Gauchos Serve Up School’s Best Start

UC Santa Barbara’s arena, nicknamed the Thunderdome for its raucous fans, figures to be at a fever pitch tonight when the Gauchos play Long Beach State in a matchup of top 10 women’s volleyball teams.

Santa Barbara is 19-0 overall and leads the Big West Conference by 1 1/2 games, thanks to a five-game win at Long Beach on Sept. 27 that ended the 49ers’ 30-match home winning streak.

The fifth-ranked Gauchos are off to their best start in school history. That apparently is news to Coach Kathy Gregory, who is 690-291 in 28 seasons but has not been to a volleyball Final Four.

“I never really care about predictions or rankings,” Gregory said. “Did I know we’d be 19-0? No. Is it the most important thing? No. We’re just sort of enjoying each thing as it comes along.”

Long Beach has been saddled with injuries, the temporary ineligibility of star outside hitter Lindsay Phillips and a lineup full of new faces. Yet the seventh-ranked 49ers are 18-1 and now have Phillips back in the lineup.

“We’ve just started to look like Long Beach State again,” said Coach Brian Gimmillaro, who got the 500th victory of his career last week. “We’re not us yet, but we’re showing glimpses of being us.”

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With victories over Stanford and California last weekend, the UCLA men’s soccer team returned to the top five in the National Soccer Coaches Assn. of America rankings heading into Pacific 10 Conference matches today at Oregon State and Sunday at Washington.

The fourth-ranked Bruins (8-1-2, 3-0-0) lead the Pac-10 after the two home wins. Jimmy Frazelle scored 1 minute 47 seconds into overtime to defeat the then-No. 1-ranked Cardinal, 1-0. Matt Taylor scored the decisive goal in a 2-1 victory over the 13th-ranked Golden Bears. UCLA is 4-1-1 against top-ranked teams since 1998.

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The NCAA has declared USC freshman middle blocker Bibiana Candelas eligible for competition. The NCAA had looked into her eligibility once she arrived in September after playing for Mexico in the world championships. She joined the top-ranked Trojans on their trip to Washington and Washington State this weekend.

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Six teams remain in contention for the Big West Conference women’s soccer title, including surprising Long Beach State. The 49ers (5-7-4, 3-0-2) have rallied from an 0-5-1 start and defeated defending conference champion Cal State Fullerton last week on Abie Curry’s goal in the final minute of regulation.... The Pepperdine women’s soccer team went to Portland last Sunday and upset the second-ranked Pilots, 2-0. The Waves (12-1-2, 2-1-0 in West Coast Conference) host defending national champion Santa Clara today.