COLLEGES / ALAN OTA : Wave Coach Dunphy Looking for a Hitter

If the Pepperdine men’s volleyball team is to defend its national championship, it will have to do it without one of its best players.

The Waves, who open the season at home tonight at 7 against UC San Diego, will be without Alon Grinberg, an All-American and NCAA tournament most valuable player last season.

Grinberg returned to his home in Israel to assist his family after his father was incapacitated following a heart attack last spring. Pepperdine Coach Marv Dunphy, who has five starters returning, has been trying to fill the void.

“We’re working with two or three combinations and doing a lot of testing,” Dunphy said. “And we won’t nail it down until the end of the month.”

One adjustment involves moving senior Duane Cameron from middle blocker back to his original position as outside hitter. Seniors Ian Clark and Lee LeGrande are expected to vie for the vacant middle blocker spot.

Pepperdine, which was 24-4 last year and is ranked No. 2 in a preseason poll released by Volleyball Monthly, is expected to be led by senior All-American outside hitter Tom Sorenson, who has a school career record 2,612 kills. Other standouts include junior outside hitter Dain Blanton, who ranked second on the team last season with 176 digs, and sophomore setter Chip McCaw, who won 1992 Volleyball Monthly all-freshman honors and set an NCAA single-match record of 117 assists in a four-game victory against Cal State Long Beach.

Tonight’s Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match will be the conference debut for UC San Diego, a non-scholarship, Division III school. The Tritons are coached by Rod Wilde, who is in his second season. As a player, Wilde was a three-time All-American at Pepperdine.

With Wilde serving as Pepperdine interim coach while Dunphy was on a three-year leave to coach the U.S. National Team, the Waves won the NCAA championship in 1986.

The UCLA men’s volleyball team opens its season today when it plays host to UC San Diego at 4 p.m.

The Bruins, who were 17-7 last year and are ranked No. 1 in a preseason poll, return all of their starters and have been bolstered by the return of senior Rich Bland, a starting quick hitter from the 1990 team. Bland sat out last season after undergoing back surgery.

Other returnees include sophomore quick hitter Jeff Nygaard, the 1992 Volleyball Monthly freshman of the year; senior setter Mike Sealy; senior Dan Landry, who led the team with 5.01 kills a game; swing hitters Dave Swatik, a junior, Erik Sullivan, a sophomore, and Kevin Wong, a sophomore.

Coach Al Scates, who has guided the Bruins to 14 NCAA championships in 20 seasons, is impressed with the depth of this year’s team.

“We’re three-deep at every position, there is great competition in practice, and the boys are hungrier than ever before,” Scates said.

Notes

UCLA and Pepperdine will compete in the 29th Annual Collegiate Volleyball Invitational at UC Santa Barbara on Friday and Saturday. A field of 24 teams will feature four of the nation’s top teams and Manitoba, the top-ranked team from Canada.

UCLA forward Natalie Williams was named Sports Illustrated Division I player of the week and Pacific 10 women’s player of the week for Jan. 4-9. Williams averaged 27 points and 12.6 rebounds in three Bruin victories last week, extending UCLA’s win streak to six games. . . . Bruin freshman Michelle Palmisano set a school record with six three-point field goals at Ohio State on Dec. 22, breaking the mark of five set by DeDe Mosman last season. The Bruin women (7-4, 2-0 in the Pac-10) play host to Oregon State (7-4, 1-1) on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Pauley Pavilion.

The Pepperdine women’s basketball team (6-7) opens its West Coast Conference schedule this weekend, playing host to Gonzaga on Friday and Portland on Saturday. Both games are at 5:15 p.m. and will be part of a doubleheader with the men’s team. Pepperdine’s 68-point margin of victory in a 112-44 win over Cal Baptist last weekend established a school record, eclipsing the 1980 mark by a point. Junior forward Nikki Brodowy scored a game-high 22 points.

The No. 5 UCLA women’s tennis team will play host to Nevada Las Vegas on Friday at 1:30 p.m. and No. 9 Pepperdine on Sunday at 1 p.m. Both matches will be at the L.A. Tennis Center on the UCLA campus. . . . The UCLA women’s gymnastics team will open its season by playing host to Washington on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the John Wooden Center. The Bruins return senior All-American Carol Ulrich (all-around, vault) and second-team senior All-American Amy Thorne (floor).

The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame will have its third annual dinner and induction ceremonies on Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Westside Jewish Community Center. Sportscaster Stu Nahan will be master of ceremonies. Honorees include former Dodger pitcher Larry Sherry, former Phoenix Sun player Joel Kramer, former UCLA softball pitcher Stacy Winsberg, former L.A. Toro soccer coach Max Wozniak, track and field promoter Al Franken and UCLA Associate Athletic Director Michael Sondheimer.