Sunday syllabus: The week that was and the week ahead

The Bruin basketball teams are in action today with a special "Think Pink" promotion at the women’s game in Pauley Pavilion to promote breast cancer awareness. Both games will be televised nationally: the men on FSN (Prime Ticket in Los Angeles) and the women on ESPN2. Unfortunately, the games are on at exactly the same time!

Baseball:

>> Last week: Bruin shortstop Brandon Crawford was named a pre-season, second-team All-American by Baseball America. A junior, he has a career batting average of .327 in 119 games as a Bruin.

>> This week: Highly regarded UCLA, ranked as high as No. 1 in one pre-season poll, finally gets on the field Saturday with the Alumni Game at Jackie Robinson Stadium at 11:30 a.m. UCLA will start intercollegiate play at home Feb. 22 against Oklahoma.

Football:

>> Last week: UCLA signed a bumper crop of 23 players on National Signing Day, including 22 high school seniors and one junior college quarterback. The class was ranked No. 10 in the nation in one survey and first or second in the Pac-10. Among the stars coming to Westwood are three Parade All-Americans: running backs Milton Knox (Birmingham HS) and Aundre Dean (Katy, Texas) and kicker Jeff Locke from Glendale, Ariz.

>> Of note: Spring practice dates were announced for April 3-26. A total of 15 sessions will be held and the Spring Game will be held in the Rose Bowl (!) on Saturday, April 26.

Softball:

>> Last week: The No. 10 Bruins opened their season at home with the Stacy Winsberg Memorial Tournament, defeating Nevada 10-1 in five innings (mercy rule; soph Megan Langenfeld in the circle) and then No. 5 Oklahoma, 6-1, behind freshman Donna Kerr on Friday. Yesterday, the Bruins (4-0) racked up two more wins Saturday, setting five school records in a 27-1 romp over Santa Clara (Anjelica Selden and Whitney Baker pitching) and a 7-5 comeback win over UC Santa Barbara (Kerr pitching) in eight innings. The new school marks included runs scored and hits (22) in the game against Santa Clara.

>> This week: UCLA plays Oklahoma again today at Easton Stadium, then heads to Las Vegas for the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic from Feb. 15-17. The Bruins are scheduled to face Missouri and South Carolina on Friday to start the tournament.

Men’s Basketball:

>> Last week: UCLA moved up to No. 4 in the coaches poll and without injured forward Luc Richard Mbah A Moute (left ankle sprain), overcame a hard trip and a difficult opponent in No. 17 Washington State, 67-59, in Pullman on Thursday night. Junior guard Darren Collison had 18 points -– all in the second half -- and was 7-7 from the foul line to lead UCLA.

>> This week: The Bruins play the University of Washington in Seattle today at 1:30 p.m. in a game that will be televised on FSN Prime Ticket locally. UCLA has lost its three trips to Bank of America Arena against the Huskies (12-11, 3-7 in Pac-10). Next Sunday, the Bruins will be back in Los Angeles, but will play at the Galen Center against USC (15-8, 6-5) at 7 p.m.

>> Of note: Collison was selected as one of 16 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, given annually to the nation’s best point guard.

Men’s Golf:

>> Last week: Senior Kevin Chappell’s school-record effort at the PING/Arizona Intercollegiates in Tucson (15-under 198 for three rounds); he moved from 20th in the national rankings to third. He was selected as UCLA’s Muscle Milk "Student-Athlete of the Week."

>> This week: The No. 2-ranked Bruins are in San Marcos, Calif., for the two-round Cougar Invitational on Monday and Tuesday, to be played at the San Luis Rey Downs course. On Feb. 17-19, the Bruins will go at it again in Florida at Sawgrass Country Club in the John Hayt Invitational, hosted by the University of North Florida.

Men’s Soccer:

>> Last week: Former MLS and U.S. National U-23 and U-20 player Kenny Arena was added to the UCLA coaching staff Tuesday. He played for the NY-NJ Metrostars and D.C. United in the MLS and served as an assistant coach at George Mason University last season.

Men’s Tennis:

>> Last week: No. 8 UCLA racked up two dual-match wins to run its record to 5-0 this season. On Wednesday, the Bruins romped past the University of San Diego, 6-1 at the Los Angeles Tennis Center and then cruised past No. 27 Boise State, 7-0, on Friday.

>> This week: The Bruins will compete in the USTA/ITA National Team Indoors in Seattle on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, starting with a match against Notre Dame on Friday at 11 a.m.

Men’s Volleyball:

>> Last week: The week started off badly as No. 4 UCLA was swept at home by No. 11 USC in three games, losing back-to-back matches to Troy for the first time since 1991. The Bruins hit a pathetic .116 for the game compared to USC’s .352. The Bruins rebounded Saturday against No. 5 Pepperdine in four sets at he 31st Kilgour Cup held in Pauley Pavilion. UCLA is now 9-4 in the season and 6-3 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, good for a tie for third in the conference race with Cal State Northridge.

>> This week: The Bruins head west to Honolulu to play two matches against No. 15 Hawaii on Thursday and Friday evenings at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Women’s Basketball:

>> Last week: The Bruins got 19 points from senior Lindsey Pluimer (above at left with Bruin head Coach Kathy Olivier) to help defeat Washington State, 68-56, at Pauley Pavilion. She also had six rebounds to move into 10th place all-time at UCLA.

>> This week: UCLA (12-11, 7-5 Pac-10) has a critical game in Pauley Pavilion (and ESPN2) today against Washington (9-14, 4-7), beginning at 1:30 p.m. UCLA is currently tied for fourth in the Pac-10 with USC. Today’s game is also part of a "Think Pink" promotion to promote Breast Cancer awareness in coordination with the Women’s Basketball Coaches Assn.; the first 500 fans to attend the game will receive souvenir T-shirts, and UCLA will wear special white and pink uniforms. National Girls and Women in Sports Day will also be saluted at this game. Fans can get two tickets for the price of one by downloading a flier on the UCLA website (uclabruins.com). The Bruins will play USC at Pauley Pavilion next Sunday at 2 p.m.

>> Of note: Pluimer was named to CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District 8 first team and is now eligible to be selected as an Academic All-American. She was on the district’s third team as a soph and second team as a junior. She has a 3.7 grade-point average, majoring in communications studies.

Women’s Golf:

>> This week: The Bruins will resume action for the first time this spring at the Regional Challenge on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in Palos Verdes at Palos Verdes Country Club.

Women’s Gymnastics:

>> Last week: UCLA put the hammer down with a brilliant 196.875 score to win the IGI Chicago Style meet held at the Navy Pier in Chicago. The Bruins ran their record to 10-0 by defeating Stanford, Illinois and Washington in the competition. Sophomore Anna Li, who is from Aurora, Ill., won the all-around title again with a season-best 39.60 mark with senior Tasha Schwikert third at 39.55. UCLA had season bests on the uneven bars and floor exercise. Bruin Coach Valorie Kondos Field was delighted with the performance and said, "You get to a point where you train so hard that you believe you deserve to be successful. We've trained really hard, and they believe they deserve to be great."

>> This week: The Bruins head to California next Sunday to face the Bears in a dual match.

Women’s Swimming:

>> This week: The 14th-ranked Bruins (5-3 in dual meets) will face USC in their final dual match of the season. The meet will be held Friday at the Men’s Gym Pool starting at noon, with the diving competition at Sunset Canyon Recreation Center.

Women’s Tennis:

>> Last week: The No. 2-ranked Bruins hit a bump in the road at the USTA/ITA National Team Indoors in Madison, Wis., losing 4-3 to No. 14 North Carolina in the first round. Yasmin Schnack (ranked 28th in the nation) and Alex McGoodwin were both injured and could not play in the singles competition, although McGoodwin played in Friday’s win over Arkansas (4-3) and Saturday’s win over No. 16 Clemson (5-2).

>> This week: UCLA (5-1) plays Loyola Marymount at Los Angeles Tennis Center on Wednesday and then faces No. 12 Fresno State on Friday, also at the LATC.

Women’s Water Polo:

>> Last week: The No. 1-ranked Bruins continue to roll, defeating No. 10 Hartwick, 19-7, on Wednesday at home behind five goals from Tanya Gandy, then shutting out No. 13 Michigan, 16-0, in the Stanford Invitational (Brittany Rowe had three goals) and then edging Hawaii, 15-10, last night thanks in part to four goals from Jillian Kraus.

>> This week: Play continues at Stanford today, with the Bruins facing No. 7 San Jose State in the morning and then playing a nightcap against either USC, Cal or Stanford.

>> Of note: Bruin Coach Adam Krikorian was named USA Water Polo’s "Elite Coach of the Year" for the Coastal California region for the second year in a row.

Lindsey Pluimer and Kathy Olivier photo courtesy UCLA.

Comments

[BobAz]

"Men’s Volleyball: Last week: The week started off badly as No. 4 UCLA was swept at home by No. 11 USC in three games, losing back-to-back matches to Troy for the first time since 1991."

So what does that make now, six or seven or eight consecutive losses in encounters with USC? Football, basketball, women's soccer, women's VB, now men's VB... Has Dan Guererro had this year's Lexus Cup engraved and sent over to Exposition Park already? Pathetic.