Loyola Tries to Shake Pepperdine

First place will be at stake when Pepperdine plays 11th-ranked Loyola Marymount in a West Coast Conference women’s volleyball match at 7 tonight at Loyola’s Gersten Pavilion.

Pepperdine (7-4) and Loyola (12-2) are 2-0 in conference play and in a three-way tie with Santa Clara, which played Gonzaga on Friday night.

Loyola, two-time defending WCC champion, extended its conference winning streak to 19 matches by defeating Gonzaga and Portland last week. The Lions were 14-0 in the conference last season and lost only two games, both to Pepperdine.

The Waves, 2-3 against top-25 teams, beat Portland and Gonzaga last week. Nicole Sanderson leads Pepperdine in kills and hitting percentage.

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Cal State Northridge (8-8), riding an eight-match winning streak, will take a break from Big Sky Conference play with a home match at 7 tonight against 24th-ranked George Mason (14-1).

Northridge plays host to Bucknell on Monday night. The first-place Matadors (8-0) resume conference action Oct. 19 at Northern Arizona, the only Big Sky school they have yet to play.

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Unkindest cut: Marilyn Huschka, a top midfielder on the Cal State Northridge women’s soccer team, will not play the remainder of the season because of a torn knee ligament.

Huschka, tore an anterior cruciate ligament as the Matadors (3-9-1) beat Azusa Pacific last week. Northridge Coach Brian Wiesner said Huschka’s injury did not involve a contact play.

“She was just running through the center circle and cut the wrong way,” Wiesner said. “Marilyn probably has the strongest legs on the team; she was working hard and being a leader. It’s inexplicable.”

Huschka, a 21-year-old junior transfer from El Camino College, had one goal and five assists.

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Jump start needed: Wiesner said an inexperienced defense and his players’ inability to start a match with intensity have contributed to the team’s record.

“We start games and we’re immediately half a step behind,” Wiesner said. “That usually costs you a goal.”

Before Northridge played host to USC on Wednesday night, several Matadors spoke to their teammates. One read a motivational speech. Another presented a collage of positive statements.

USC scored on its first shot in the third minute, and outshot the Matadors, 24-5, in a 3-0 victory.

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Bleacher burgers: Notice the smell of char-broiling burgers coming from beneath the stands at Valley College’s Monarch Stadium?

It’s all courtesy of Carl’s Jr.

The fast-food chain has struck a deal with the school to run the concessions during football games. The Carl’s Jr. fare was available at Monarch Stadium for the first time on Saturday, Valley’s home opener.

The company already had what Chuck Ferrero, Valley’s athletic director, called a partnership program with the school cafeteria.

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Getting his kicks: Jeff Shea’s school-record 85-yard punt in the second quarter of Cal Lutheran’s game against Azusa Pacific last weekend was a thing of beauty, especially to Shea. He watched in awe after kicking the ball from Cal Lutheran’s 12-yard line and sailing it over the head of Azusa Pacific’s Jay Mayo. The ball was downed at the Azusa Pacific three-yard line.

“I’ve never kicked anything like it,” Shea said. “I knew it was going to be good, but I didn’t think it would be that good. It was just a perfect punt.”

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Three-peat: The three field goals by Cal Lutheran’s Tim Cronk in last Saturday’s game against Azusa Pacific marked the first time the Kingsmen have had three in a game since 1988. Cronk, a 1993 graduate of Hart High, converted from 41, 35 and 32 yards. He also missed twice from 42 yards.