Plugged-In Recruiters Leave No Computer Chip Unturned

The recruiting wave of the future may feature . . . E-mail?

A university recently inquired about Saugus High volleyball player Jennifer Phillips by electronic mail.

It was a new experience for Saugus Coach Bobbi Estes, who has received inquiries in the past via fax and, of course, mail.

But never this way.

“It was real strange,” said Estes, who said she’s trying to stay up-to-date. “My 8-year-old knows more about computers than I do.”

Smooth sailing: Setting sail across the seas of City Section boys’ soccer. . . . it’s the Sylmar Spartans.

The Spartans, who were 7-1-1 overall and 5-1 in Valley Pac-8 Conference play at the start of this week, fight a constant battle to keep their billowy white jerseys tucked into their shorts. When the shirts do escape, they inflate as the players run, creating an odd scene.

“I know, they look kind of funny but I let [the team] decide and they like loose clothes,” Coach Manuel Vega said with a laugh. “We voted and they said they wanted them all to be extra large.”

One of the guys: At 6-foot-7 and with bleached, white-blond hair spiked on top, Cal State Northridge volleyball player Jason Hughes was hard to miss last year.

But this season, in the Matadors’ opener against USC on Friday, starting outside hitter Hughes blended right in .

His new ‘do is actually an old one. Now he sports neatly cropped brown hair.

“This is how it’s going to stay,” Hughes said. “I only did that because I lost a Super Bowl bet. But now I’m keeping it like this, clean-cut.”

Stats

The Cal State Northridge basketball team is 0-6 when it forces more turnovers than it commits, and 3-5 when it commits more than it forces. Go figure.

Volleyball player Chris Gil set a Northridge single-match dig record in the Matadors’ opener against USC. The 6-foot-5 senior outside hitter from Fresno recorded 23 digs against the Trojans, breaking Mike Bird’s 1986 mark of 22 against Ball State.

Nicole Albert of Cal Lutheran tied a school single-game record with 15 assists in Friday’s 101-64 victory over Redlands in a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women’s basketball game. Albert, a 5-foot-5 senior guard, tied a mark twice achieved by Diana Cortez during the 1993-94 season.

The Master’s College men’s basketball team (14-4) improved its record to 5-2 against NCAA Division II teams with a 78-67 victory over No. 4-ranked Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday. Master’s is an NAIA Division I school.

Quotebook

“I like watching boxing, but it’s a different story when he’s in the ring. I think he should keep with his promotions.”

--Rina Coetzee, wife of Gerrie Coetzee, former world heavyweight champion-turned boxing promoter. Her husband, 40, is planning a return to the ring, with a date against Larry Holmes probable for later this spring.

“There were some pretty big plans talked about in there.”

--Nordhoff High Coach Ken Reeves after Bell Gardens senior Michael Granville and Pasadena Muir junior Obea Moore said their goals were to win the 800 and 400 meters, respectively, in this summer’s Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Honors

Two pairs of former local teammates are on Baseball America’s list of the top 100 college baseball prospects.

California shortstop Dan Cey and Pepperdine left-hander Randy Wolf are listed at Nos. 38 and 39. They were teammates at El Camino Real High from 1991-93.

Long Beach State catcher Casey Snow and Cal right-hander Keith Evans are Nos. 85 and 88. They were teammates at Crespi in 1993. Also on that team was right-hander Jeff Suppan, who made his major-league debut with the Boston Red Sox last summer.

Of the four prospects, only Wolf, a sophomore, is ineligible for the draft.

The magazine also picked Cey as a third-team preseason All-American and predicted Wolf would win the West Coast Conference MVP award.

Things To Do

The Cal Lutheran men’s basketball team (9-4, 1-1) will play host to Whittier (7-6, 2-0) in an SCIAC game at 7:30 tonight.

Contributing: Mike Bresnahan, Jeff Fletcher, Irene Garcia, Mike Hiserman, John Ortega, Tris Wykes.