Around the League: Stanford remains undefeated in women’s volleyball, strong in men’s soccer
Stanford women’s volleyball is the only remaining undefeated team in the Pac-12 after 12 conference matches. (Aubrey Yeo/Daily Bruin)
Women’s volleyball
By Kelsey Angus, Assistant Sports editor
No. 2 Stanford women’s volleyball (19-2, 12-0 Pac-12) remains the only undefeated team in the conference after wins over Arizona (9-12, 3-9) and Arizona State (10-14, 0-12) last weekend.
Sophomore Kathryn Plummer won Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week honors for her 15-and-23 kill performances in the Cardinal’s wins over the Wildcats and Sun Devils, respectively.
Stanford is four games ahead of any team in the conference, but three teams are tied for second place: No. 11 Washington (18-5, 8-4), No. 15 Utah (17-6, 8-4) and No. 17 USC (16-7, 8-4).
The Huskies swept their competition last week, while the Utes and Trojans each won one match and lost the other. Washington senior Tia Scambray earned Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week after leading the team in digs and adding six blocks over the course of wins over USC and UCLA.
Men’s soccer
By Nicholas Yekikian, assistant Sports editor
With the final few games of Pac-12 play just around the corner, the playoff picture has been narrowed down to three teams.
No. 5 Stanford (12-2-1, 6-0-1 Pac-12), No. 23 Washington (12-5-1, 5-3-1) and No. 24 California (9-5-0, 4-3-0) have ruled the Pac-12 all year.
The trio represents the top teams in the division, with both the best overall and best conference records of the six teams that populate the Pac-12.
The Golden Bears, the Cardinal and the Huskies also have the highest chances at the Pac-12 title. Though with every passing game, it becomes ever more likely that indomitable Stanford will be the conference champion this year.
Stanford will face three teams it has already beaten this year in its final three games, starting with UCLA (7-7-1, 4-3-0).
California on the other hand will have to win out in its remaining games to score a chance at playoff consideration, a daunting task considering its final game is against Stanford.
Washington has just one game left in its season, and it will be this Thursday against Oregon State (5-11-0, 2-6-0) , which has struggled to win all year.
Men’s water polo
By Ryan Smith, Assistant Sports editor
The Big Four of men’s water polo put together another solid performance this past week, going undefeated.
No. 3 UCLA (16-2, 0-1 MPSF) bounced back from its second loss of the season with a 12-11 victory over No. 5 Pacific (14-4, 3-0) on Saturday. The Bruins have won both matchups with the Tigers this season.
UCLA will visit No. 4 Stanford (15-3, 0-1) on Saturday.
No. 1 USC (21-1, 1-0) picked up a pair of victories against unranked Concordia and No. 11 San Jose State. The Trojans outscored the two schools 49-11 in those games.
The Golden Bears (17-1, 1-0) had the week off after taking down then-No. 2 UCLA last weekend and moving into the second ranked spot. California’s final two matches of the season will be against USC and Stanford.
The Cardinal knocked off No. 7 Long Beach State and No. 6 UC Irvine in consecutive days this past weekend to push its winning streak to nine games.
