Friday, October 10, 1997
Sports Briefs
Men’s cross
country
The men’s cross-country team will compete this weekend in the
highly competitive NCAA Preview Meet in Greenville, S.C.
The 30-team race held at Furman University’s golf course will
feature 12 teams ranked in the top 25 nationally.
"They don’t call it the NCAA Preview Meet for nothing," UCLA
head coach Bob Larsen said. "All of our meets here on in are going
to be important because we have to learn to run well against big
fields of good distance runners."
The No. 22 Bruins have their work cut out for them if they hope
to improve on their 11th-place finish at last year’s NCAA Preview
Meet. Pac-10 rival No. 1 Stanford will be among the
competitors.
Also competing will be No. 3 Colorado, No. 6 Wisconsin and No.
11 Notre Dame. The race will be 8000 meters long compared to the
10,000 meter race that will be held at the NCAA Championships in
November.
"There are quite a few factors that are important," Larsen said.
"Number one being gaining experience and running well against a
large field of athletes."
A slew of runners will pose problems for senior Mebrahtom
Keflezighi’s chances of winning the race. Colorado’s Adam Goucher
will most likely be Keflezighi’s toughest opponent. Keflezighi
edged Goucher in the 5000 meters at the NCAA Track & Field
Championships last spring, but Keflezighi has never beaten Goucher
in a cross-country race.
"It would be nice to win it," said Keflezighi. "But it’s not the
end of the world if I don’t."
Women’s volleyball
UCLA defeated the San Diego State Aztecs 3-0 in front of 523
spectators on Oct. 8.
No. 19 UCLA (7-5, 5-2 Pac-10) defeated unranked San Diego State
(2-2, 6-7 Pac-10) in three rigid matches 15-13, 18-16, 15-10.
The Bruins attack came out strong hitting an average of .399 to
the Aztecs meager .273, as UCLA had four players hitting above the
.400 mark.
"We hit .399 as a team which is pretty outstanding, and it means
that everyone is hitting well," head coach Andy Banachowski said.
"Kara Milling again had a great match for us, leading with 27
kills."
Despite their three-game victory, the Bruins’ inability to
convert serving points made the games closer than they should have
been.
"We did not do a good job of serving," Banachowski said. "We
allowed (San Diego State) to get back into the match and not have
to work for side-outs. We started to lose our concentration a
little bit."
Another factor which may have added to the tight match and also
to UCLA’s win was the difference in the Bruin starting lineup.
"We moved Tanisha Larkin back to the outside, and Tamika Johnson
was in the middle, which is something that we have not been able to
do because Tamika’s knees have been hurting her, and the period in
which (Johnson) has not been playing has enabled her to improve
some," Banachowski said. "Tamika had a big match for us last night
hitting .563, and Tanisha did well on the outside adding 11
kills."
The UCLA Women’s Volleyball team will fly to the green hills of
Oregon State to challenge the Beavers at 7:00 p.m. tonight in
Eugene, Ore., then the Bruins travel to Corvallis, Ore., to contest
the Ducks on Saturday.
The Beavers (2-3 in the Pac-10, 10-7 overall) have never
defeated the Bruins, while the Ducks (0-5 in the Pac-10, 7-9
overall) look to upset UCLA.
The Bruins aim to sweep both matches to boost their record this
weekend.
"These are two matches that are really important for us,"
Banachowski said. "We have to play a steady and a consistent match
because both team put up a good rally and never give up."
Women’s cross country
For the second consecutive meet, women’s cross country will have
to race without its top runner Kim Mortensen.
Injuries to Mortensen’s back and hip have prevented her from
competing. Mortensen now awaits the results of her MRI to determine
her status for the rest of the season.
Though Mortensen’s loss is a major blow, Peterson is confident
that the team’s depth is strong enough to persevere.
"We’re young enough and enthusiastic enough that I think we can
get past this," Peterson said.
The team travels to Furman University in Greenville, SC on
Saturday for the NCAA Championship Preview meet. They will be
competing in a field featuring 12 teams from the nation’s Top
25.
Two weeks ago the team finished fourth overall at the Stanford
Invitational behind host Stanford, Brigham Young University, and
Georgetown. The performance was impressive enough to elevate the
squad to No. 15 in the rankings.
Like the Stanford meet, this Saturday’s competition will be a
good measuring stick to determine how strong this team is without
their top runner.
"We’re going to have an opportunity this weekend to see how
we’re going to stack up against some of the more middle-ranked
teams on the poll like William and Mary and the University of
Oregon," Peterson said.
Junior Zalika Davis, who is normally a middle-distance runner
will make the trip in place of Mortensen.
Women’s soccer
This could be the make or break week for the No. 18 UCLA women’s
soccer team.
The team will face their biggest test of the season when they
travel to the Bay Area today for a twin bill against soccer
powerhouses California (on Friday) and Stanford (on Sunday), to
begin Pac-10 play.
Although both schools have had uncharacteristically bad seasons,
both California (5-4-1) and Stanford (4-5-0) will pose a big
challenge for the Bruins (8-2-0) on the road this weekend.
The Bruins will be led by Senior Traci Arkenberg. Arkenberg is
ranked first on the team in virtually all scoring categories. She
is tied for 12th in the nation and leads the West region and the
Pac-10 in points with 28 (11 goals and 6 assists). The Bruins will
be hoping Arkenberg continues her scoring barrage because when the
Senior forward scores the team is 37-4-3 during her career.