After a weekend full of disappointment, the UCLA men’s
volleyball team received a slight bit of condolence Monday when the
annual Mountain Pacific Sports Federation volleyball awards were
announced. Senior middle blocker Paul Johnson and freshman libero
Tony Ker were announced to the All-MPSF First Team, while redshirt
junior Allan Vince and senior Kris Kraushaar were named as MPSF
Honorable Selections. Monday’s announcement signified
Johnson’s first selection to the First Team, although it was
a subdued way for the senior to cap off an impressive season for
the Bruins. Johnson led the Bruins with a 3.55 kills-per-game
average and was also UCLA’s leading blocker on the season,
averaging 1.34 blocks per game. Ker, meanwhile, was the first Bruin
to be selected as a freshman to the All-MPSF team since Adam
Shrader did it four years ago. Kraushaar’s selection as
honorable mention was the second in his career, while it was the
first such award for Vince. The top awards were won by a trio of
Pepperdine representatives. Senior Sean Rooney was named MPSF
player of the year, and freshman Jonathan Winder and coach Mary
Dunphy were given freshman and coach of the year awards,
respectively.
WOMEN’S WATER POLO: The draw for the MPSF conference
tournament was announced Monday. Top-seeded UCLA earned a
first-round bye and will play the winner of the UC Irvine/Cal State
Northridge match-up Friday at 10:15 a.m. in Berkeley. The
undefeated Bruins easily dispatched both teams earlier this year.
Both semifinal games will be shown tape-delayed on ESPN. As for the
third and first place games, they will be televised live on ESPN on
Sunday.
FOOTBALL: Although the NCAA Division I Management Council has
supported legislation to allow schools at the Division I-A and I-AA
levels to add a 12th game beginning in 2006, the Knight commission
urged the NCAA to oppose this addition until the effects of recent
academic reforms for players became clear. The commission, a
privately funded group formed in 1989 to promote reforms and
greater presidential control of college sports, sent a memo last
week to the NCAA Board of Directors, which will consider the
legislation on Thursday. The memo was sent in light of the
NCAA’s latest academic reform movement, which measures
retention and graduation rates of each team to determine possible
loss of scholarships or postseason bans.
Compiled by Bruin staff and wire services.