SPORTSCOPE : Bruised Bruin Kickers Will Face No. 1 Fresno State Sunday

Things don’t get any easier this week for the UCLA men’s soccer team. The Bruins, who dropped to 5-3 overall after road losses to Yale, 4-1, and to Connecticut, 2-1, will play host to top-ranked Fresno State at 2 p.m. Sunday at UCLA’s North Athletic Field.

Against Yale, Nick Skvarna scored his third goal in four games to keep the Bruins from being shut out. Bill Thompson scored the only UCLA goal against Connecticut.

Fresno State (7-1-1) is coming off its first loss of the season, 1-0, to the University of San Francisco. The Bulldogs are led by senior forward Femi Olukani, who has 6 goals and 2 assists for 14 points.

Last season the Bulldogs ended UCLA’s 39-game unbeaten streak, 1-0, in the second round of the NCAA West Regional playoffs.

The eighth-ranked Pepperdine men’s water polo team, 8-6 overall and 1-1 in the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn., will travel north this weekend for a conference match Saturday with Pacific and a non-conference match Sunday against No. 2 Stanford.

The Waves opened conference action by defeating Cal State Long Beach, 10-2, and losing to UC Santa Barbara, 12-5. Junior Sasa Poljak scored three goals against Long Beach, and junior Rafael Gandarillas scored four against the Gauchos. Senior Aaron Chasen, whose playing time was limited by a hairline fracture of his right hand, scored only once in the two matches.

The No. 4 UCLA women’s volleyball team, 8-3 overall and 3-1 in the Pac-10 Conference at the start of the week, will play host to No. 18 Arizona State (4-4, 1-2) at 7 p.m. Friday and to Arizona (10-3, 2-1) at 7 p.m. Saturday at the John Wooden Center. The Bruins will be at unbeaten Pacific next Tuesday.

Last week in Oregon the Bruins defeated Oregon State in three games, running its win streak to five games, but then lost to No. 17 Oregon in four games.

UCLA is the last team to have beaten two-time defending NCAA champion Pacific, which as the week began had won 32 straight dating to last season.

The No. 14 Pepperdine women’s volleyball team, 4-3 overall as the week began, will open play in the West Coast Athletic Conference on Friday at Portland (3-7 overall) and on Saturday at Gonzaga (2-11). The Waves will play host to defending conference champion Loyola Marymount (6-6) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and to Brigham Young at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Last week Pepperdine lost to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in three games and defeated U.S. International in three.

The Waves are favored to win the WCAC championship, but Pepperdine Coach Nina Matthies said: “Each team in the league will be gunning for us, so we need to be mentally and physically prepared.”

National leaders for the Waves are senior outside hitter Julie Evans, averaging 6.14 kills a game, and senior setter Lee Hoven, averaging 14.05 assists a game.

The UCLA women’s golf team won the Brigham Young tournament last week, totaling 900 strokes to 927 for second-place BYU. Four Bruins were in the top 10, led by second-place Paige Wery, who shot 223 for 54 holes. Other UCLA leaders: Valerie Pamard and Debbie Koyama, both at 225, tie for third; Jean Zedlitz, 229, tie for seventh. Washington’s Nancy Kessler won the individual competition with a 221.

The Pepperdine women’s golf team opened its season last week by winning the seven-team Lady Falcon Invitational at Colorado Springs, Colo. Wave sophomore April Benefield finished second among individuals.