Fortune Smiles on Long Beach’s Streeks

Her name, Stephanie Streeks, could not be more fitting.

That’s Streeks, as in winning streaks. Since she came to California from Gering, Neb., two years ago to play volleyball at Long Beach State, she has been on a roll.

Last month, while seated in a Hollywood television studio, Streeks heard the words:

“Come on down! You’re the next contestant on ‘The Price Is Right!’ ”

Streeks ran squealing down the aisle, hugged host Doug Davidson and proceeded to successfully guess the correct prices of such items as a remote control and a jewelry cleaner.

Before she knew it, Streeks had struck gold.

She rolled up more than $37,000 in prizes on the game show, including home gym equipment, tennis equipment, a trip to Lake Tahoe, water skis, a ski boat and a car.

“It was like (winning the lottery),” Streeks said. “I was so surprised and I was so excited.”

Streeks said she probably will sell the boat to help pay the nearly $8,000 in taxes that the Internal Revenue Service demands on her winnings.

As for the car, a 1995 station wagon, Streeks plans to trade it in for a sportier model. Something more befitting a volleyball player.

Winning those prizes capped a weekend in which Streeks, a redshirt freshman outside hitter, made her first appearance with the 49er volleyball team. She had two kills in four attempts without an error to help Long Beach defeat New Mexico State on Sept. 23.

Her parents, who had dropped in from Nebraska for a surprise visit, were watching from the stands. Streeks was showing her parents around town the next day, when they were offered tickets to the game show.

California has been the land of opportunity for Streeks. As a redshirt last year, Streeks watched as the 49ers won the national championship.

For someone who grew up in a small Midwestern town, where she was Gering High’s valedictorian, such a winning streak has been a little overwhelming.

“If anyone would have told me when I came to school in California two years ago that we would win the national championship in volleyball and I was going to win on ‘The Price Is Right,’ I would have said, ‘Forget you!’ ”

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Frankie Hejduk grew up crisscrossing the border between Southern California and northern Mexico with a surfboard under his arm, camping out on beaches in search of the perfect wave.

But Hejduk, who was the national junior high school surfing champion in 1988, doesn’t have much time for surfing anymore.

He’s too busy as a starting defender for the UCLA soccer team. Hejduk earned the starting position last year. This season, he has four goals and two assists, among them the game-winning goal on a penalty kick in a 2-1 victory over San Francisco last month.

At San Dieguito High, Hejduk split time between the two sports. In the morning, he surfed in a special physical education class for surfers. In the afternoon, he played for the La Jolla Nomads soccer club, which won state championships from 1989-91.

The two sports converged on a spring day in 1990, when Hejduk surfed all morning to lead San Dieguito to the national championship in Huntington Beach. Then, Hejduk raced to Diamond Bar, where he led the Nomads to a victory in the State Cup final.

Hejduk would not say which sport he enjoys more.

“No comment,” he said with a laugh. “I couldn’t decide between them. I wouldn’t even want to deal with it. Surfing is definitely a more relaxing sport. It’s just so mellow out in the water, you have the sunset or the sunrise.”

These days, Hejduk’s surfboard sits in his apartment while he watches most sunsets from UCLA’s North Soccer Field. But if he hears about good swells and he has a chance, Hejduk grabs his board and hits the beach.

Hejduk wouldn’t say if the waves ever lure him away from his classes.

“I don’t think my coaches will want to hear that one,” he said.

Notes

Marv Dunphy, Pepperdine men’s volleyball coach, will be inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame on Friday in Holyoke, Mass. Dunphy is 212-89 in his 11-year career and led the Waves to national championships in 1978, ’85 and ’92. Dunphy also served as coach of the U.S. national team from 1984-88. In 1988, he led the United States to the Olympic gold medal in Seoul. . . . Others to be inducted are: Patty Dowdell, a member of the U.S. national women’s team from 1973-80; John Koch, an administrator with the U.S. Volleyball Assn. who died after a bout with cancer earlier this year, and Larry Rundle, a member of the 1968 U.S. Olympic team that defeated the Soviet Union for the first time. . . . The 10th-ranked Long Beach State women’s volleyball team, 13-3 overall and 8-1 in the Big West Conference, will play conference matches at Nevada tonight and at New Mexico State on Saturday before playing host to seventh-ranked UC Santa Barbara (17-1, 8-1) in an important Big West match on Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m.

The seventh-ranked UCLA men’s soccer team, 12-1 overall and 4-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, will play MPSF matches at home against Cal State Fullerton (8-5-1, 3-2) on Spaulding Field at 7:30 p.m. Friday and against San Diego State (8-6, 2-3) on the North Soccer Field at 2 p.m. Sunday. Then in the UCLA tournament, the Bruins will play Notre Dame (6-7) on Spaulding Field at 8 p.m. on Oct. 28 and top-ranked Indiana (14-1) on the North Field at 1 p.m. on Oct. 30.