Garland Leads Waves’ Charge

In his native Belgium, Al Garland doesn’t draw the fanfare Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin do in the tennis world.

Garland can make a name for himself known back home by the end of the month. In college tennis, the Pepperdine senior is a contender for the NCAA men’s singles title.

“I think he’s got a really good shot,” Wave Coach Peter Smith said. “He’s got a great college game. He presses, he makes guys miss. He can play any kind of game necessary to win at this level.”

Garland and his team could be hoisting trophies in the next couple of weeks at Texas A&M;, where the round of 16 team competition begins May 18 and the individual tournament starts four days later. Garland was ranked No. 1 earlier this year by the Intercollegiate Tennis Assn. and is currently fourth. Pepperdine is ranked fifth and will find out Thursday if it will play host to first- and second-round regional matches.

As the Waves’ top player, Garland has flourished since reaching the NCAA semifinals last spring. Earlier this year, he beat third-ranked Harsh Mankad of Minnesota when he was ranked No. 1.

“At the start of last year, if you had said I would have got to the semifinals, I would have just laughed at you,” Garland said. “For me, that was a surprise and it’s something that helped me this year. It was a great experience and it’s something that I’ll have for the rest of my life.”

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USC men’s tennis Coach Dick Leach decided 23 years was enough in announcing his retirement last week. The 11th-ranked Trojans hope to send him out with a long run in the tournament.

“I think they would want to send me out on a good note but I tell them I’ve got my rings,” said Leach, who won three national titles in the early 1990s. “This is for [the players]. I think they all want to win, especially my seniors, and they want to go out the best way they can.”

One of the reasons Leach, 62, is stepping down is to preserve his health. He has diabetes and must regularly take insulin shots.

“My daughter told me, ‘Dad, you’ve got to get out of this,’” he said after a dramatic 4-3 victory April 20 at Stanford, the Trojans’ first victory there in eight years.

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Long Beach State captured its first NCAA women’s tennis tournament berth by defeating UC Irvine, 4-2, to win the Big West Conference championship Sunday at Ojai.

The 49ers (21-2) avenged a 5-2 loss in the regular season finale two weeks ago. Cheryl Kindred, Long Beach’s No. 5 singles player, earned most valuable player honors for winning all three of her matches in the tournament.

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After defeating Stanford, 11-7, on Sunday for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation women’s water polo championship, UCLA was seeded second and will play Loyola Marymount in the NCAA semifinals May 11 at USC.

Stanford, which received the at-large berth, was seeded first and will play Michigan in the other semifinal. UCLA (21-3) defeated Stanford, 5-4, in last year’s inaugural NCAA title match.

Loyola (20-7) won its second consecutive Western Water Polo Assn. title with an 8-4 victory Sunday over UC San Diego.

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USC won its second consecutive Pacific 10 Conference men’s golf title and 17th in the 43-year history of the program by finishing 15 strokes ahead of Stanford on Saturday at Corvallis, Ore.

Ben Hayes shot a 69 on a final day in which the Trojans carded a four-under-par 356 as a team. Kevin Stadler shot a 72 Saturday and finished with a three-under 285 to tie for second individually with Stanford’s Philip Rowe, one stroke behind medalist Jim Seki of Stanford. It is the sixth top-five finish this season for Stadler. Hayes and Scott Oxandaboure tied for fourth at two-under 286.