CHATTER: KURZEKA READY FOR THE VARSITY.

Byline: HEATHER GRIPP Staff Writer

Peter Kurzeka spent his sophomore season with the Agoura High water polo program on junior varsity, but he should hardly be a secret in the Marmonte League when he begins his season with the Chargers' varsity team next month.

Kurzeka, who was ineligible to play on varsity last season after transferring from Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks, has been making up for lost time as one of the hottest players of the summer. His latest highlight was a performance that earned him MVP honors at the S&R Sport Junior Olympics, where he led the L.A. Water Polo Club to the 16-and-under championship on Tuesday.

LAWPC defeated SoCal 6-5 in the final, with Kurzeka providing the final two goals. He had three goals in the game.

Kurzeka was also named MVP of last month's National Club Championships after leading LAWPC to the title. He was MVP again when he played with Agoura's summer team at the recent San Diego Suns International featuring players from other countries.

The other notable performance among locals at the boys' Junior Olympics was that of the LAWPC's 12-and-under team, which finished fourth in its division.

Simi Valley Youth fell just short of the Pony baseball World Series championship. The Simi Valley 13-year-olds lost 1-0 against San Juan, Puerto Rico in Monday night's final. Harvard-Westlake of Studio City senior Hilary Barte and Calabasas graduates Celia Durkin and Amanda Fink, all former Daily News All-Area Players of the Year in girls' tennis, recently competed in the qualifying draw of the Acura Classic, a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event at the La Costa Resort and Spa. Barte lost 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 to Vasilisa Bardina of Russia. Durkin -- a junior at Stanford -- suffered a 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 setback to Ukrainian Olga Savchuk, and USC sophomore Fink fell 6-2, 6-2 to Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko.

Durkin and Fink played doubles in the main draw, losing 6-2, 6-2 to Anna Chakvetadze and Jill Craybas.

Southern California rebounded from Thursday's semifinal loss to top- seeded Eastern to record a 5-2 victory over No. 3 Florida in Friday's third-place match in the USTA girls' 18-under National Team Championships at Blackhawk Country Club in Danville.

Fourth-seeded Southern California, featuring Campbell Hall of North Hollywood senior Katarina Reveche, missed advancing to the final for the second year in a row after appearing in seven championship matches and winning four titles in the past decade.

After setbacks to Brennan Boyajian in the finals of the Easter Bowl -- also known as the spring nationals -- in April and in the recent USTA 18-under National Team Championships, Harvard-Westlake of Studio City junior Ryan Thacher is seeking another matchup with the Weston, Fla., standout at the 16-under hard-court nationals, which begin today in Kalamazoo, Mich.Three Thousand Oaks residents -- Denis Lin (No. 10), JT Sundling (No. 11) and Kyle McMorrow (No. 15) -- could also be a factor in the tournament. Malibu's Daniel Moss (No. 29) and Campbell Hall of North Hollywood's Jenson Turner round out the list of area performers in the 16-under division.

Erik Boal contributed

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