Who has been the best UCLA athlete for the past month?
Kevin: Senior outside hitter Robart Page of men’s volleyball has had a dominant first month in the season. He leads the team in kills by a wide margin and also is first on the team in digs.
Page had 26 kills in UCLA’s defeat of Stanford on Jan. 17 that stands as his highlight performance so far. The seven-footer has led the Bruins to a No. 1 ranking they share with Loyola Chicago Ramblers and has them looking poised to be national title contenders.
Chris: There’s a ton of prime candidates to choose from this month, but I’m going to pick a player who hasn’t played a game in January. UCLA women’s soccer’s junior midfielder Samantha Mewis was recently called up to the U.S. Women’s National Team and deserves the nod for athlete of the month, even if her team is in the offseason.
Sari: Sophomore attacker Kodi Hill of the women’s water polo team has stood out recently – but it isn’t anything new. Hill was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation player of the week for her performance at the earlier UCLA Invitational in which she boasted a 1.5 goal-per-game average over the course of the four-game tournament, an impressive start to her sophomore season. Her success is expected, of course, because water polo seems to run in the Hill family; her sister, redshirt junior goalkeeper Sami Hill, has played with the U.S. senior national team. Kodi Hill herself has competed on the junior national team and is likely to continue with an impressive season.
Jordan: The reigning Pac-12 men’s basketball player of the week gets my nod for top UCLA athlete of the month. Kyle Anderson has been Mr. Everything for the Bruins this season and he has shown no drop-off after the calendar flipped to 2014. The 6-foot-9 sophomore guard/forward has averaged 17 points, 9.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists over the past seven games while playing nearly 34 minutes a night. Anderson has raised his game since beginning Pac-12 play as he has seen increases in points, rebounds and minutes played since the start of conference play.
What is the biggest UCLA matchup this week?
Kevin: UCLA’s biggest matchup will also be its most prominent. Men’s basketball’s Thursday game at Oregon, a rematch of last season’s Pac-12 title game in which the Ducks won 78-69, could be a tough challenge for the Bruins on the road. With five of the next seven games on the road, UCLA could use a win to start strong. The Bruins are just 3-3 away from home this season and although the Ducks have lost five of their past six games, they have enough talent to cause some problems for UCLA.
Chris: You don’t want to miss UCLA basketball’s match against Oregon Thursday. Forget the fact that Oregon seems to be freefalling in the Pac-12 at 2-5 in conference play. The Bruins usually tend to play close games up in Eugene, and Thursday night should be no different. And the Ducks have former UCLA forward Mike Moser, who is the team’s second-leading scorer, adding another interesting dynamic to this matchup.
Sari: The UCLA men’s volleyball rematch against UC Irvine is bound to be a thrilling matchup. The game will provide UCLA with another chance to prove itself against an Anteater team that has won three national titles in the span of six years. UCLA’s victory against UCI on Monday night shows that the Bruin team stands tall at this point in the season amid its total 19 national championships under coach Al Scates.
Jordan: While men’s basketball’s Pac-12 title game rematch with Oregon figures to have plenty of storylines, I’m more interested in seeing what the team does three days later against the Ducks’ in-state rival. If UCLA is able to take down Oregon, it would enter its matchup with Oregon State, the winner of three straight and five of its last six. A victory in Corvallis would give UCLA much needed momentum as the regular season hits its home stretch while simultaneously demonstrating the Bruins could put together back-to-back strong performances on the road after falling flat on their face against the Utah Utes earlier this month.