West Comes Up Short in Olympic Festival Volleyball

Hitting over Tom Stillwell is a tall order.

The West volleyball team learned that lesson the hard way Friday in opening-round action at the U.S. Olympic Festival.

Stillwell, playing middle blocker, had 10 blocks as the North beat the West, 15-9, 13-15, 15-5, 15-4, at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colo.

The 6-foot-10 former Notre Dame High standout also contributed nine kills.

Paul Severns of Glendale had 18 kills and two blocks for the West.

In an earlier match, Donny Harris of La Canada had 31 kills and four blocks for the South, which lost a five-game match to the East.

In a women’s match, Jennifer Johnson of Sherman Oaks made 14 kills and two blocks but the East fell to the South in four games.

In team handball, Jim Hop of Camarillo scored four goals and Mike Hurdle of Reseda added two to help the West past the South, 21-17. Denny Fercho of Camarillo scored twice for the South.

In diving, Troy Dumais of Ventura captured the 12th and final spot for today’s finals by scoring 582.12 points.

Ricky Wood of Simi Valley missed the cut, scoring 575.70, which placed him 14th.

In tennis, Jason Cook of Woodland Hills and Mugette Ahn of Los Angeles fell in the first round of mixed doubles, 6-4, 6-4, to Amanda Augustus of Palos Verdes and Keith Brill of Columbia, S.C.

In equestrian, the threat of a spreading disease has prompted competition to be canceled.

Heather Bender-Atwell of Burbank (dressage) and Tara Ardalan of Sun Valley (jumping) were scheduled to compete.

Tennis

Second-seeded Erin Boisclair of Agoura Hills advanced to the 18-and-under singles final in the United States Tennis Assn. Junior National Clay Court Championships in Memphis, Tenn. by defeating Alexandra Stevenson of San Diego, 6-3, 6-1.

In today’s final, Boisclair will face Lilia Osterloh of Canal Winchester, Ohio. Osterloh defeated Kim Gates of Grandville, Mich., 6-1, 6-2.

Branha Pastorini, a former City Section singles champion at Taft High, has decided to leave the Cal State Northridge women’s team and withdraw from school.

Pastorini, who played sparingly as a freshman last spring, is taking summer classes at Santa Monica City College but is undecided about where she will transfer.

“I don’t plan to play next year,” she said. “I didn’t really like [Northridge]. The whole athletic program. . . . I don’t know. I don’t want to bad-mouth anybody.”

Football

Reseda High defensive lineman Ennis Davis was named to Student Sport magazine’s “Hot 100,” a list of the top seniors in the nation.

Westlake tailback Jamal Harris, Sylmar tailback Durell Price, Hueneme tailback Ronney Jenkins and Buena quarterback Glenn Dudley were named in the “Warm100.”

Volleyball

The Department of Recreation and Parks is accepting registration for its co-ed and men’s leagues.

Information: 818 783-0738.

Baseball

Sixteen local high school players have been selected to play for the 818/805 team in next month’s Area Code Games, a talent combine for players who will be seniors.

The following players were picked: Birmingham outfielder Fernando Centeno, Chaminade pitcher/first baseman Gabe Crecion, Notre Dame pitcher Chris Cross, Crespi pitcher Jon Cuccias, Crescenta Valley catcher Jesse Daggett, Royal shortstop Brent Egan, Chaminade outfielder Jason Giovannettone, Poly infielder Steve Guerrero, Crespi catcher/infielder Brian Luderer, Notre Dame infielder Steve Maitland, Royal pitcher Adrian Mendoza, Montclair Prep catcher Andrew Miller, Kennedy pitcher Derek Morse, Calabasas pitcher Tanner Trosper, Montclair Prep pitcher Brad Warner and L.A. Baptist infielder John Wilson.

The event, which annually draws hundreds of pro scouts and dozens of college coaches, will be held Aug. 14-19 at Blair Field in Long Beach.

Signings

Pepperdine announced the signing of former Arizona golfer Jason Gore. Gore, from Hart High, captured two Pacific 10 Conference championships before deciding to transfer. He attended College of the Canyons last year.

Other area athletes bound for Pepperdine are Kevin Barnett of Pierce (volleyball), Samantha Rigley of Alemany and Krista Stark of First Lutheran (basketball) and Natalie Escover of Bell-Jeff and Debbie Prouse of Thousand Oaks (soccer).

* Contributing: Darin Esper, Jeff Fletcher, Dana Haddad, Mike Hiserman, Michael Lazarus, Bryan Rodgers.