SportsScope : UCLA and Stanford Women Spikers Could Decide the Pacific 10 Title Early

Tonight’s showdown between the UCLA and Stanford women’s volleyball teams may go a long way toward deciding the Pacific 10 Conference championship. The teams will meet at 7 at Pauley Pavilion.

The title usually goes to one of the two, and either Stanford or UCLA has been among the four teams remaining at the end of the NCAA tournament for the last 18 years.

The Bruins, second-ranked nationally and defending Pac-10 champions, have won 22 straight conference matches over the last couple of seasons. This year UCLA is 9-1 overall, 4-0 in the Pac 10, and sixth-ranked Stanford is 8-3, 4-1. UCLA also will play host to No. 8 California (10-3, 3-2) at 7 p.m. Saturday at the John Wooden Center.

Last week UCLA defeated Washington and Washington State, each in three games. Against the two, senior middle blocker Daiva Tomkus increased her career block assists to 380, breaking Dawn Kenny’s school record of 372. Sophomore middle blocker Elaine Youngs had 15 kills, 12 digs, five service aces and three blocks against the Washington schools.

On a four-match winning streak, the Pepperdine women’s volleyball team (8-5 overall, 3-0 in the West Coast Conference) will play host to St. Mary’s (8-6, 0-2) at 7:30 tonight and to the University of San Diego (1-10, 0-0) at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Firestone Fieldhouse.

On the road last week, the Waves opened conference play by defeating Santa Clara and St. Mary’s, each in three games, and the University of San Francisco in four.

Sophomore outside hitter Cari Delson, who leads Pepperdine in hitting percentage at .347, did not play on the trip because of a back injury. Senior outside hitter Tami Seidenberg leads the team with 175 kills and 201 blocks, and sophomore middle blocker Lesli Asplund has a team-high 40 blocks.

The West Los Angeles College women’s volleyball team (6-7 overall, 1-4 in the Western State Conference) will play tonight at 7 at Ventura and will host College of the Canyons at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Westchester High School.

Last week the Oilers defeated Santa Monica College in five games and lost to Moorpark in three. Margaret Williamson leads WLAC with 64 kills and five stuff blocks.

The Santa Monica College women’s volleyball team (2-5 overall, 2-3 in the Western State Conference) will play at 7 tonight at Bakersfield and compete Friday and Saturday at the College of the Sequoias tournament in Visalia.

Last week the Corsairs lost to West Los Angeles in five games and defeated Ventura in three. Against Ventura, freshman outside hitter Marvette Williams led SMC with nine kills, and her teammate, freshman middle blocker Stacy Pierce had a team-high 10 blocks.

The No. 2 UCLA men’s soccer team (9-0-1), coming off a 1-1 tie with No. 4 Santa Clara, will meet California (5-5 as the week began) at 8 p.m. Friday at El Camino College and play host to Stanford (6-4-1 at the start of the week) at 2 p.m. Sunday at the North Soccer Field on campus.

In tying the Bruins, Santa Clara extended its unbeaten streak over two seasons to 16 straight matches and snapped UCLA goalkeeper Anton Nistl’s unscored-upon streak at 666 minutes. Nistl has seven shutouts this season.

Last week Santa Clara’s Jeff Baicher scored first, and UCLA scored late in the match on a header by Mike Lapper. The teams played two 15-minute overtimes without scoring.

The Santa Monica College men’s soccer team will play Pepperdine’s club team at noon Saturday at Pepperdine. Last week the Corsairs lost to Orange Coast College, 5-2.

The No. 3 Pepperdine water polo team (10-3 overall) will begin its Big West Conference schedule at No. 9 UC Santa Barbara (7-6, 1-1) at 4 p.m. Friday and by playing host to No. 4 Cal State Long Beach (6-3 overall), defending conference champion, at 1 p.m. Saturday at Raleigh Runnels Pool.

Last week the Waves defeated UC San Diego, 12-9, in overtime. Senior Sasa Poljak leads Pepperdine in scoring with 41 goals, sophomore Geoffrey Clark has 36 and senior Rafael Gandarillas, 25.

Earlier, Pepperdine defeated UC Santa Barbara, 17-9, at the Air Force tournament and topped Long Beach, 12-9, at the UC Irvine tournament.

The Santa Monica College water polo team (4-4 overall as the week started) will play at Ventura at 3:30 p.m. Friday and host Los Angeles Pierce at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Santa Monica High School.

Last week the Corsairs split two matches, defeating Chaffey, 12-9, but losing to Cerritos, 11-6.

The Santa Monica College football team (2-1 overall, 1-1 in the Western State Conference) will play host to Santa Barbara City College (3-0, 2-0) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Corsair Field.

Santa Barbara, ranked 14th in the state last week, is led by quarterback Ted Robison and wide receiver Greg Borqquist. In the team’s first two games, Robison completed 41 of 66 passes for 687 yards and five touchdowns, and Borqquist had 18 receptions for 312 yards and three touchdowns.

Last week SMC, ranked 11th in the state, lost at Ventura, 35-24, after trailing at halftime, 20-3. Corsair Coach Ralph Vidal said the play of his special teams, which made some crucial errors, was atrocious.

SMC linebacker Randy Cole was named his team’s outstanding defensive player against Ventura after he was in on 22 tackles, five unassisted, and added a quarterback sack and fumble recovery. The Corsairs’ attack was led by quarterback Jeff Barrett, who had 11 completions in 24 attempts for 195 yards and two touchdowns and didn’t throw an interception, and by tailback Charles McKinzie, who carried 20 times for 95 yards.

The Pepperdine men’s and women’s cross-country teams, which both finished second at last week’s Caltech Invitational, will play host to Loyola Marymount at 3 p.m. today on the Malibu campus. The teams also will compete in the Biola Invitational at 10 a.m. Saturday.

At Caltech, the host team won the men’s race and The Master’s College took the women’s run. In individual competition, Wave Dale Reicheneder was second among the men in 29:41, and Kim McElhinney of Pepperdine was second among the women in 19:43.

The UCLA women’s and men’s cross-country teams will compete Saturday at the Stanford Invitational.

The UCLA women placed fifth at last week’s UC Riverside Invitational, and Bruin junior Vell Lehman finished 18th in 18:33.

The Santa Monica College men’s and women’s cross-country teams, will run Friday in the Irvine Invitational and Saturday in the Alan Hancock College Invitational.