OLYMPIC FESTIVAL ROUNDUP : A Silver Lining for Piexoto

Peter Piexoto played a significant role in the longest men’s volleyball match of the Olympic Festival on Saturday.

He also played what he called “one of the best matches of my entire life.”

But it wasn’t enough to help the East, which lost to the North in the gold-medal match. Behind 44 kills by Brigham Young’s Scott Larkin, the North won a match with 111 rallies, 16-14, 8-15, 15-12, 17-15.

Jon Baer, the former Northridge star who was the East’s top hitting threat from the back row, aggravated an already ailing hamstring injury when he vaulted over his team’s bench in pursuit of a ball during the second game.

Tough for Baer, but thoroughly enjoyable for a standing-room only crowd of 3,350 that sold out the Washington University Fieldhouse. The match featured unusually spirited play for a Festival match, even one for a gold medal.

“You take some of the best players in college and you should expect that,” said Piexoto, a CSUN senior. “There was great intensity. No one wanted to go home a loser. When you play for a gold medal, you play with a lot of heart.”

The East fought off eight match points and appeared to have taken a 16-15 advantage in the fourth game before a linesman’s call was overruled by the umpire from across the court.

Given a reprieve, the North scored the final two points of the match, the last coming when Piexoto hit long. Paul Severns, from Glendale and Loyola Marymount, had nine kills, four blocks and eight digs for the North.

Despite his injury, Baer finished the tournament with 53 kills. Piexoto added 37, and had 34 digs and 12 blocks. For the North, Severns made 26 kills and 21 blocks. Doug Hughes of Moorpark had 23 kills.

In the bronze-medal match, former Northridge middle blocker Craig Hewitt had 13 kills, but the West was routed by the South, 15-7, 15-5, 15-5.

Hewitt, from Chatsworth, hit at a .550 clip. In four Festival games, Hewitt had 34 kills and 11 blocks.

In table tennis, Anita Zakharyan of Glendale advanced to the quarterfinals by breezing through three singles elimination matches without losing a game.

Zakharyan, ranked fourth in the nation, also won a silver medal in doubles. Lily Yip of Metuchen, N.J. and Kristey Reed of Enola, Pa., downed Zakharyan and Ann Alvarez from East Brunswick, N.J., 21-10, 21-12, in the gold-medal match.

In the men’s competition, Masaru Hashimoto of Pacoima was defeated in all three of his preliminary singles matches.

In baseball, Randy Wolf had two hits, a run and got a save as the West earned its first victory, 8-5, beating the East at Busch Stadium.

Tom Richards of Thousand Oaks finished sixth in the decathlon with 7,012 points, 638 behind the winner, Rick Barker of Euless, Tex.