 California at 5 p.m.

Last month Cal defeated Pepperdine, 10-7, at the UC Irvine tournament. Bear Coach Steve Heaston, whose team is after its third consecutive NCAA championship, is looking forward to the rematch.

“(Pepperdine driver) Henry Rabello is a top player, and Alex Asta is an outstanding two-meter man,” Heaston said. “They are a good team.”

The Waves play No. 4 Stanford on Sunday at 9 a.m. and No. 16 UC Davis at 2 p.m.

Pepperdine’s game with Stanford will showcase two of college water polo’s best goalies: Wave senior Peter Schuler, who has 68 saves in seven games, and Cardinal junior Larry Bercutt.

“There’s no question that Peter is one of the nation’s top goalkeepers, so the team knows it can beat any opponent on a given day with a strong defensive effort,” Pepperdine Coach Terry Schroeder said.

Stanford’s Bercutt, of Beverly Hills and a former Southern Section 2-A Division player of the year at Harvard-Westlake, had a career-high 14 saves against Pepperdine last year and was a second-team All-American.

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Although the Pepperdine women’s volleyball team has routinely won the West Coast Conference championship, Coach Nina Matthies isn’t taking anything for granted this year.

Her teams have won the West Coast Conference title for the past five years and have 47 consecutive league matches, but Matthies is guarded about the Waves’ chances.

“The competitive level of the league continues to get better,” Matthies said. “Winning the conference championship will be a tough assignment.”

Although the Waves are only 4-9, five of the losses have come against top-20 teams. Pepperdine begins its 14-match WCC schedule this weekend when it plays at Portland on Friday and at Gonzaga on Saturday. Both matches begin at 7 p.m.

“Pepperdine started slow and I think people might think they are a very beatable team,” Gonzaga Coach Sean Madden said. “But it’s going to a tough year for anybody to go undefeated.”

After 13 matches, Pepperdine’s statistical leaders include senior hitter Blair Noonan with 212 kills and 182 digs and junior middle-blocker Barbara Stross with 63 blocks. Freshman Jamie Torromeo leads in service aces with 26.

Notes

The Pepperdine men’s and women’s cross-country teams will compete in the Biola invitational on Saturday at La Mirada Regional Park. The 5-K women’s race begins at 9:30 a.m. and the 8-K men’s race starts at 10:15 a.m.

The UCLA women won the team title at the UC Riverside meet and were led by sophomore Karen Hecox, who placed third in 17:27. The men’s and women’s team will compete Saturday in the Stanford Invitational.