Women’s volleyball
Kelsey Angus, assistant Sports editor
Just two weeks into Pac-12 play, only No. 15 USC (12-3, 4-0 Pacific 12) and No. 2 Stanford (11-2, 4-0) remain undefeated in conference matches.
The Trojans swept the No. 9 Huskies (13-2, 3-1) for Washington’s first Pac-12 loss of the season Sunday.
Senior Brittany Abercrombie led USC with 13 kills and a hitting percentage of .310, which earned her Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week honors. The opposite was also the Trojans’ biggest threat in their five-set win over the Bruins two weeks ago, when she led USC with 18 kills.
Stanford has only dropped two sets in it’s first four Pac-12 matches. The reigning national champions’ only two set losses thus far have both been to top-5 opponent Penn State. The Bruins’ first chance at taking down the Cardinal – a team UCLA swept last season – will be on Oct. 13.
Men’s soccer
Nicholas Yekikian, assistant Sports editor
No. 17 Washington (8-2-0, 1-0-0) was narrowly upset by Oregon State (3-6-0, 0-1-0) on Saturday in its first Pac-12 match. The Huskies fell behind 1-0 at the start of the second half, but the Beavers were unable to keep the lead and eventually lost the match 2-1.
No. 11 Stanford (8-2-0, 2-0-0) and California (7-2-0, 2-0-0) are both undefeated against Pac-12 opponents in the first week of conference play.
One way or another, that will soon change. The Golden Bears and Cardinal are slated to meet on Sunday.
Stanford has outscored its opponents 21-5 since the season began. It has also outscored both San Diego State (4-6-0, 0-2-0) and Oregon State combined, as the Aztecs and Beavers have only managed a total of 16 goals so far this year.
Men’s water polo
Ryan Smith, assistant Sports editor
Just days after jumping from fourth to first in the national men’s water polo rankings, No. 1 UCLA dropped its first game of the season to No. 7 UC Irvine. The Bruins were the only remaining unbeaten team among the top five schools in the nation.
With the exception of UCLA, each top-five team went perfect this week in their respective schedules.
No. 2 USC improved to 16-1 with a 3-0 week including a victory over No. 9 Pepperdine on Saturday. If USC can string together a few more wins in the coming days, look for them to claim the top spot in the next set of rankings.
No. 3 Golden Bears also rebounded from a disappointing MPSF Invitational in which it fell in the semifinal to then-No. 4 UCLA, with a 12-9 win over No. 8 Santa Barbara on Saturday.
Stanford and Pacific who are ranked fourth and fifth respectively, each took down top-20 teams this week.
The Tigers knocked off No. 6 Long Beach State for the second time in a week after beating them 14-10 on Saturday.
