COLLEGES / IRENE GARCIA : They Returned to Coach After Starting as Players

The Loyola Marymount men’s volleyball program has become a family affair.

First-year Coach Rick McLaughlin and assistants Mike Longacre and Chuck Donlon played volleyball for the Lions. All of the coaches have been out of school for less than three years.

McLaughlin, who replaced Mike Normand, was a four-year starter from 1987 through 1990.

McLaughlin, who was a setter, led the Lions to a No. 8 national ranking in 1990, the highest ranking in school history. After graduating, he was an assistant for two year at Pepperdine.

McLaughlin, 24, also was an assistant for the U.S. men’s and women’s national teams.

Longacre was an outside hitter from 1988 to 1991. He was a member of the North team that won a bronze medal at the 1991 Olympic Festival in Los Angeles. Longacre also was an assistant under Normand last season.

Donlon, a graduate of Bishop Montgomery High, was the Lions’ starting middle blocker from 1988 through 1991.

Loyola will open its season on Jan. 26 against Princeton at Gersten Pavilion. McLaughlin, whose brother Jim McLaughlin is the USC men’s volleyball coach, will try to improve on last year’s 3-24 record.

Loyola will compete in the newly created Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, which includes powerhouse UCLA, Brigham Young, Cal State Northridge, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine and Pepperdine.

The Lions were 0-16 in the Wilson Division of the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. in 1991.

Loyola tennis Coach Jamie Sanchez was elected to the school’s athletic hall of fame this week and will be inducted in a ceremony later this month.

Sanchez is in his 19th season as men’s tennis coach and 18th as women’s coach.

A 1975 Loyola graduate, Sanchez earned eight varsity letters--four in tennis and four as an offensive lineman in football--at the school. Since joining the NCAA Division I in 1983, the Loyola women have a 136-17 record.

Loyola placed third last season in the eight-member West Coast Conference. The Lions will open the 1993 season Monday at home against Cal State Bakersfield.

The men will open at home against Southern California College on Thursday. The Lions have competed in Division I during Sanchez’s tenure and have won 205 matches.

The Harbor College women’s basketball team is 3-0 in South Coast Conference play. Sophomore guard Bridgete Williams, a Morningside High graduate, continues to lead the state in scoring at 40 points a game.

The Seahawks (17-2) opened conference play with an 85-64 victory at Mt. San Antonio College on Jan. 6. On Friday, Harbor routed rival El Camino College, 103-52, and on Wednesday the Seahawks beat Cerritos, 102-83.

Harbor’s Williams scored a game-high 41 points, point guard LaTasha Burnett had 21, forward LaKeisha Mellinger 17, guard Kim Fraser 14 and forward Rachel Ooms had 10 against El Camino, which reached the state finals last season.

The Seahawks lead the seven-member SCC in field goal percentage (48%) and assists (20 a game). Harbor ranks second to Long Beach City College in three-point field goal percentage (40%), and Burnett, a freshman from Lynwood High, leads the conference with 114 assists.

Although the Harbor men’s team is only 11-10 in nonconference games, the Seahawks are expected to finish in the top half of the competitive six-member SCC.

Harbor’s Bassirou Niang ranks second in the league to El Camino’s Mark Johnson in scoring (21 points a game). The 6-foot-7 sophomore center leads the conference in rebounding at 9.2.

Harbor freshman guard Roland Merriwether leads the league in free-throw shooting at 87%.

“Harbor has an excellent team,” said El Camino Coach Paul Landreaux, whose team lost to the Seahawks, 94-66, in a nonconference game. “They run and do a lot of good things.”

Harbor will play host to El Camino on Jan. 30. The teams will meet again on Feb. 20 at El Camino.

On Saturday, Harbor will play host to Long Beach City College in its league opener.