Return of Hilliard Gives Long Beach the Edge in Renewal of UCLA Rivalry

In a match that began the men’s volleyball season the same way it might end, Brent Hilliard showed up just in time to help Cal State Long Beach defeat UCLA in the Kilgour Cup Friday in Pauley Pavilion.

Hilliard, whose recent return from the U.S. Olympic team has given the 49ers a much better chance at repeating as NCAA champions, led Long Beach with 42 kills.

“I had in mind that I wanted to get my degree,” Hilliard said. Also, “I really like this group of guys, and I felt kind of a dedication to stay with them.”

Hilliard will be able to rejoin the National team in May and make the trip to Barcelona for the 1992 Summer Olympics if Olympic Coach Fred Sturm will have him.

The Kilgour Cup showcased the most talented teams in the nation. Cal State Long Beach was ranked No. 1 in Volleyball Monthly’s preseason poll and UCLA was No. 2.

The 49ers won their seventh in a row over UCLA, in four games, 16-14, 14-16, 15-7, 15-10. Long Beach has prevented the Bruins from reaching the NCAA final four the last two years, the longest stretch that UCLA Coach Al Scates has gone without winning an NCAA championship.

He has won 13 in his 22-year tenure.

Long Beach Coach Ray Ratelle knows UCLA is hungry. “They are ready to beat us no matter who is out there,” he said.

But Hilliard made the difference. “Frankly,” Ratelle said, “without (Hilliard) out there, we would have been in trouble tonight.”

The top four women’s basketball teams in the West Coast Conference will advance to the first WCC tournament March 13-14. The winner of the tournament will receive an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

Pepperdine (9-6) opened conference play with a victory over Gonzaga, 73-60, on Thursday and a loss to Portland, 76-71, on Saturday.

A year ago, Alon Grinberg lived in a world in which streets were deserted at night. Buildings shook each time an Iraqi SCUD missile hit near his hometown of Bat-Yam, Israel, a suburb of Tel Aviv.

In December, Grinberg came to the haven of Malibu, where he has earned a starting spot on the Pepperdine volleyball team.

For the past three years Grinberg, 20, played on the Israeli National volleyball team. In 1990, when the Israelis toured Southern California, Grinberg helped the team win all of its eight matches--including including two over then-defending NCAA champion UCLA.

Wave Coach Marv Dunphy, who coached the gold-medal winning 1988 U.S. Olympic volleyball team, impressed Grinberg, and Grinberg came to Pepperdine to play volleyball.

Grinberg plays outside hitter, along with standout Tom Sorenson, and is a much-needed addition to the roster. When Volleyball Monthly’s preseason No. 5-ranked Pepperdine met No. 3 Stanford in an exhibition match in November, the Waves struggled in hitting and passing and Stanford won in four games. “It sounds like this kid is just what the doctor ordered,” Stanford Coach Ruben Nieves said.

In the championship of the Pepperdine First Volley tournament Saturday night, Grinberg had 22 kills and Sorenson had 28 to lead the Waves to a victory over Stanford in four games, 15-8, 8-15, 15-6, 15-10.

Neither Valorie Kondos nor Scott Bull are new to the UCLA women’s gymnastics coaching staff, but for the first time, the two are co-coaches of the Bruins. Kondos, who was a UCLA assistant for eight years, is in her second year as a head coach. Bull coached at UCLA from 1980-84 and from 1985-87, and at the University of Georgia for the last three years, before being named coach at UCLA following last season.

UCLA, which lost its season opener to Oregon State, 189.10-191.75, Friday, did not qualify for the Nationals last year for the first time in six years.

Guy Baker, who was named assistant coach of the U.S. National water polo team by Coach Bill Barnett last week, will keep his eyes open. Starting goalkeeper Craig Wilson “will probably be teaching me more than I will be teaching him,” Baker said. “My primary responsibility willbe to make sure he gets in shape.”

Former U.S. National team assistant Tom Milich resigned last week because of a conflict with his coaching position at Fresno State, according to United States Water Polo officials.

Baker is also the coach at UCLA.

Notes

Mike McGee, director of athletics at USC, was elected to the Council of the NCAA, it was announced last week. McGee replaced Douglas S. Hobbs, professor of political science at UCLA. The 46-member Council establishes and directs general NCAA policy between annual NCAA conventions. . . . Brent Hilliard, after he had 42 kills to lead the Long Beach volleyball team to a victory over UCLA Friday night: “As a lot of people saw, I was not by any means a dominating force tonight.” . . . UCLA volleyball player Rich Bland, who played only four matches last season before he was sidelined with a herniated disk, started for the first time since his injury against Long Beach and recorded a team-high 20 kills and nine blocks. . . . UCLA freshman gymnast Kareema Marrow placed second in the all-around (38.75) behind Oregon State’s Charie Knight (39.250) in UCLA’s season opener.