Hawaii’s Loss Won’t Be Pepperdine’s Gain

Pepperdine Coach Marv Dunphy said he was disheartened by the news that the Hawaii men’s volleyball team had been stripped of its 2002 NCAA championship because it used an ineligible player.

Pepperdine lost to Hawaii in the title match, but the NCAA said the Waves will remain listed as the runner-up. The championship will be vacant in the record books.

“The sport takes a hit because, for that year, there’s no national champion. The people that did things right there will suffer,” Dunphy said, referring to Hawaii. “It’s a good program with a great fan base.”

Last week, the NCAA declared that the player, four-time All-American Costas Theocharidis, competed for a professional team in his native Greece before attending Hawaii.

Dunphy said if there were rumblings of Theocharidis’ amateur status, he paid no attention to them.

He said he called Hawaii Coach Mike Wilton to tell him Pepperdine had nothing to do with the NCAA investigation.

He also made no argument for his team to be declared the champion.

“The fact that we were the team in the championship with them doesn’t make too much difference,” Dunphy said. “If Hawaii used a player that was ineligible, which the NCAA seems to have determined, then that impacted a lot of teams. Not just ours.”

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After a program-best 18-2-2 season that included a run to the NCAA round of 16, the Pepperdine women’s soccer program is showing it’s not a one-year wonder.

Jennifer Brewer’s late goal in the second half gave Pepperdine a 1-0 victory at then-No. 2-ranked Stanford last weekend -- the latest in a string of impressive victories for the Waves.

“Honestly, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a team as good as them,” said Pepperdine Coach Tim Ward, whose team defeated NCAA title-game participants Portland and Santa Clara last season. “To beat that team at their place is unreal.”

Brewer, a freshman from La Mirada High, already has four goals on a team that has its top four scorers back from last year.

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USC is expected to be the first college baseball team to play against the Cuban national team, during a three-game, five-day trip Jan. 23-28.

It is the first trip overseas by the Trojans during Mike Gillespie’s 17 years as coach. The idea was proposed to Gillespie by Adam Rendon, a former kicker for the USC football team, and Dale Zeigler, a Trojan pitcher in the 1950s, and put together with the Cuban Baseball Federation in July.

“The baseball opportunity for us is clearly a special one,” Gillespie said. “As college students, this is a cultural opportunity few receive. They’ll see things I think they’ll have a real appreciation for.”

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This Week

MEN’S SOCCER

Cal State Fullerton vs. No. 3 UCLA at the Home Depot Center, 3 p.m. Sunday -- The NCAA championships won’t be here until 2004, but this is a chance to see two of the Southland’s best programs in the first collegiate match played at the $150-million soccer-specific facility.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Cal State Fullerton at No. 17 Portland, 2:15 p.m. today -- The Titans are 3-0-0 without standout goalie Karen Bardsley, who is with the English national team. National champion Portland is still dealing with the loss of Coach Clive Charles, who died of cancer Aug. 26.

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

No. 7 Pepperdine at No. 24 Pacific, 7 tonight -- Behind senior outside hitter Katie Wilkins, the Waves bounced back from losses to Arizona and USC by winning the Honda Premier tournament in San Marcos, Texas, last weekend.

FOOTBALL

Pacific Lutheran at NAIA No. 12 Azusa Pacific, 6 tonight -- Pacific Lutheran’s Frosty Westering tries to become the 10th coach in college football history to win 300 games in his 39th and final season.

Cal Lutheran at Chapman, 7 tonight -- Chapman freshman Chase Twedell ran for 101 yards in his first college start in a win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.