L.A. UNIVERSITY BEAT / WENDY WITHERSPOON : UCLA Gets Assist From North of Border

Glenn Bassett, UCLA men’s tennis coach, is pleased to be learning about Canadian culture this season.

Sebastien LeBlanc, a freshman from outside Montreal, and Robert Janecek, a sophomore from Toronto, have been teaching Bassett about their native country.

“I think some foreign players are really good to have on your team because it adds a little spice,” Bassett said. “You get to know other countries. They’re good players, too. They bring the level of play up.”

LeBlanc is Canada’s most highly regarded junior player.

Ranked eighth among U.S. collegians last fall, he was the only freshman ranked among the top 17.

LeBlanc is the first freshman since Billy Martin, currently a UCLA assistant, to play No. 1 singles for the Bruins. Martin won the NCAA singles championship as a freshman in 1975.

Even Jimmy Connors, who played for Bassett and won the NCAA singles title as a freshman in 1971, started his UCLA career at No. 3.

“I like the freshmen to earn their way,” Bassett said. “I just can’t do that with (LeBlanc).

“He has (already) earned it.”

Also, spots were available this season because four regulars did not return from last season’s team, which reached the semifinals of the NCAA tournament.

Before attending UCLA, LeBlanc was best known for his doubles success. He and Sebastien Lareau--”Les Deux Sebastien”--won junior titles at Wimbledon and the French Open in 1990.

Last fall, LeBlanc won 12 consecutive matches for the Bruins at one point. He was singles champion at the West Coast Fall Championships.

LeBlanc will represent Canada in the first round of Davis Cup qualifying competition Friday-Sunday at Mexico City. He is the youngest player on his country’s roster.

Bassett is eagerly awaiting the return of his No. 1 singles and doubles player. The Bruins resume dual-match play on Feb. 9, when they play host to San Diego State.

LeBlanc plays doubles with Janacek. The duo previously played together on Canada’s Sunshine Cup team, recognized as the junior Davis Cup team, which won the under-18 world team tennis title in 1989 and placed second in 1990.

LeBlanc and Janacek won the doubles title at the Pacific 10 Conference Indoor Championships Jan. 18 at Seattle.

UCLA is ranked fifth in the nation, but USC Coach Dick Leach said the Bruins should be ranked higher.

“I think that UCLA could be the second-best team in the country,” Leach said.

Guess who he thinks is No. 1?

To many, top-ranked USC looks poised to win the national championship this season.

USC returns its entire lineup from a team that advanced to last season’s semifinals at the NCAA tournament.

But Brian MacPhie’s nagging elbow injury might slow the Trojans. The injury forced MacPhie to default in the third round of the 1992 NCAA singles tournament and also bothered him during the Pac-10 indoor championships.

Then again, USC’s top six players are all strong. Consider: Although he won the Adidas Invitational on Jan. 24, earning a spot in the March 1-7 Newsweek Champions Cup, Wayne Black probably will remain at No. 4 or 5 for the Trojans, Leach said.

“We have some older kids who have been here and so (Black) probably won’t move up,” Leach said.

USC’s next home match will be Feb. 10 against Fresno State.

Who is the most important player on the fourth-ranked Pepperdine men’s tennis team?

All-American Charles Auffray or All-American Howard Joffe?

The No. 5-ranked doubles team of Cary Lothriger and Ari Nathan?

Actually, much to the chagrin of Coach Allen Fox, the Waves’ season could hinge on Sergio Rico, their No. 6 singles player.

Rico is a 6-foot-4, 200-pound left-hander with a big serve and a problem with consistency.

“The bullet is not always in the chamber,” Fox said of Rico’s on-again, off-again performances. “If (Rico) plays well, he’s very, very dangerous, but if he doesn’t, he’s dangerous to himself.

“It kind of follows the serve. When he’s playing well, people just can’t return it, so it gives him a lot of leeway.”

On Jan. 8, Rico defeated LeBlanc, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, in the first round of the National Collegiate Tennis Championship. On Jan. 25, he lost, 6-4, 6-3, to Brandon Allman, the No. 6 singles player for 24th-ranked New Mexico.

“It’s the kind of thing that keeps me from getting to sleep too early,” Fox said.

Notes

The National Indoor tennis championship will be held Thursday-Sunday at the Northwest Racquet Clubs in Minneapolis. The tournament is the third leg of the Intercollegiate Tennis Assn. Grand Slam.

The Loyola Marymount women’s basketball team took over first place alone in the West Coast Conference on Saturday with a 72-61 victory over St. Mary’s. The Lions are 13-5 overall, 4-2 in conference play. Last season, they were 6-21 and 0-14.

George Kuntz, who will coach the first Pepperdine women’s soccer team next fall, has coached the Cal Lutheran men’s team since 1988 and the women’s team since its inception in 1989. He led both teams to the NCAA Division III soccer playoffs the past two years. . . . Pepperdine announced last fall that it was adding soccer as an intercollegiate sport. The Waves will compete as an NCAA Division I independent in 1993 before joining the West Coast Conference in 1994.

Chainey Umphrey, a senior on the UCLA men’s gymnastics team, will compete in the all-around at the Winter Cup at Air Force Friday-Saturday. It will be the first time he has competed in the all-around since the 1992 Olympic Trials.

Umphrey placed second in the all-around at the 1991 U.S. Championships, but suffered a stress fracture in his foot during the 1992 college season. He petitioned to compete in the Olympic Trials and barely missed making the U.S. team. So far this season, Umphrey is 6-0, having won every event he has entered.