Women’s water polo
Joy Hong, assistant Sports editor
The “Big Four” teams are the only ones to remain undefeated.
After just the first two weeks of the season, No. 3 UCLA women’s water polo (7-0), No. 1 USC (8-0), No. 2 Stanford (3-0) and No. 4 California (3-0) are the only teams in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation that haven’t dropped a game.
UCLA is fresh off the UC Santa Barbara Invitational and the Cal Cup, where it notched a 9-7 win over No. 9 Michigan and a 13-8 victory over No. 13 UC Davis.
USC also competed in the UCSB Invitational and defeated Michigan 9-2. The Trojans also played in the CBU Mini Invitational, registering back-to-back shutouts to Concordia and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
Stanford played its first games last weekend at the Cal Cup. The Cardinal defeated No. 11 Long Beach, No. 17 Fresno State and No. 14 San Jose State each by 15 or more goals.
Cal also saw its first action hosting the tournament last weekend. Cal won games against Fresno State, UC Davis and Long Beach, but only won each by an average of 2.7 goals.
Arizona State (1-1), San Jose State (2-1) and Indiana (1-3) round out the MPSF. The conference announced in July the addition of the Hoosiers to the MPSF for the 2019 season.
Men’s volleyball
Gabriel McCarthy, assistant Sports editor
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation has yet to kick off, but one team has shaken up national rankings.
No. 15 USC (5-3) was unranked and defeated then-No. 3 UC Irvine 3-1. The Trojans faced the 49ers two days later and lost. Outside hitter Ryan Moss was named the MPSF/Molten Offensive Player of the Week after he posted 16 kills and hit for .433 in the win against UCI.
No. 3 BYU (4-0) remains undefeated after besting Saint Francis in straight sets. BYU will next face No. 9 UC Santa Barbara twice at the start of February. BYU has registered sweeps in all but one match, a 3-2 win over Penn State.
No. 6 Pepperdine (5-2) fell to UCI this weekend as well, losing 3-1. Pepperdine will next face No. 12 CSUN before beginning conference play against BYU.
No. 5 UCLA will travel to face No. 7 Loyola Chicago and No. 10 Lewis before facing No. 8 Stanford (7-1) at home. The Bruins bested the Tritons last week after falling to No. 1 Long Beach State.
Stanford’s next two matches are against No. 2 Hawai’i. Stanford has faced three ranked opponents in its eight matches this season.