CSUN Hitters Are Powerless Without Setter

For the second day in a row, the Cal State Northridge offense struggled without junior setter Heather Hofmans as the Matadors lost, 15-5, 15-9, 15-1, to No. 6 Penn State on Saturday in the third-place match of the National Assn. of Collegiate Women Athletic Administrators Volleyball Classic at the University of Nebraska.

Hofmans, a transfer from Long Beach State, was sidelined with a shoulder injury.

Northridge (0-2) committed 22 errors and had a hitting percentage of .000.

Holli Hansen had eight kills and Crystal Newquist and Carrie Kapfenberg each added five for Northridge. Trisha Moore, who replaced Hofmans, had 14 assists.

Football

Three transfers from Verdugo Hills High have joined several other newcomers at the opening week of practice at San Fernando High.

Junior middle linebacker Shaun Holiday, junior defensive end John Jones and senior safety Rashaan Dean are competing for starting positions, San Fernando Coach Sean Blunt said.

Blunt is also awaiting news on the eligibility of senior quarterback Larry Logan, who was a starter in 1994 and attended school in Fresno last spring.

Larry Ford, a starting running back as a junior last season at San Fernando, is now playing for Kilpatrick. The 5-foot-10, 170-pound Ford gained 525 yards and scored 10 touchdowns for the Tigers in 1994.

Baseball

Former Westlake High catcher Mike Lieberthal was recalled by the Philadelphia Phillies to replace Darren Daulton, who suffered a season-ending knee injury Friday night.

Lieberthal batted .277 with six home runs and 42 runs batted in at Scranton-Wilkes-Barre.

Softball

Championship matches will be played today in the first Dani Roth memorial tournament at the Mid-Valley Softball Complex in Encino.

The tournament was interrupted at 3 p.m. Saturday for the planting of an evergreen tree behind the backstop of the field as a living memorial to Roth, 14, who was killed in a car accident June 7.

* Contributing: Dana Haddad, Michael Lazarus, Tris Wykes.