UCLA to Face Stanford for Men’s Volleyball Title

Freshman Adam Naeve had the big kills and the big serves as UCLA, stretched to a fifth game for the first time in 20 trips to the final four, edged Penn State, 15-13, 13-15, 15-4, 10-15, 15-10, Thursday in the semifinals of the NCAA men’s volleyball tournament at Columbus, Ohio.

The victory put the Bruins (24-4) in Saturday’s championship game against Stanford (26-3), which earlier eliminated Ball State, 15-6, 15-9, 15-10.

Stanford upset UCLA last week in the finals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament.

The Bruins are seeking their 17th NCAA championship, which would give Coach Al Scates more than any other coach. Heading into the finals, he is tied with Houston men’s golf coach Dave Williams with 16 national titles.

Colleges

The NCAA put Texas El Paso’s troubled athletic department back on probation, this time for five years.

Several violations were found that David Swank, chairman of the NCAA Committee on Infractions, characterized as relatively minor but rampant.

Swank said the violations--in football, men’s and women’s basketball and women’s rifle--concerned grade-average calculations, athletes’ free use of departmental copying machines, overall institutional compliance and other problems.

Pawnbroker Dan Jelladian, a key figure in the probe into alleged point shaving in Fresno State basketball games. paid bonuses to other gamblers to place large bets for him when suspicious bookmakers wouldn’t take his wagers, the Fresno Bee reported.

Three Louisiana State football coaches have reimbursed the university more than $1,900 for long-distance phone calls that could have been interpreted as personal calls.

College Basketball

The courting of former UCLA coach Jim Harrick by Rhode Island might have hit a snag.

A wave of phone calls to the university has led school officials to postpone a decision on hiring Harrick, Athletic Director Ron Petro said.

“We’ve had so many calls to so many search committee members and so many people,” Petro said. “We’re just listening and deciding and checking everything out.”

After two days of increasingly serious talks, Harrick flew back to Southern California on Thursday morning without an offer.

Said Petro: “We’re just doing more investigation and basically that’s it.”

Harrick could not be reached for comment.

Michigan forward Robert Traylor, whose ties to a university booster are being investigated, will leave school and make himself eligible for the NBA draft, the Detroit Free Press reported. Also, Michigan severed ties with basketball recruit Dionte Harvey after officials learned the player pleaded guilty to a sex offense involving a 16-year-old girl.

Tennis

Magnus Norman of Sweden had 18 aces on the way to beating fourth-seeded Andre Agassi, 7-6 (9-7), 3-6, 6-3, in the AT&T; Challenge at Duluth, Ga. Agassi offered no comment on his loss, electing instead to pay the $1,000 fine levied by the ATP Tour.

Anke Huber, playing for the first time in a month because of a shoulder injury, lost, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2), to Barbara Schett of Austria in the second round of the Rexona Cup at Hamburg, Germany. . . . Yevgeny Kafelnikov, coming back from a three-month injury layoff, joined the list of defeated seeded players in the Czech Open, when he lost, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4, to German qualifier Marcel Craca at Prague. . . . U.S. Davis Cup player MaliVai Washington had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee to repair damage from a February injury.

Mel Purcell defeated Gene Mayer, 6-4, 6-4, in the first match of the Coopers & Lybrand Champions for players 35 and over at Riviera Country Club.

Miscellany

Eight U.S. cities signed up in hopes of being the one chosen to bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics: Baltimore, Cincinnati, Houston, New Orleans, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington. . . . Rob Zamuner of the Tampa Bay Lightning scored 1:22 into the game as Canada defeated the United States, 5-1, at the World Hockey Championships at Turku, Finland. . . . American Michelle Collins upset Olympic silver medalist Anna Fidelia Quirot of Cuba in a women’s 400-meter race in Fort-de-France, Martinique, when officials reversed the order of finish hours after the race. . . . German-born striker David Wagner has been given approval by FIFA, soccer’s governing body, to play for the U.S. . . . Former Masters and PGA Championship winner Henry Picard died at 90 after a lengthy illness.