Taking a break from everything Oregon Duck related, here’s a look at what else is going on around the Pacific-10 Conference this week.
USC:
The No. 23 women’s soccer team (9-4-3) welcomes the Washington schools this weekend for what will be its final two home games of the regular season. Washington State (6-11, 1-5) arrives first on Friday for a 3 p.m. start time, while Washington (10-6-1) follows on Oct. 31 at 1 p.m.
Standing in last place in the Pacific-10 Conference, Washington State should provide little challenge to the Women of Troy. The matchup with Washington, however, could prove difficult.
Halloween doubles as senior day for USC, and the Huskies could certainly instill fear in the Women of Troy. Both schools are .500 in Pac-10 play, and finished with a 2-2 tie in last season’s matchup.
USC enters this weekend on an emotional high after a rousing 1-0 win over UCLA last week. It was the Women of Troy’s first regular season victory over UCLA since 1998.
UCLA:
It is a big weekend for the No. 11 UCLA volleyball team (15-5, 5-4) as it faces off with No. 7 Washington (17-3, 6-3) and Washington State (6-13, 0-9) in Los Angeles. The Bruins look to gain some momentum before heading north next week for matches against No. 4 Stanford and No. 3 California.
The big test comes early for UCLA as the Huskies arrive at Pauley Pavilion at 7 p.m. on Friday. The Bruins have already faced Washington once this year, falling 3-0 in Seattle on Oct. 2. The match was closer than it seemed, as two of the sets were decided by five or fewer points.
Washington State has yet to win a match in the Pac-10, and should provide little trouble for the Bruins. UCLA cruised to a 3-0 win when the two teams last met on Oct. 1.
Stanford:
Former star shooting guard Landry Fields is already making his presence felt in the NBA. Drafted in the second round by the New York Knicks, Fields started the season opener last night in Toronto.
Fields broke out last season in his senior year at Stanford, averaging 22 points (tops in the Pac-10) and 8.8 rebounds. He was also named the Pac-10 Scholar Athlete of the Year, graduating with a degree in communication.
Now, all of a sudden, Fields finds himself starting alongside players like Amare Stoudemire and Danilo Gallinari. It took him two years to crack the starting lineup at Stanford, but he clearly learned a lot from his time there.
Three thousand miles away, Fields has become a walking billboard for Pac-10 basketball.
Oregon State:
With its season set to begin in two weeks, the Oregon State wrestling team ranks No. 22 in the preseason NWCA/USA Today Division I Coaches Poll. The Beavers head into this year looking to defend their Pac-10 title from last season, when they finished 18-3.
The season starts with a bang on Nov. 13 as Oregon State faces off with No. 2 Boise State on the road. When the two teams last met, Boise State came away victorious with a 21-12 win. The Broncos won both matchups with Oregon State last year.
Washington:
The Washington men’s tennis team just missed a doubles championship at the ITA Northwest Regional last week. Senior Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and sophomore Kyle McMorrow lost in the doubles finals to California’s Chris Konigsfeldt and Nick Andrews by a score of 8-6.
Had Nedunchezhiyan and McMorrow won that match, they would have advanced to the ITA National Indoors competition.
As a team, Washington will next play on Nov. 5 at home in the PNW Intercollegiates.
Arizona:
The No. 25 Arizona women’s volleyball team (15-7, 4-5) put an end to a three-match losing streak last weekend with a win over Washington State. The victory came in the form of a 3-0 sweep, salvaging the weekend after the Wildcats lost to the No. 7 Huskies the day before.
Arizona heads to Arizona State this Friday for their only match of the weekend.
Arizona State:
The Arizona State cross-country team heads to Seattle for the Pac-10 Championships this weekend. Each Pac-10 team will be represented in the meet. Both the men and women will look to make noise at this year’s Championships, as neither have ever won the meet outright. The women, however, finished second as recently as 2006.
[email protected]