USC Water Polo Sets Sights on National Title

Winning 10 games in a row marks success in any team sport, but it takes on greater meaning at college water polo’s top level, where the difference among the best teams is minuscule.

USC opened the men’s water polo season with 10 victories and rose to No. 1 in the rankings. But after consecutive overtime losses to California and Pepperdine in the Nor-Cal tournament at Stanford, USC dropped to fourth.

USC Coach Jovan Vavic feels good about his squad, despite the tough defeats.

“It means we can seriously contend [for an NCAA title] this year,” Vavic said of the winning streak. “That means this team is for real. This is the most talented and deepest team I’ve ever had, deeper than the team that won in 1998.”

Putting together 10 consecutive victories was no simple task. Six of the 10 were by one or two goals.

The similarities in talent of the teams in California puts a premium on preparedness for each game, and Vavic said that ultimately led to high-quality matches each time out.

“Any given day, anyone can win,” he said. “This year is probably the closest among the teams. [Loyola Marymount] almost beat Berkeley. We almost got beat by Irvine.

“You can have an off day and you can lose to anybody. It makes it real exciting as a coach.”

Another tight match occurred last week as the Trojans (11-2) defeated national champion Stanford, 9-7, at McDonald’s Swim Stadium. In defeating the Cardinal for the second time this season, USC scored six third-period goals to rally from a 4-1 deficit, enabling it to jump back to No. 2 in this week’s rankings.

In the victory, USC survived a match-high four goals by Stanford’s Tony Azevedo, the reigning college player of the year and one of the world’s best players.

“He’s the Michael Jordan of water polo,” Vavic said of the former Long Beach Wilson High star. “He just makes everyone around him better. It is a challenge every time you play against him, but I do like challenges, and trying to stop a great player is one of them.”

*

Loyola Marymount has all four of its fall dual competition sports in the national rankings for the first time in school history. The Lions are ranked 10th in men’s water polo, and the women’s volleyball team is ranked 19th, a season high.

On the strength of victories over UC Santa Barbara and San Jose State, the men’s soccer team has jumped to No. 14 in Soccer America and No. 19 on the coaches’ list. Soccer America has the women’s soccer team ranked 20th.

*

UCLA senior Steve Conway won the MacKenzie Invitational men’s golf tournament Tuesday in Fairfield, Calif., by shooting a tournament-record 13-under par over 54 holes. It is Conway’s third career title.... Brian Morton and Jon Endrikat of UC Irvine advanced to the men’s doubles semifinals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Assn./All-American championships at Lupton City, Tenn., last weekend, losing to eventual champions Lester Cook and Ante Matijevic of Texas A&M.;

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

This Weekend

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

* No. 1 USC at No. 7 Stanford, 7 tonight; USC at No. 5 California, 7 p.m. Saturday -- The Trojans (16-0, 7-0 in Pac-10) are coming off a three-game win over Arizona in which they set a school record with a .595 hitting percentage. USC won two of three meetings with Stanford (13-3, 6-1) last season, including the NCAA title match. Cal (16-0, 7-0), which defeated Stanford for the first time in 21 years, is one of three remaining undefeated teams, along with the Trojans and No. 4 Georgia Tech.

* No. 16 UC Santa Barbara at UC Irvine, 7 tonight; Santa Barbara at Long Beach State, 7:30 p.m. Saturday -- The Anteaters (15-4, 6-1) try to reclaim sole possession of first place in the Big West. Irvine junior Kelly Wing set a school record with 35 kills in a five-game win over Long Beach, the Anteaters’ first over the 49ers since 1983.

MEN’S SOCCER

* No. 24 Cal State Northridge at No. 14 UC Santa Barbara, 7 p.m. Saturday -- After defeating UC Irvine on Wednesday, the Matadors (7-1-2, 1-0-1 in Big West) should get back standout defender Edwin Miranda, who is serving a two-game suspension for spitting on an opposing player in a loss to San Diego. Santa Barbara (9-1-1, 2-0-0) bounced back from a 1-0 loss to Loyola Marymount by defeating New Mexico and UC Riverside.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

* No. 8 Pepperdine at No. 17 Santa Clara, 1 p.m. Sunday -- The Waves (11-2-0, 1-0-0) opened West Coast Conference play Sunday with a 2-0 victory over 20th-ranked Loyola Marymount. Santa Clara has played in the last two NCAA title matches, but Pepperdine has won the last two meetings of the series.