BRIEFS

CDM’S NIELSEN COMMITS

Corona del Mar High senior Blaine Nielsen has signed a letter of intent to continue his volleyball career at UC Santa Barbara, the school has announced.

Nielsen, a 6-foot-4 outside hitter, earned second-team All-Pacific Coast League honors as a junior last spring while helping Coach Steve Conti’s Sea Kings reach the CIF Southern Section Division II title match.

Nielsen had 10 kills in the five-game title-match defeat against Valencia of Valencia, which denied CdM a second straight section title.

Nielsen was also a team captain for Balboa Bay Club squads that won bronze medals at the Junior Olympics in 2005 and 2006.

“Blaine comes from several winning programs and is an outstanding player and a perfect fit for USCB,” Gauchos Coach Ken Preston said. “He is a born leader who will add a lot of energy and production to our team.”

LMU HONORS FRYER

Corona del Mar High product Jeff Fryer was inducted into the Loyola Marymount University Athletics Hall of Fame over the weekend in a ceremony in Los Angeles.

Fryer, a sharpshooting guard on the Lions’ men’s basketball teams from 1986 to 1990, was among five honorees this year.

In 1989-90, Fryer, then a senior, helped LMU reach the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament, just weeks after the team lost All-American Hank Gathers, who collapsed on the court during the West Coast Conference Tournament and died of heart failure.

Fryer, a four-year starter, helped lead the Lions to three WCC championships. He averaged 22.7 points per game as a senior, when Coach Paul Westhead’s squad averaged more than 122 points as a team.

Fryer averaged 17.2 points over his collegiate career and amassed a school-career-record 363 three-pointers. Of his 1,922 career points (sixth best in school annals), 1,089 were from beyond the arc.

Fryer also holds school records for three-pointers in a season and a game (11), and is tops in school history in three-point attempts in a career, season and game.

POWERS LEADS CLINIC

Pat Powers, an Olympic gold medalist, will conduct a 12-hour volleyball clinic at University High in Irvine Feb. 3-4.

The clinic is for boys and girls, ages 12-18, and adult players as well. It will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Feb. 3 and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Feb. 4.

The registration fee is $145. For information, go to www.VBClinics.com or call, (760) 635-3994.

Those interested can also e-mail Pat@vbclinics.com.