Wayne Bryan

These days, Darin Pleasant, an All-American and the top tennis player at Moorpark College, spends his afternoons polishing his overhead smash. Oh, Pleasant has honed the skill of hammering a tennis ball down an opponent's throat. This summer, he's working at a construction site, learning how to drive a three-inch nail into a slab of pine. "I just got my share of tennis, so I'm taking a break," Pleasant said. "I go out and hit three or four times a week but it's nothing too grueling.

A group of five doubles teams from Cabrillo Racquet Club played host to and defeated a contingent from Warner Center Club, 3-2, Saturday in a challenge match initiated by Warner pro Doug Doss. You remember Doss. He's the one who issued this bold prediction a week ago: "We're going to go up there and slime (Cabrillo). That's on the record. They've got new courts but it doesn't matter if we play them on cow dung, we'll still beat them."

The new California Music Theatre has wisely opened its first season at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium with a show that we don't see every day, Frank Loesser's "The Most Happy Fella" (1956). The reason why we don't see it every day is obvious. Coming off "Guys and Dolls," Loesser wanted to write a serious Rodgers and Hammerstein-type musical drama--a kind of American verismo opera. His vehicle was Sidney Howard's 1924 drama "They Knew What They Wanted."

There's an awful lot to like about Fullerton Civic Light Opera's production of the DeSylva-Brown-Henderson classic musical "Good News." But first you have to accept the fact that this was the way they wrote 1920s musicals, with coloring-book plots and no traumas on the horizon larger than winning next Saturday's big game. Even though the more ambitious "Showboat" was already stunning Broadway audiences, they were still flocking to musicals such as this, and the reason is obvious.

Even as Broadway is rediscovering the pleasures--and financial rewards--of putting a fresh coat of greasepaint on such oldies but goodies as "Guys and Dolls," regional theaters are also taking a new look at old staples. For 48 years, San Diego's Starlight Musical Theatre has made a career of doing old-fashioned musicals the old-fashioned way. Now with "Good News!

Heidi Voorhees of Valley Village advanced to the semifinal round of the Women's Trans-National golf championship Friday before being eliminated at the Del Rio Country Club in Modesto, Calif. Voorhees, a Notre Dame High and USC graduate, advanced to the semifinals by defeating Melinda Daniels of Stanford in a morning match, 4 and 2. In the afternoon, Voorhees was defeated by Melinda Port of St. Louis, 2 up. Voorhees was one-under par when the match ended on the 17th hole.

Old-fashioned flair enlivens "Me and My Girl," continuing Musical Theatre West's 50th anniversary season in Long Beach. This revival of the 1984 revision of Lupino Lane's 1937 London hit is a breezy delight, courtesy of director-choreographer Roger Castellano and a marvelous ensemble. Music hall icon Lane first conceived his hero Bill Snibson for 1936's "Twenty to One." Semi-sequel "Girl," written by L.

Marie Meyers of Newbury Park led a U. S. sweep of the top three places in Wednesday's dressage competition, the opening event of the $148,000 Stockholm International Horse Show in Sweden. The show is a dress rehearsal for next year's World Equestrian Games. Meyers, riding Dimitrius, received 1.273 points from the five judges and finished just ahead of Robert Dover on Walzertak, who had 1.271 points. Carol Lavell on Gifted was third with 1.248 points.

Assistant City Manager Mike Sorg has been chosen to take over as chief of the city's troubled 49-officer police department, city officials announced Thursday. Sorg, 48, will replace current chief Albert C. Ehlow, who announced his retirement in October after 30 years with the department, the last five as chief. Sorg will begin his new position July 6. City Manager Michael W. Parness on Thursday rebutted rumors that Ehlow had been forced to retire after an outside audit of the department.

A former San Clemente police officer testified Wednesday that she was raped by former officer David Wayne Bryan after both had worked on overnight patrol. The woman became emotionally distraught several times on the witness stand in the second day of a preliminary Municipal Court hearing to determine whether Bryan will stand trial on felony and misdemeanor counts, including rape and assault and battery. He has pleaded not guilty.