Contenders Making Waves at Pepperdine

Perhaps Pepperdine should consider changing its name from the Waves to the Quiet Storm. There is something special going on in Malibu, but the question is, does anybody know about it?

The women’s volleyball and men’s water polo teams are putting together storybook seasons and are doing so without much attention.

Coming off a 13-11 record in 1996, the women’s volleyball team (17-2) is ranked No. 12 in the nation and is a match behind first-place San Diego in the West Coast Conference standings at 6-1. But that’s not Pepperdine’s most successful team.

The Waves have the nation’s top-ranked men’s water polo team.

Pepperdine has run off a 17-1 record with victories over several ranked teams, including California, USC, Stanford and UC Irvine.

“I think because both water polo and volleyball are not the so-called big-time sports, we are not getting much exposure,” water polo Coach Terry Schroeder said.

Volleyball Coach Nina Matthies says part of the reason may be the location of the school.

“Somebody once told me that we’re not part of L.A.,” Matthies said. “Since we’re out here in Malibu, it feels like we have to do five times as much as everybody else to get recognized.”

After a loss to No. 7 USC, the volleyball team rebounded with three consecutive wins. The third came Saturday, when Pepperdine handed Loyola Marymount, the three-time WCC champion, only its second conference loss in 38 matches with a 15-5, 7-15, 16-14, 15-10 victory.

The win put Pepperdine alone in second place, one match ahead of Loyola, with a rematch against San Diego still coming.

With three Mountain Pacific Sports Federation games remaining, the water polo team, which finished seventh last season at 10-18, is in great position to clinch the top seeding in November’s conference tournament.

Jeremy Pope scored seven goals in Pepperdine’s 12-10 victory over No. 2 USC on Saturday, setting the table for this weekend’s games at Pacific and Stanford. If Pepperdine wins both, it will be a lock for the top seeding. The Cardinal defeated Pepperdine in the semifinals at the Northern California tournament Oct. 19.

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Like their football counterparts, the USC and UCLA women’s soccer teams have started a rivalry.

On Sunday, 2,373 showed up at Spaulding Field and saw UCLA defeat USC, 3-1, to take sole possession of first place in the Pacific 10 Conference. Freshman Venus James had a goal and an assist for UCLA. Traci Arkenberg and Lari Kiremidjian scored the other two goals to help the Bruins avenge last year’s loss to the Trojans. UCLA leads the series, 6-1. UCLA is 13-2 and 5-0 in the Pac-10; USC is 13-2-1 and 4-1. Each team has four games remaining in conference play, all at home.

USC’s hopes of winning its first conference title are still alive, but it will need help. USC and UCLA will play host to Arizona and Arizona State, which is tied with USC for second place, this weekend. Fourth-place Washington and Washington State come to town with games on Nov. 7 and Nov. 9 for the last regular-season matches of the year.

Two of the best men’s collegiate soccer teams will meet Sunday when No. 3 UCLA and No. 6 Duke play at Spaulding Field in the UCLA Pacific Soccer Classic. On Friday, Cal State Fullerton (9-7) will play Duke (13-3) at 5:30 p.m. followed by UCLA (13-2) against Massachusetts (11-5-1). Fullerton will play UMass in Sunday’s first game 10:30 a.m., and Duke-UCLA is at 1 p.m.

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UCLA cross-country runner Mebrahtom Keflezighi must love Stanford. The last three times he has run on Cardinal turf, he has finished first. Keflezighi will have a chance to win his fourth consecutive Stanford race at the Pac-10 championships Saturday, when he will try to become the first man to repeat as conference champion since Washington State’s Josephat Kapkory in 1992-93.