SPORTSCOPE : UCLA Women’s Volleyball Team Heads North

The top-ranked UCLA women’s volleyball team (19-11 overall and 11-0 in the Pacific 10 Conference) will play Friday night at No. 19 Oregon State (18-5, 7-3) and Saturday night at Oregon (14-7, 5-5).

Last week the Bruins extended their winning streaks to 16 consecutive matches and 47 Pac-10 matches in a row by defeating No. 5 Stanford in five games and California in four.

In the two matches, Natalie Williams had 54 kills, 11 set assists, two service aces, 22 digs and 10 blocks and hit .313. Williams, a sophomore outside hitter, had career highs of 18 digs and 37 kills against Stanford. Her kills against the Cardinal broke the school record of 33, held by Patty Orozco (1982) and Liz Masakayan (1985). Williams leads the team with 324 kills.

The No. 10 Pepperdine women’s volleyball team (16-5 overall, 7-0 in the West Coast Conference) will play host to Portland (11-11, 3-5) at 7:30 p.m. Friday and to Gonzaga (17-5, 7-1) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Firestone Fieldhouse.

Last week the Waves lost in three games to No. 8 UC Santa Barbara and won conference matches against Santa Clara and the University of San Diego, both in three games. Pepperdine has won 26 consecutive WCC matches.

Pepperdine leaders include Cari Delson with 260 kills, Debbie Merandi with a .352 hitting average, Carolyn Hueth with 253 digs and Lesli Asplund with 92 blocks.

The second-ranked UCLA water polo team, led by single-season scoring leader Stefan Pollmann, will compete Saturday and Sunday in the Cal State Long Beach 49er Invitational. Winners of morning pairings will play at the Belmont Plaza Pool, and the consolation bracket will be held at Cal State Long Beach.

Last week Pollmann scored four goals as the Bruins lost in five overtime periods to No. 3 Stanford, 10-9. That gave him 83 goals for the season, breaking the record of 81 by Alexis Rousseau. UCLA goalkeeper Dan Hackett had 23 saves against the Cardinal. The Bruins also lost to No. 1 California, 7-5.

The No. 5 Pepperdine water polo team (12-7 overall, 4-1 in the Big West Conference as the week began) also will compete this weekend in the 49er invitational.

Last week the Waves extended their winning streak to six consecutive matches by defeating No. 4 UC Santa Barbara, 8-7, and No. 6 USC, 9-7. Geoffrey Clark had a team-high four goals against Santa Barbara, and Henry Rabello led the Waves with three goals against the Trojans. Rabello tops Pepperdine with 51 goals and Clark has 45.

The UCLA men’s soccer team (13-1-3) will play host to Cal State Fullerton at 2 p.m. Sunday at the North Soccer Field on campus.

Last week the Bruins won the sixth annual UCLA-Met Life tournament for the fifth time, defeating Wake Forest, 2-0, in overtime in the championship game and shutting out Air Force, 3-0, in a first-round match.

UCLA’s Joe-Max Moore was named the tournament’s top offensive player, and teammates Billy Thompson, Sam George and Ray Fernandez were named to the all-tournament team. Thompson leads the Bruins with 34 points on 14 goals and six assists and Moore has 25 points on nine goals and seven assists.

The UCLA men’s and women’s swim teams will begin the season this weekend. The men’s squad will hold an intra-squad meet at 3:30 p.m. Friday and play host to an alumni team at noon Sunday at the men’s gymnasium pool. The women will play host to Cal State Long Beach at 2 p.m. Friday at the men’s gym pool. The Bruin men are led by All-Americans Andrea Cecci and Mark Thompson and the Bruin women by All-Americans Kris Stoudt and Christy Richardson.

The No. 4 UCLA women’s golf team will compete today through Saturday in the Stanford invitational. The Bruin men finished eighth out of 21 teams at the Cardinal men’s invitational with 897 strokes to 880 for first-place California.

The Pepperdine men’s golf team finished 10th among 15 teams in the Robertson Homes Collegiate invitational with 880 to 858 for first-place Pacific. Pepperdine’s Jeff Gove tied for 16th place with 217.

The UCLA women’s and men’s cross-country teams will compete Saturday in the Pac-10 championships at Stanford. In last week’s Cal Poly Pomona invitational, team scores were not kept, but UCLA’s Kira Jorgensen finished seventh on the 5,000-meter course in 17:23.

The Pepperdine men’s and women’s cross-country teams will compete Saturday in the West Coast Conference championships at San Mateo.

The West Los Angeles College men’s cross-country team will compete Tuesday in the Western State Conference championships at Moorpark College.