Tiara Might Mean a Crown at Azusa Pacific

Things have turned around for the Azusa Pacific women’s volleyball program.

And nearly all of it can be attributed to middle blocker Tiara Ainuu.

Last year, Azusa Pacific was 12-20 and finished sixth of seven teams in the Golden State Athletic Conference. With Ainuu being the only major change on the team this season, the Cougars are 20-9 and second in the GSAC.

Not a bad influence from someone who was ready to give up volleyball a year ago.

Ainuu was a member of the Samoan national team out of high school and received a scholarship to play for Carroll College in Montana. Two uncles who attended Carroll told her it was a great place to go.

“But they forgot to tell me how cold it is,” Ainuu said. “Winter was brutal for me. It was below 30 degrees when I was used to around 80 in the winter.”

More than that, Ainuu was far from her family for the first time.

“I still liked it there--I had many friends that I had to leave--but the problem was, it was getting to the point where volleyball was everything. I wasn’t myself anymore. When I came home at Christmas, all my friends said I had changed--that I wasn’t sweet any more. The game wasn’t fun any more.”

So Ainuu, a six-foot junior, decided to quit. Not only the team. The school. The weather. Everything.

Her brother-in-law started attending the School of Theology in Claremont in 1992 and suggested she move to Southern California, where she would like the climate and have family nearby. After looking at several schools, Ainuu decided to enroll at Azusa Pacific last year.

“No one at APU knew I had played volleyball before, and I didn’t go to APU’s volleyball games because I knew it might make me want to play. I really did not want to play.”

But after a year, Ainuu decided she missed the game, and her family persuaded her to give it another try.

“Now it’s fun again,” she said. “Volleyball in California is totally different. It’s more competitive, but I like it better.”

So does Azusa Pacific, which is seeded second in the NAIA Far West Regional playoffs and will play host to Dominican at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

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La Verne is still in control, but Redlands pulled itself into the race for the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football championship by upsetting Occidental, 30-6, last weekend.

La Verne, 8-0 and 5-0 in the conference, needs only a tie at Occidental on Saturday to win the championship. A victory by Occidental (6-2, 4-1) and one by Redlands (5-2-1, 4-1) over Whittier would create a three-way tie. There are no tiebreakers because there is no automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs by winning the SCIAC title.

Redlands’ defense was impressive in its victory. Occidental, with its wishbone offense, had averaged 236 yards rushing, but Redlands held Occidental to 145 yards and took advantage of six turnovers.

Middle linebacker Brett Wixom has been a key player for Redlands all season.

If that name sounds familiar, it should.

Wixom was the SCIAC’s defensive player of the year as a sophomore three years ago. But he sat out most of his junior season because of a broken hand and played in only three games last season before tearing an arm muscle that required surgery. He was granted an extra year of eligibility and again is a leading candidate for defensive player of the year. He has 93 tackles nine for losses, one interception and caused a fumble.

College Division Notes

Occidental senior quarterback Davin Lundquist has been honored as a recipient of the 1994 National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Scholar Athlete Award.

Westmont beat Azusa Pacific, 2-0, in the GSAC men’s soccer tournament final Tuesday and will play host to The Master’s at 1:30 p.m. Saturday for the NAIA Far West Region championship. . . . Westmont will play host to the NAIA Pacific, North and West Regional women’s soccer playoffs Friday and Saturday. On Friday, top-seeded Willamette will play fourth-seeded Western Washington at 11 a.m. and Simon Fraser (No. 2) will play Westmont (No. 3) at 1:30 p.m. . . . Claremont Mudd, which won the SCIAC men’s soccer championship, was eliminated in the NCAA West Regional after losing, 2-1, to Gustavus Adolphus last weekend. . . . Senior goalkeeper Tyler Snow set a school record for career shutouts (34) this season for Claremont Mudd. The old record was 33 by Steve Goodson (1986-89). . . . Cal Lutheran won the women’s soccer title for the fifth time in the five years that the school has been in the SCIAC. On the downside, Cal Lutheran (14-5) was not invited to the NCAA playoffs and its conference unbeaten streak was ended. Occidental upset Cal Lutheran, 2-1, on Oct. 23 to stop the 46-game streak. . . . Cal State Los Angeles will play at Seattle Pacific in the NCAA Division II playoffs Saturday. The winner will face Cal State Bakersfield, which won the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. title, in the quarterfinals on Nov. 12-13. . . . Brian Weisner has resigned as men’s and women’s soccer coach at Cal Poly Pomona.

Cal Lutheran (19-8, 11-1) narrowly won the SCIAC women’s volleyball championship over Occidental (20-5, 11-1). The teams will play each other Friday in the NCAA West Regional at UC San Diego. Chapman (23-8) will play UC San Diego (25-6) in the other regional match. . . . In the NAIA Far West Regional playoffs Saturday, eighth-seeded Westmont will play at top-seeded Fresno Pacific, No. 7 Dominican is at No. 2 Azusa Pacific, No. 6 Cal Baptist is at No. 3 Biola and No. 5 Southern California College is at No. 4 The Master’s.

Will Allen of Occidental and Helen Garcia of Whittier were named the cross-country runners of the year for the SCIAC. Occidental won the men’s championship and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, boosted by Jennifer Stuart’s victory in the conference meet, won the women’s championship over Whittier, 42-54. . . . The Cal State L.A. women’s cross-country team had a perfect score of 15 to win the CCAA championships at UC San Diego on Oct. 29. Cal Poly Pomona won the men’s title. Both teams won the NCAA West Regionals last weekend and will advance to the national championships at Nebraska Kearney on Nov. 19. Cal State L.A.’s Marissa Avendano won the women’s individual championship and was named CCAA runner of the year. Linh Le of UC Riverside won the men’s title. . . . Azusa Pacific won both the men’s and women’s GSAC cross-country championships and qualified for the national championships Nov. 19 at Wisconsin Parkside in Kenosha.

The SCIAC water polo championships will be at Claremont Mudd starting Friday at noon. . . . Cal Poly Pomona will play host to an event honoring former women’s basketball coach Darlene May on Nov. 14. Details: (909) 869-2810.