COLLEGE NOTEBOOK: DELGADILLO LEADS TROJANS TO NO. 1.

Byline: RAMONA SHELBURNE Staff Writer

A 25-match winning streak didn't get the USC men's water polo team the No. 1 spot in the national polls. Neither did the national championship trophy the Trojans took home last year.

But college water polo isn't the BCS, and last weekend, the Trojans had an opportunity to make their case for the top spot.

No. 2 USC upended top-ranked California 10-7 to win the NorCal Tournament at Stanford and is expected to move to No. 1 when the new poll is released today.

``We try not to focus on national rankings early in the season. The only ranking that matters is at the end,'' said Juan Delgadillo, a former Harvard-Westlake of Studio City standout. ``But it definitely gave us something extra to prove. It was like a little chip on our shoulder. Hopefully, this will straighten everything out now.''

Delgadillo led USC (6-0) with 10 goals in USC's four tournament victories. He was honored Tuesday as the MPSF Player of the Week.

After the graduation of national Player of the Year Juraj Zatovic, Delgadillo is the Trojans veteran leader.

``We're a lot younger than we were last year,'' he said. ``So I've had to be a leader. It's fun to watch them get better from practice to practice and game to game.''

Bring home the hardware: Three local women's volleyball teams won tournaments last weekend. Third-ranked UCLA (13-0) won the Greenbelt Invitational in College Park, Md., with victories over Florida International, Long Island and Maryland. Nana Meriweather was the tournament MVP.

Cal State Northridge beat San Jose State, Harvard and Utah Valley State to win the SJSU Invitational. Sophomore middle blocker Darla Donaldson, who leads the Big West in hitting (.370), was tournament MVP.

Loyola Marymount won Miami's Hurricane Invitational with wins over Jacksonville, Florida A&M and Miami. The Lions have won nine straight matches and two consecutive tournaments.

Griffin honored again: UCLA sophomore forward Maxwell Griffin is the national men's soccer Player of the Week for the second straight week. The former Highland High of Palmdale star scored twice with an assist in the Bruins' victories last weekend over No. 7 Santa Clara and No. 8 San Francisco.

UCLA, which to No. 9 in Soccer America's rankings, open Pac-10 play this weekend at Cal and Stanford.

Also: No. 3 UCLA plays at No. 5 Santa Clara in women's soccer Friday, then heads home for Sunday's matchup with No.19 Pepperdine. ... USC's women's soccer team has posted five straight shutouts, outscoring opponents 11-0. ... USC outside hitter Asia Kaczor is the Pac-10 women's volleyball Player of the Week. Kaczor had 37 kills and 29 digs as the Trojans (11-0) beat No. 20 Pepperdine and No. 14 Purdue.

ramona.shelburne@dailynews [phone]

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Photo: (color) DELGADILLO