Volleyball Standout Changing Schools

Melody Eckmier, a standout volleyball player at Van Nuys High, said Monday she will transfer to Simi Valley later this month.

The 6-foot-2 middle blocker, who will be a junior, said she cannot enroll at Simi Valley until her family moves into a recently purchased home in the district.

Eckmier is recuperating from a knee injury she sustained on July 8 while practicing with the Youth national team in Lake Placid, N.Y. She is expected to be fully recovered by the start of the girls’ high school season in September.

Eckmier’s older sister, Angela, will attend UCLA on a volleyball scholarship after earning All-City Section 4-A honors last year at Van Nuys.

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The Cal State Northridge women’s volleyball team has been picked to finish fourth in the Big Sky Conference in a preseason poll of Big Sky coaches.

Defending champion Cal State Sacramento received eight of nine first-place votes. Eastern Washington was picked to finish second, Montana State was third.

MISCELLANY

Gov. Pete Wilson announced the reappointment of physician Tirso Del Junco Jr. of West Hills to the State Athletic Commission.

Del Junco, 41, has been a commission member since last year and is the agency’s vice chairman. He’s in private practice in Glendale.

The panel’s main function is to protect the health and safety of boxers, kickboxers and martial artists who enter the ring.

GOLF

Anne Lee of Northridge, Linda Ishii of Westlake Village, Linda-Chen Olsen of Granada Hills, Cheryl Musser of West Hills and Pepperdine’s Jenny Glasgow begin play today in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Barton Hills Country Club in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Players will play 18 holes of stroke play today and Wednesday, with the field cut to 64 for single-elimination match play Thursday through Sunday.

DIVING

Emily Schum and Valerie Day of Dive Thousand Oaks finished first and second, respectively, in the girls’ 16-18 division Sunday at the Dive Thousand Oaks Junior Olympic Summer Invitational at Thousand Oaks High.

Schum won the division with a total of 330.10 points on 11 dives. Day scored 255.35.

SOFTBALL

The Hart 14-and-under all-stars posted a 5-2 record and took fourth place in the Amateur Softball Assn. Western U.S. national championships last week in Oakdale, Calif.