Around the League: Top men’s water polo teams stay ranked, Cardinal men’s soccer remains undefeated
Last week, three top-25 ranked women’s volleyball teams from around the Pac-12 were upset – then-No. 15 USC, then-No. 25 Colorado and then-No. 17 Utah. (Aubrey Yeo/Daily Bruin staff)
Men’s water polo
Ryan Smith, assistant Sports editor
The country’s top four men’s water polo teams went undefeated this past week.
No. 2 UCLA returned its winning ways by taking down No. 9 Pepperdine 8-7 behind a three-goal performance from freshman attacker Chasen Travisano. It was the second hat trick of Travisano’s young career.
The Bruins will play a pair of games this weekend against No. 15 California Baptist and No. 7 Long Beach State.
No. 1 USC improved to 18-1 with an overtime win over Long Beach State as well as a 6-3 victory against No. 8 UC Santa Barbara on Sunday.
No. 3 California blew out unranked Santa Clara by a score of 21-9. Junior attacker Johnny Hooper led the way with three goals.
California will take on No. 6 UC Irvine, who knocked off then-No.1 UCLA last week, in Berkeley on Saturday.
As for No. 4 Stanford and No. 5 Pacific, the two teams faced off in Stockton this weekend where the Cardinal took home a convincing 12-7 road victory.
Men’s soccer
Nicholas Yekikian, assistant Sports editor
The No. 8 Stanford Cardinal (9-2, 3-0 Pac-12) has continued to rampage through the Pac-12, most recently defeating the No. 24 California Bears (7-3, 2-1) on Sunday in a 3-0 blowout – it was their seventh shutout win of the season.
Stanford will face nothing but conference teams for the rest of the season, with Washington (9-3, 2-1) next on their schedule.
The Huskies recently had a six-game winning streak snapped by the Bruins in a 1-0 overtime loss. Washington has not won either of its contests that have gone into overtime so far this year.
San Diego State (4-8, 0-4) continues to spiral downward. Their losing streak has grown to four games in a row this weekend after their 2-0 loss to Oregon State (4-7, 1-2).
The Aztecs also have not scored a single goal in that four-game slide and have allowed 11 goals.
Women’s volleyball
Kelsey Angus, assistant Sports editor
Pac-12 women’s volleyball play last week featured three upsets over top-25 teams.
Arizona toppled then-No. 15 USC in three sets Friday for its first conference loss of the season. The Wildcats held the Trojans to a match hitting percentage of .140.
Washington State took down then-No. 25 Colorado in four sets Friday. This was the Cougars’ first win this year over a ranked opponent.
Colorado outside hitter Alexa Smith and Washington State outside hitter Taylor Mims led their respective teams with 24 kills apiece.
Then-No. 17 Utah beat then-No. 9 Washington in five sets Friday. The Utes had never before won in Seattle.
Senior outside hitter Adora Anae tallied 25 kills to earn her Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week honors. The match put her at 1,635 total kills in her career, which makes Anae Utah’s all-time career kill leader.
