Around the League: Oregon men’s basketball’s first loss, power matchups in men’s volleyball
No. 13 Oregon suffered its first loss of the season Saturday, falling 74-65 to unranked Colorado at home. The Ducks are now second in the Pac-12 behind undefeated No. 5 Arizona. (Jintak Han/Assistant Photo editor)
While Bruin athletes continue competing in Westwood, here’s a look at some of the biggest news from the rest of the Pac-12 and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.
Men’s basketball
TuAnh Dam, Sports editor
Down went the Ducks.
Oregon, who handed UCLA its first loss back in December, fell from the undefeated ranks this week after falling to unranked Colorado 74-65 on Saturday night.
The Arizona Wildcats, the only team to beat the Bruins in Pauley Pavilion this season, are the only ones left in the Pac-12 with a perfect conference record.
Arizona is also the highest ranked Pac-12 school at No. 5 in the latest AP polls while UCLA and Oregon are just outside the top 10 at No. 11 and No. 13 respectively.
The Ducks will have a chance to boost their resume if they can knock off the Wildcats in Eugene, Oregon, this week.
Men’s volleyball
Grant Sugimura, assistant Sports editor
In a five-set thriller, No. 9 Pepperdine defeated unranked USC 3-2.
After fighting towards a 6-6 tie in the fifth set, Pepperdine started to pull away through the efforts of seniors Joshua Stewart and Mitchell Penning on the defensive front and back-to-back kills courtesy of redshirt sophomore David Wieczorek before closing out the set 15-11.
Sophomore outside hitter Michael Wexter led the Waves with 19 kills on a career-high hitting percentage of .444.
In Provo, Utah, No. 4 BYU powered through No. 6 UC Irvine in a straight-set sweep, after losing in five sets the night prior.
Senior outside hitter Jake Langlois and junior opposite Ben Patch led the way with 12 kills each. Langlois, however, notched a higher hitting percentage at .500 while Patch was close behind at .409.
And in a battle between two top-five teams, the No. 1 squad came out on top. Top-ranked Ohio State downed No. 3 Long Beach State – a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation powerhouse – in four sets.
The Beach out-blocked the Buckeyes but were unable to remedy 19 service errors and LBSU fell for only the second time this season.
Women’s water polo
Michael Hull, assistant Sports editor
While No. 3 UCLA (6-0) took a break this weekend, No. 4 California (5-0) hosted the Speedo Cup I in Berkeley, a one-day, five-team tournament where the Bears played No. 19 UC Davis and No. 14 Long Beach State.
Against the 49ers, who the Bruins visit Friday in their first non-tournament match, the Bears opened up with seven goals in the first quarter. It eventually tacked on five more over the next three quarters, but the initial outburst would prove to be enough as the game finished 12-6.
Sophomore goalie Madison Tagg and senior goalie Madeline Trabucco have split time in the cage so far this year, much like the Bruins last year with then-senior Alex Musselman and now-sophomore goalie Carlee Kapana, but only recorded seven saves among the two of them against the 49ers.
Junior Dora Antal provided three of the five scores that came after the first quarter, and put up the same number in the Bears’ next game against Davis.
The game seemed to be out of reach for the Aggies halfway through the third quarter, but they scored three goals in the final three minutes to pull within one goal. In the fourth, the Bears scored three goals to the Aggies’ two, however, to eventually win the game 11-9.
