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Show Page 6 THE HERALD, Provo, Utah, Monday. May ft Pro Volleyball Debuts Saturday: Stingers vs. The Stilt - Rohm and Hilary are veterans, each starting her fifth year as a When SALT LAKE CITY Robin Irvin attended high school in Glendora Calif pro. Hilary Pro and a she played all sports but perhaps because it was the big kame on 14, 1978 the she the beach All-Sta- gravitated toward volleyball So, when she enrol'ed at Barbara she specialized in volleyball and helped her team finish second in the nationals Now she is a member of Utah s Uie latest professional team Salt Lake City Stingers who will play their first Internationa! Volleyball Association games this wert three-tim- All e member e of team Robin was an in '76 and both women on the I fcfTT league All-Sta- r is a two-tim- r iham-pionshi- team Cai-Sant- a Kobin is the taliest of the three women standing :Vy Hilary is and Joni 5 5 Is height an advantage to a woman in pro volleyball'' "Not really. " Hobin said "In pro volleyball we do not rotate The women play as positions television or can imagine. Our drills are incredible and have us diving and scrambling all over the floor. I think we have the best technique in the league and we work harder than anyone. I'm completely worn out after practice." Robin said she is convinced Utah sports fans will become pro volleyball fanatics if they turn out to watch a game or two. And she said she believes that the Stingers' back line of herself, Hilary and Gallicano will be the best in the association. "We are playing good defense right now. I think the fans will enjoy watching us return those line drives by the men And Keith is very good setter for a rookie. I am sure the fans here will like us if they just give us a chance by coming out to see what pro volleyball is like," she said Joni is the backup for Hilary and Robin. A native of Phoenix, Joni played her college ball at BYU and now lives in Logan where she teaches at Logan High passers and defenders and week. The Stingers play at Seattle tomorrow night and then will play their first home game when Wilt Chamberlain and the Albuquerque Lasers come to the Salt Palace Saturday at 7:30 p m Professional volleyball is a coed sport with each team required to have a minimum of two women on the court at all times. The Stingers have three women on their roster Robin, Hilary , Johnson and a former BYU star, rookie Jonl Rogers. quickness and the ability to participate are our most important assets "Playing against men is a lot different than playing strictly women's volleyball. The men who are hitters and blockers are tall and strong and when you have to handle a spike by, say Wilt Chamberlain, the ball is coming at you around 100 miles per hour. If you don't handle it and get hit by it the ball will take your skin off. If you get hit in the face, the ball will wrap around The women play In the s. backcourt as There they team with the setter, rookie Keith Galllcano, as the back line and three very important cogs in the Stingers' machine. School. After graduating from BYU in 1978 Joni played for a r Utah USVBA team that finished second in the AAU and fifth in the USVBA Championships. When the Stingers opened a tryout camp at the Salt Lake YMCA, Joni signed up and earned a place on the roster. "When I first came to the tryouts I had an I don't care if I make it or don't' attitude," Joni said. "But the more I learned from coach Bill Neville and the more I got to know the other players, the more excited I got about trying to make the team." How does she feel about the league season? "My greatest fear is playing all-sta- it passers-defender- your head. "So, we concentrate on technique and improving our quickness. Our workouts ere much harder than anything you have seen on JONI ROGERS From BYU to Stingers against men, but I'm getting over that from our practices," she said. "This is a team sport and we all have to help each other to girls handle the first shot and I take the second one setting it up for the men in front "I think the fans will get more enjoyment out oi watching a good dig than they will a spike A dig." he explained, "is when a player handles a spike Spikes in this league are about 100 mph and digging one out is a real challenge It is also an exciting play. I win After playing think I'u be bored playing on an IVA-styl- team." But everything isn't rosy for women in pro volleyball Gallicano, a rookie who played college volleyball at the University of British Columbia, is in his first season in the IVA, but he knows what the women are in for "You have to have quickness in the backcourt and you have to anticipate. I watch the spiker's shoulders and try to get to the right spot at the right time." "We don't have a lot of tempermental men on the Stingers, but there are some of those in the league. And when things go wrong, those men have a tendency to blame the women The girls on cur team are all and can take it. strong-mindeWe don't have the same problem in this regard that other teams do, but it is a problem for some of the women," he said. Gallicano said he expects the Stingers to be the No. 1 or 2 team in the league and that his biggest task now is getting a book on all the hitters. d "It's like being a pitcher in baseball," he said. "You have to get a line on the hitters so you know what they do. I've been playing amateur volleyball for 13 years so I'm not inexperienced despite being a rookie. I think I'll be able to play in this league." Gailicano is and is working on his stands Ph.D. in chemistry. As setter, he plays the middle position on the back, flanked by the two women. 7 Well, league play starts tomorrow night and Saturday night the "As setter, I'm kind of the quarterback for the team," Galllcano said. "I call the plays and the options off each play. The Stingers entertain Chamberlain and the Lasers. It should be a great beginning for pro volleyball in Utah. Sonics, Bullets Keep Hopes Alive United Press International Washington and Seattle, the two NBA finalists of a year ago, were both faced with elimination from their respective semifinal playoff series Sunday, and both came up with clutch performances to hold on to their hope of meeting again. The defending champion Bullets staved off a furious fourth-periosurge deci3 by San Antonio to take a sion, closing the Spurs' lead in the San Eastern Conference playoffs to Antonio can gain a berth in the finals with a victory at home Wednesday night. A Bullets' victory would send the teams back to Landover, Md. Friday night for the deciding game. The SuperSonics forced a seventh game in Seattle Thursday night for the Western Conference title with a pulsating victory over the Phoenix By d 107-10- 3--2. A 106-10- 5 Suns. Gus Williams, points for the Sonics, hit a field goal with 54 seconds remaining, but Seattle had to withstand two Phoenix attempts in the closing seconds. An apparent last shot, by Walter Davis missed but the rebound went out of bounds and the Suns got it again with one second on the clock, only to have Garfield Heard miss at the buzzer. "We didn't really get the shot we wanted," said Phoenix Coach John MacLeod, talking about Heard's shot. "We wanted to go to Walt (Davis) or Paul (Westphal) down low but both of them were closed off. Gar had an open shot and he's not a bad guy to have taking a pressure shot. Unfortunately it just didn't go in." Center Jack Sikma, who pumped in 21 points Sunday after three poor performances in losses to the Suns, was also a key factor under the boards as Seattle held a 7 edge in rebounds. Sikma said he just went out and relaxed 43-2- who finished with 16 and didn't worry about his past outings. "I was happy to snap out of it," said Sikma. "I was loose out there today. I figured if we lost I was going home tomorrow so I had nothing to lose." Dennis Johnson paced the Sonics with 23 points and Fred Brown added 15. Paul Westphal scored 29 points, Davis had 26 and rookie Joel Kramer, filling in for the injured Alvan Adams, 19 scored a career-hig- h points to lead Phoenix. Even with the victory, Washington still faces an uphill battle to gain a shot at becoming the first team to win successive NBA titles since the Boston Celtics turned the trick in 1968 and 1969. "Don't give up on the Bullets," warned Washington Coach Dick Motta. "Our team is very capable of winning the next two games. And the pressure's on them (the Spurs) now. They don't want to have to come back because they know there's no way they can win here." Elvin Hayes scored 24 points and grabbed 22 rebounds and Kevin Grevey, who keyed a surge with eight points, finished with 23 to lead the Bullets. Washington held a 8 lead at the half, and in the decisive third period, while San AnWashington shot tonio's George Gervin missed his first seven shots as the Bullets took an 0 lead. "In that third quarter, things went haywire a bit," said San Antonio Coach Doug Moe. "We broke down defensively, took a couple of bad shots and made a couple of turnovers. We lost our composure for a while, but we got it together in the fourth quarter." Gervin found the range in the final period and scored 15 points. His pinpoint shooting helped the Spurs close the margin to 8 with 5:30 left. third-perio- 53-4- 84-7- 92-8- Mears Earns Indy Pole Spot Area Sports Notes if Belnap to Address Dutch Belnap, who resigned this year as basketball coach at Utah State, will be the guest speaker at the annual Spring Stag Banquet of the Old Time Athletes Association May 23 at the Prudential Plaza in Salt Lake City. The Spring Stag Banquet is one of the highlights of the Old Time Athletes' season. Tickets cost $6.50 and may be in this area from Moon Kurchased Lee Christiansen, Paul Gehring, Don Overly or Stan Watts. Tickets are also on sale at Stevens Brown Sporting Goods in Salt Lake. The banquet will be under the direction of chapter president Joe Cowley. It will start with a social hour at 6:30 p.m. and dinner will be at 7:30 p.m. Reservations must be made by noon, JliiiiiiiB -- Monday, May 21 and guests are welcome, Cowley said. Maxwell Stars (J SEATTLE'S GUS WILLIAMS, who scored the game winning shot, Intercepts a pass from Phoenix' Walt Davis during ac tion In game lix of their NBA semifinal series. Seattle won the 5 to knot the series at game 106-10- 3--3. Watson's Bunker Shot Sets Up Winning Putt - Tom Watson was DALLAS (UPI) forced to duplicate an almost impossiand when he ble bunker shot Sunday did, his third Byron Nelson Golf Classic title was in the bag. Watson made a magnificent shot that birdie putt at the first set up a playoff hole to give him the victory over Bill Rogers. An hour earlier, he ha"d birdied the same 15th hole with an excellent traD shot Rogers then missed & three-foo- t putt for a birdie that would have sent the playoff on to a second hole. "I had put it in the same bunker in regulation play," said Watson, "but in a little different spot. 1 had to swing out on it and hit it a little harder, but I hit a real good shot fortunately. When I'm striking the ball well I feel I can win anytime. That's different from three or four years ago. I feel at times I'm a great player and at other times I'm not a great player." Watson and Rogers had tied at after the regulation over the soggy but 275 72 holes Preston Trail Golf Club course. Watson 70 Sunday and Rogers shot an even-pa- r made a spectacular birdie on the 18th hole to tie Watson with a 66. The triumph. Watson's third of the year, earned him $54,000 and brought his season's earnings to $288,674. That leaves him within realistic range of becoming the first golfer ever to win $400,000 in a single year. Rogers, winner of only one PGA tour event, took home $32,400. Despite his loss, Rogers said he had something to be happy about. "I feel this is the best round I've ever played in my life," said Rogers. "I missed one green and one fairway and I was really happy to finish with a shot like I did on 18. "On the putt I missed, it was a little rough around the hole. And if you didn't hit it squarely, which I didn't, it would jump to the left. And that took care of that." Larry Nelson finished third, a shot back of Watson and Rogers at after shooting a 69 Sunday. Nelson had an opportunity to get into the playoff with a birdie on the 18th, but his putt slid by. Jerry Pate was fourth at 278 after a 72 and tied for fifth place were Morris Hatalsky, Jerry McGee, Calvin Peete all at 279. and rookie Mike Brannan Watson first came to the 15th hole in regulation play tied with Rogers at He put his second shot on t bunker the par-- hole in the and exploded to within three feet to pick up a birdie and move in front by a shot. - 5 right-fron- BYU freshman basketball signee Mike Maxwell of Salt Lake City was his team's big scorer in a losing cause durBasketing last week's Wendy ball Tournament in Albuquerque. Maxwell played guard for the North team and led his team in scoring both All-St- games. In the first game. Maxwell's North team lost to the West primarily 7 California players and Mike scored 26 points. Against the East which included such players as Derk Minnifield who is headed for Kentucky, Kevin Darmody and guard Robert Williams going to Houston, Maxwell scored 28 points as the East won, BYU assistant coach Roger Reid watched the tournament and said that Maxwell played excellent basketball. 127-11- 120-11- Mullet-Hoove- r Old-Time- rs INDIANAPOLIS Champs - AMERICAN FORK Dick Dixon Mullett-Hoove- r 162 to win the y golf tournament at golf course by three shots. Mike Hatch was second with a 165. Pinky Wilkinson finished third with a 182. Paul Miller won the 'B' flight gross title with 187. Greg DeMaso had 187 for second place and Ray Bowers was third with 195. George Schoell won the 'A' flight net title with 141 with Ray Fredericks second at 153 and Earl Monson third at 156. Dale Deveraux won the 'B' flight rrown with 146 with Craig Peterson second at 152 and Ted Tucker third at 156. shot a le Tri-Cit- Sweepstakes Titlists Bob Allen and Frank Eichelberger shot a net 61 to win the weekly Sunday sweepstakes at Timpanogos Golf Course. Terry Shellenberger and Glen Lassen tied Ted Belliston and Craig Norman for second place. Both duos shot 63. Gymnastics Champs Provo sisters Janet and Diane Nielsen finished first and second in the competition of the state 3A women's gymnastics meet contested Saturday at the University of Utah. Janet, only a freshman, edged Diane, a junior, by a mere three-tenth- s of a point to win the crown. The superb performance of the Nielsens enabled Provo to gain fifth place in the team competition. Diane had won the Region Six championship earlier to lead Provo to its first-eve- r region title. She won the state diving championship earlier this year. Janet also took top Dons Face Spartans in By BOB HUDSON Herald Sports Writer While Spanish Fork baseball coach Tim Braithwaite is well aware of Murray's reputation, neither he nor his team is backing down from Tuesday's fight in the opening game of the state baseball tournament. The Spartans favorites. are the The game will be played in Murray's Ken Price Park at 12:30 p.m. "There's no doubt that we'll have to play our best game of the year," Braithwaite said, "but I've talked to a couple of coaches from up there and we believe they're beatable. But, to beat them, our pitchers must concentrate on throwing to spots and we're going to need good defense and some runs. hitters and "Murray has super-goothose two pitchers (Steve Gehrke and Jim Slater), but we think it's lovely to d be playing them," Braithwaite said. He said Curt Evans would start on the mound for the Dons and the rest of the lineup would be the same as it has been the latter portion of the season. Provo will play Bear River at 3 p.m. and Pleasant Grove will meet the winner of Monday's Jordan-Wood- s Cross playoff at 5:30 p.m. South and Tooele will square off at 8 p.m. "We think we have as good a chance to win as anybody," said Provo's Gary Ashton. "I'm pleased that we're in. I feel the team is deserving and that we'll do well if we play as well as we have the latter part of the season." "I've been told that Bear River has a real find outfield in terms of defensive ability," Ashton said. "In fact, I understand they have a good defense overall. "So, we must hit for base hits rather d honors in the state individual vault. Other Utah Valley victors were Pleasant Grove's Elaine Hutchinson in the balance beam and Mary Ann Ewell of Payson in floor exercise. Provo's Wendy Madsen scored in both the vault and competition. "It's really fun to have the top two gymnasts from your school," said Provo coach Mary Visker. "They've been battling really close all year." Track Winners - MODESTO, Calif. (UPI) Brigham Young senior Benton Hart won the 5,000-metrun at the weekend California Relays, edging Stanford's Roy Kis-siby nearly one second. Hart was timed in 14 minutes, 11.4 seconds Saturday to win the event. Kissin was second in 14:12.2. and Leon Schots of Belgium finished third in 14:15.6. Kenyan Kitsubi Koskei of New Mexico took the mile run at the California Relays in 4:01.52, with BYU's Doug Padilla second in 4:02.21. In the Martin Luther King Freedom Games at Philadelphia, also on Saturday, former BYU star Paul Cummings ran 3:58.57 in the mile. But Cummings' time was only good enough for fifth place. Don Paige of Villanova took the King mile in 3:56.26. er n Umpires Needed 25 cars for the (UPI) million-dolla- - The first r In- dianapolis 500 qualified nearly 6.5 miles per hour slower than last year, but Rick Mears has no complaints. The affable Californian will start the 63rd annual racing classic May 27 from in only his second the pole position try at the rich jackpot. Mears became the 21st of Sunday's 25 qualifiers and his was the last shot at Tom SneyjLwho almost pulled off an sweep for unprecedented three-yea- r the No. 1 starting position. "It put a lot of pressure on us going last and it worked on me," he said. "I came close to making a couple of mis- takes." Mears, 27, of Bakersfield, Calif., thought he had scraped the wail on his first qualifying lap but he kept going. He averaged 183.736 mph on his h trial r jn in a nearly a mile faster than Sneva, who had qualified 45 minutes earlier. "I didn't think I would have a shot at the pole," said Mears, the qualifier as a rookie last year. "Sitting on the pole is great really great." The time trials will be concluded next weekend, with the 33 fastest machines qualifying for the chase. Penske-Coswort- third-faste- Virtually every "hot" contender for 500 honors qualified Sunday, on a near-perfe- d day for racing. Among the exceptions was Danny Ongais, the flying Hawaiian who escaped serious injury in a spectacular practice crash Saturday, the first day of the trials. However, nobody qualified Saturday, mostly because of heavy morning rain, thus delaying the "battle for the pole" by 24 hours. high-spee- - PLEASANT GROVE Umpires are needed for little league, pony league, colt league and girls' leagues in Pleasant Grove. Individuals interested in working in n these leagues should contact Lee at immediately. The seasons will be underway shortly. Gil-lma- 8 Baseball Opener 3-- A than wait for them to make mistakes, but we have a good hitting ball club so I think we can do that. If we can hit the ball to the right spots and play errorless ball, we will be in good shape." Ashton praised both his senior Paul Francom and Richard pitchers and said he had not Christensen made a decision on which would start. "But I know they'll do an equally fine - - he said. "This is the first time in a long time that Pleasant Grove has been there," said Viking coach Jon Hoover. "But we went to the state legion tournament last summer so these kids have some job," tournament experience. "We're going to try to do the same as we've done all year," Hoover said. "We don't have any injuries or any sore arms so we're in good shape in that regard. "I expect close games," Hoover said. "And since our kido are used to close games that may be to our advantage. "But we've got to execute bunt, hit and run, etc. when we've got the opportunity and make the routine plays to win," Hoover said. "Right now I think Provo and Spanish Fork are the teams to watch." - Hoover continued. "On a good day I think they can both beat ?riurray. And so can we." fiai. Pleasant (irovc Provo Spanish Pork Timpview Dixie Springvillc Fayson Cedar City American Fork ri;(,io six standings WL jq 7. j.j 44 44 ,3.5 2- - 1.7 |