Bob Samuelson

Two former athletes and two former coaches were inducted into the Cal State Northridge Athletic Hall of Fame at the school's 13th awards banquet Friday night at the Warner Center Marriott. Pete Accardy, whose men's and women's swim teams won 13 NCAA Division II championships in 24 seasons, was inducted along with Gary Torgeson, who led the Northridge softball team to the Division I Women's College World Series championship game last spring. Accardy retired in 1993.

For the United States men's Olympic volleyball team, Monday night's match was a big hairy deal. After a week at the Olympics of being more a freak show than anything else, the U.S. men finally earned some attention for something other than their Yul Brynner look. They upset Italy, the world champion, in four highly competitive games, and in the process started to look like a team that could bring a third consecutive gold medal to the United States.

Steve Timmons, who can become the first Olympic volleyball player to win three consecutive gold medals, heads the U.S. team that was named Tuesday for the Barcelona Games. Timmons, who played at USC, is the only player to return from the 1984 squad and one of six to return from the '88 team. "I've always felt like it's great to be an Olympian, but you're there to win a gold medal," said Timmons, who at 33 is the oldest member of the all-California team.

Junior Erica Washington ran a school-record time of 12.01 seconds to win the 100 meters and help the UC San Diego women win sixth place, their fourth consecutive top-six finish, at the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships in Waterville, Me. Washington surpassed her school record of 12.04 seconds, which she had tied Wednesday. She established that record last season. UCSD's women have finished fourth, fourth, sixth and sixth the past four seasons.

Cal State Northridge advanced to the championship match of the Ball State men's volleyball tournament with a 15-12, 12-15, 15-9, 18-16 semifinal victory over ninth-ranked Ball State on Friday at Muncie, Ind. Bob Samuelson had 28 kills and Neil Coffman added 21 for CSUN (10-18). The Matadors face Indiana-Purdue-Ft. Wayne, a 15-6, 3-15, 3-15, 15-11, 15-9 winner over George Mason, in tonight's final.

The United States national men's volleyball team suffered its first loss in the World League as China surprised the Americans with a 15-3, 15-0, 6-15, 10-15, 15-9 decision Saturday in Shanghai. The U.S. (9-1) still is in first place in World League play. The Americans visit the second-place Commonwealth of Independent States next weekend with the Pool A title on the line. The U.S. defeated the CIS twice earlier this month in Southern California.

The Olympic bronze medal-winning U.S. men's volleyball team dropped a 15-10, 15-11, 15-10 decision to Italy in the World League semifinal Friday in Genoa, Italy. The loss was the team's first in three 1992 matches against the two-time defending world champions. Outside hitter Scott Fortune led the U.S. with 21 kills and four blocks. Middle blockers Doug Partie and Bob Samuelson (five blocks) each had 17 kills.

Adrian Mendoza and Mike McNeely hit two-run home runs and Cal State Northridge won its ninth consecutive baseball game, 15-8, over Cal Poly Pomona on Friday at Matador Field. Northridge (21-17) built an 8-2 lead after two innings. Cal Poly Pomona (11-13-1) closed to within 9-7 with a four-run seventh inning that included a two-run homer by Rocky Asbury. Mendoza and McNeely each hit their eighth home run of the season in the seventh.

Many of the Cal State Northridge men's volleyball players scribbled "BS" on their socks before their Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. match against Stanford on Friday night. The reason, according to team captain Tom Ribarich, was to show support for teammate Bob Samuelson, who was suspended from the team earlier this week. The initials obviously didn't stand for Beat Stanford. The Cardinal, ranked fifth in the nation, crushed CSUN, 15-7, 15-2, 15-6, in 90 minutes in a WIVA match at CSUN.

Ken Stanley has expectations for his Pierce College volleyball team that go beyond its performance on the court. "It's more important that you're a good person than it is to be a good athlete," said Stanley, who was an assistant basketball coach at Pierce under Denny Crum in the 1960s. "That's putting it very simply, but we say that in a lot of different ways." The most important message Stanley had for his team before the season: Stick together.