Top-Seeded Bruin Kickers Will Face Fresno in 1st Round of NCAA Tourney

The UCLA men’s soccer team, the top seed in the Far West in the NCAA tournament, will meet Fresno State in a first-round game at 2 p.m. Sunday at Fresno’s Bulldog Stadium.

Last week the Bruins, 13-6-1 overall, defeated San Diego State, 3-1, and Cal State Los Angeles, 1-0. UCLA is the only team in the Far West to have defeated the region’s previously top-ranked teams: San Francisco, Fresno State and San Diego State.

Fresno (16-5) has won its last seven matches, including two last week to win the Florida International Homecoming tournament. The Bulldogs defeated Florida International, 5-1, and Central Florida, 1-0.

When UCLA and Fresno met last in early October, the Bruins won, 2-1, in overtime. The Bulldogs, however, are 2-1-1 against UCLA in their last four matches.

Sophomore forward Bill Thompson leads UCLA in scoring with 7 goals and 6 assists for 20 points. He is followed by senior Jeff Hooker, who has 7 goals and 5 assists for 19 points.

The Bulldogs will be without their leading scorer, Bill Wiskel, who was ejected from last week’s match with Florida International and will not be allowed to play against UCLA. Wiskel has a total of 35 points, including 12 goals and 11 assists. The Bulldog’s next-best scorer is senior Femi Olukanni, who has 14 goals, 5 assists and 33 points.

The seventh-ranked UCLA women’s volleyball team, 23-7 overall and 10-3 in the Pacific 10 Conference at the start of the week, will play its last home matches of the regular season this weekend.

The Bruins will meet Washington (18-11, 5-10) at 7 p.m. Friday and Washington State (14-18, 2-13) at 7 p.m. Saturday at the John Wooden Center.

Senior outside hitter Lori Zeno tops the Bruins with an average of 4.16 kills a game and a .309 hitting percentage. Sophomore middle blocker Daiva Tomkus leads UCLA with an average of 1.6 blocks a game and a total of 73 service aces.

The women’s volleyball teams of Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount will travel this weekend to face the same West Coast Athletic Conference opponents.

The Waves (15-8, 10-0), who hold a big lead over second-place Santa Clara (9-15, 7-4) in the conference race, will play at the University of San Diego (5-15, 3-6) at 7:30 p.m. Friday and at St. Mary’s (4-18, 1-8) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Loyola (12-15, 6-4) will meet St. Mary’s on Friday night and San Diego on Saturday night.

In non-conference matches, No. 19 Pepperdine will be at San Diego State at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, while the Lions will be at Cal State Long Beach the same night.

The Waves have won 11 of their last 15 matches, and their four losses have been to teams in the top 20: Brigham Young, Colorado State, USC and UC Santa Barbara. Pepperdine is led by senior outside hitter Julie Evans, who is hitting .296 and averaging 4.82 kills a game.

Last week Loyola defeated Gonzaga and Portland, both in three games. In the two matches, Loyola senior hitter Lori Rodman had a total of 23 kills.

The No. 4 UCLA water polo team, 23-6 overall and 3-1 in the Pac-10 Conference, will play host to USC (17-7, 1-3) at 3 p.m. Friday at the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center.

Last week the Bruins defeated No. 5 Stanford, 12-11, in overtime and UC Santa Barbara, 9-8. UCLA has won both its matches with Stanford this season, the first time since 1983.

Sophomore Alexis Rousseau leads the Bruins in scoring with 62 goals and also has 8 assists and 22 steals. Junior Fernando Carsalade, twice an All-American, tops UCLA in steals with 90 and has scored 58 goals and added 14 assists.

UCLA junior goalkeeper Mike VanderWaerdt has a goals-against average of 0.53 and 99 saves.

The No. 6 Pepperdine water polo team, 16-14 overall and 6-2 in Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. action, will play host to No. 7 UC Santa Barbara at 3 p.m. Friday and play at No. 5 USC at noon Saturday.

Last week the Waves split two matches on the road, losing to No. 1 California, 10-7, and defeating conference opponent Fresno State, 9-6.

Five Pepperdine seniors will make their final home appearance against Santa Barbara: Robbie Boyer, Aaron Chasen, Juan Carlos Garay, Scott Grasmoen and Scott Madill.

Sasa Poljak, who has 70 goals, leads four Waves who have combined for 236 goals, nearly 80% of the team’s output of 296. Poljak is followed by Rafael Gandarillas (65), Chasen (56) and Boyer (45).

The No. 4 UCLA women’s cross-country team will defend its NCAA District 8 championship on Saturday in Fresno. The winner receives an automatic berth in the NCAA finals.

Pac-10 Conference champion Oregon is the favorite in Saturday’s meet, and UCLA--runner-up in the Pac-10--will have to finish at least second in the district meet to merit consideration for the NCAA finals.

The Bruins are led by sophomore Laurie Chapman and freshman Melissa Sutton, who finished seventh and eighth, respectively, at the Pac-10 championships.

The Pepperdine men’s basketball team will play its annual intra-squad game at 7 p.m. tonight and play host to the Bulgarian national team at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Firestone Field House. The Waves will play another intra-squad game at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 19 at Westlake High School in Westlake Village.

Pepperdine’s women cagers will have an intra-squad game at 7 p.m. Nov. 21 at Brea Olinda High School in Brea.