SoCal WCC Weekly Recap (9/15/08)

In Women’s Volleyball, the West Coast Conference had a huge week, with all three southern California schools going undefeated and winning tournament titles.  Loyola Marymount cruised to a win in the Four Points Sheraton LAX Classic, winning nine of ten games over Pittsburgh, UC Irvine and San Jose State.  Pepperdine reeled off nine straight games to beat UC Davis, Nevada and Missouri in winning the Nevada At&T Invitational.  #19 San Diego also had an easy time winning their own tournament with straight games wins over Cal State Fullerton, Texas A&M and Southern Mississippi.  The 8-1 Toreros will likely move up into the top 15 with their performance, while the undefeated Waves are looking to crack the top 25.

Pepperdine’s women’s soccer had the biggest win for any WCC school this week in shutting out #23 Tennessee.  The Waves also knocked off Pac 10 foe Washington State 1-0 on Friday to get their record back to .500 (3-3-1) for the season.  The Waves sit sixth in the conference, one spot behind the Lions of LMU, who also had a good weekend, drawing a scoreless tie with Utah and crushing Cal State Bakersfield 3-0.  The Lions ran their home undefeated streak to 14 games with the tie.  San Diego matched LMU’s 3-0 win at Bakersfield, and also also took out La Salle 3-2 at home on Friday.  After an 0-2 start versus two top 10 schools that saw the Toreros fall from the rankings, they have rattled off five straight wins to get back to #23 in the country.

Only the Toreros were in action for the local WCC men’s soccer squads last week.  They hosted #19 Indiana and lost a heartbreaker as the Hoosiers scored the game-winner on a late penalty kick.  San Diego has had a tough season, going 0-3-2 thus far, with a tie against Michigan and #8 ranked St. Louis, as well as an overtime loss to #10 New Mexico.

LMU’s and San Diego’s men’s and women’s cross country teams ran in the Aztec Invitational, hosted by San Diego State.  The meet was one of the deepest fields in the country last weekend, with ranked teams from Division I, II and III as well as from the NAIA all showing up to run.  LMU’s women placed a very impressive fourth in the Invitational division, while their men came in seventh.  LMU’s Tara Erdmann placed second in the deep field.  The USD women sent two squads to the meet.  The Toreros finished fourth in the Open division, and their A-team finished 13th in the more competitive Invitational division.  USD’s men also ran in the men’s Open race and saw senior Chris Jacobs break a six-year-old school record on the course.

The fifth ranked Pepperdine Waves held of the #6 LMU Lions in men’s Water Polo, 8-7 in the only match for either school last week.

Only San Diego has a football program among WCC schools and they compete in the Pioneer Football League.  The Toreros had the week off last week but are 2-0 on the season.  They lost All-American running back J.T. Rogan to a knee injury last week in a win over Azuza Pacific, but this week Rogan was granted a medical redshirt and will return next year for the Toreros.

With the college basketball season just around the corner, ESPN legend and newly inducted Basketball Hall of Famer, Dick Vitale announced his preseason top 40 and the WCC was well represented.  Perennial powerhouse Gonzaga cracked the top 10 at #8.  St. Mary’s is ranked #33 after spending much of last season in the top 25.  And San Diego, which knocked off St. Mary’s and Gonzaga to win the WCC Tourney and then beat Connecticut in the first round the NCAA Tournament is #39.  The WCC holds more spots in the top 40 than any non-BCS conference in the country.