Mater Dei Heads Beach Basketball Play

Mater Dei High School, the defending state basketball champion, and perennial powers Capistrano Valley and Marina are among the 16 teams entered in the South Coast Summer Beach tournament beginning Thursday in the Dana Hills High gymnasium and at Capistrano Beach Park.

Mater Dei, which recently won the Las Vegas summer tournament, features Kevin Rembert, Char Ruppel and Mike Hopkins. Capistrano Valley returns two 7-foot centers--Jim Waikle and Steve McCaughey. Marina returns Steve Guild, a three-time all-league forward.

The tournament includes seven teams that qualified for the Southern Section playoffs last season. It will mark the debut of Rainer Wulf, a former UCI player and University High assistant, as coach of Trabuco Hills. The first-round pairings:

At Capistrano Beach Park: 9 a.m.--Antioch vs. San Clemente; 10:15--Marina vs. Loara; 11:30--Capistrano Valley vs. El Modena; 12:45 p.m.--University vs. Troy; 2--Dana Hills vs. Savanna; 3:15--Trabuco Hills vs. La Quinta; 4:30--Mater Dei vs. Los Alamos.

At Dana Hills: 10 a.m.--Western vs. Laguna Beach.