SportsScope : Top Singles Players Give USC the Edge in Saturday’s Play With Bruins

The No. 1 USC men’s tennis team, 25-0 and 6-0 in the Pac-10 Conference Southern Division as the week began, should have a clear edge over UCLA (19-4, 5-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday at UCLA’s Los Angeles Tennis Center. Admission is $4.

The Trojans, with three-time All-American Rick Leach and sophomore Luke Jensen, two of the nation’s best singles players, have at least a double-edge advantage--maybe even triple edge--since Jensen is ambidextrous.

Although the Bruins had won nine of their last 10 as of last week, they have lost to the Trojans twice this season, 5-2 in a tournament and 5-1 in conference play.

UCLA Coach Glenn Bassett may have lost junior Otis Smith for a while. Smith, who recently moved up to the top singles spot, is being treated for scratched corneas in both eyes, apparently caused by contact lenses, a spokesman said.

But Bassett said his team has a chance of upsetting USC. “We are playing our best tennis of the season,” he said, “and playing on our home court before our fans is a big advantage.” If Smith is unable to play Saturday, sophomore Buff Farrow, the 1986 national amateur singles champion, will probably play Leach at No. 1. Senior Brett Greenwood will face Jensen at No. 2.

The No. 3 UCLA women’s tennis team, which improved its record to 20-0 with 5-4 victories over No. 6 Cal and No. 2 Stanford, will play today at No. 19 Southern Methodist, on Friday at No. 9 Texas and Saturday at No. 10 Trinity.

Pepperdine’s baseball team, 28-8-3 overall as the week began and 11-1 in the West Coast Athletic Conference, will be at Nevada Reno this weekend for a three-game conference series.

Coach Dave Gorrie’s Waves will play a single game Friday and a Saturday double-header with the Wolf Pack, 19-14-1, 7-6-1 and tied for second place in the WCAC with Santa Clara (19-17-1, 6-5-1).

Pepperdine is ranked fifth nationally by Baseball America and sixth by Collegiate Baseball.

In four victories last week, Pepperdine batted .336 and its pitchers had a combined earned run average of 2.06.

The No. 5 UCLA women’s softball team, 27-3 after splitting a double-header with No. 12 Northwestern and sweeping two from No. 8 Fresno State, will open Pac-10 Conference play with a double-header Friday at Cal.

The Bruins will play host to Nevada Reno at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Sunset Canyon field.

The No. 1 UCLA men’s volleyball team, 33-3 overall and 15-0 in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn., will try to clinch the conference title and an automatic berth to the semifinals of the NCAA tournament Friday night at Stanford.

The Bruins will play host to USC at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Pauley Pavilion.