COLLEGES / ALAN OTA : Ball State Coach in Awe of Bruins but Hopes for Break : GIRLS’ BASKETBALL PREVIEW

After watching the UCLA women’s volleyball team on television in Muncie, Ind., Ball State Coach Randy Litchfield had seen more than enough of what to expect when his Cardinals meet the Bruins on Friday.

The NCAA first-round match at 7:30 p.m. at UCLA’s John Wooden Center will be Ball State’s first appearance in the 32-team tournament. The two-time defending champion Bruins are undefeated (29-0), the top-seeded team in the West Region, ranked No. 1 nationally and have a 39-match winning streak.

Reviewing the statistics of UCLA’s 15-11, 15-6, 15-7 match win over No. 7 Nebraska two weeks ago seemed to put things into perspective for Litchfield, who said: “For them to totally dominate a team of that caliber was not encouraging.”

But it was after seeing last week’s televised UCLA defeat of No. 11 USC that left the biggest impression on him.

“Position for position, and with their combination of great ball-handling and size, I’ve never seen a college team like that before,” Litchfield said.

“We are a somewhat young team and I’m just hoping we can play some decent side-out volleyball.”

After turning around its season from a dismal start, losing six of its first eight matches, Ball State (22-9) has won 12 straight, including the Mid-American Conference tournament championship this past weekend. The Cardinals have 5-foot-10 junior outside attacker Sharon Knecht, who leads the team with 344 kills, and 6-foot-1 junior middle attacker April Hoeltke, the leading blocker with a 1.58 average. Senior Lorie Vandenberg, a 5-foot-10 setter, has 799 assists.

This will be Ball State’s first meeting with UCLA and the Ball State coach is approaching it with both feet on the ground.

“We will be physically outmatched,” Litchfield said. “So we’ll have to take our best serve with us to California and maybe hope UCLA doesn’t pass the ball very well.”

Coming off the finest season in 12 years, the Pepperdine women’s basketball team has set its sights on its first West Coast Conference championship.

And six weeks of nonconference games should indicate how far along they are in that quest. After opening the season Tuesday at UC Irvine, the Waves play their first home game Saturday at 5 p.m. against Cal State San Bernardino.

Pepperdine Coach Ron Fortner, whose 1991-2 team was 17-11 overall and 10-4 in conference play, returns 10 letter-winners, including four starters.

“This year’s team has excellent depth,” Fortner said. “We have a strong nucleus of returning players.”

Barbara Tanner, a 6-foot-2 senior who will play the low post, earned honorable mention All-WCC honors last year after averaging 11.8 points and 5.2 rebounds. Other starters are junior forward Nikki Brodowy, senior forward Kelsey Kline, junior guard Aimee McDaniel and senior guard Heather Wassenberg.

The top freshmen recruits were 6-foot-2 forward Tabitha Bailey, a two-time prep All-American from Post Falls, Ida., and 5-foot-9 guard Sara Pierce, the Southern Section AAAA Player of the Year from Morro Bay High.

Saturday’s game will be a challenge for Cal State San Bernardino, according to Coach Luvina Beckley.

“We look better than last year, although that’s not much of a feat,” said Beckley, whose team was 8-18 last year. “We aren’t necessarily playing the best basketball at the moment, but we are playing harder.”

Notes

The Pepperdine men’s basketball team will play host to Sonoma State Saturday nightat 7:30, following the women’s game with Cal State San Bernardino. Pepperdine Coach Tom Asbury’s men’s team has eight returning letter-winners from last season’s team that posted a 24-7 record and won the WCC championship with a 14-0 mark.

The UCLA women’s basketball team will play host to San Diego State on Sunday at Wooden Center. The Aztecs were 18-11 last season and finished fourth in the Western Athletic Conference with a 9-5 record. Center Michelle Suman, a 6-foot-3 sophomore who averaged 14.2 points and 8.7 rebounds, was second in the nation with a .667 shooting percentage.

UCLA’s senior middle blocker Marissa Hatchett was named Pacific-10 Conference Womem’s Volleyball Player of the Week for matches of Nov. 23-29. She leads the conference in blocks average and is second in hitting percentage.

Pepperdine’s water polo team completed its season with a 13-6 win Sunday against UC San Diego to earn a fifth-place finish at the NCAA championships. The Waves had an overall record of 20-10.