COLLEGE SCENE UCLA.

Byline: Ramona Shelburne

It was only three weeks ago that the women's basketball team led the Pacific-10 Conference standings at 6-0 after a victory over crosstown rival USC. But the Bruins have lost five of their past six to fall to fourth.

Michelle Greco leads the conference in scoring, freshman point guard Nikki Blue has developed into the fifth-best scorer in the league and freshman forward Lisa Willis is among the top 3-point shooters in the conference.

``We just have to get out of this slump and get back to approaching every game like we're going to win it,'' Greco said. ``This isn't about losing our confidence. Our freshmen have been winners all their life and they weren't here the last two years when we were losing.''

If the Bruins are going to ``get their swagger back,'' as coach Kathy Olivier puts it, they'll have to pull an upset either this weekend or next as they take on third-place Arizona on Friday night at Pauley Pavilion and visit No. 6 Stanford on Feb. 22.

USC

Men's and women's swimming head coach Mark Schubert has been selected as the women's head coach for the United States swim team at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

This is Schubert's third U.S. Olympic head-coaching assignment. He directed America's men's team in 2000 and the women's team in 1992. It is also Schubert's seventh consecutive Olympic coaching position.

``This women's team is going to be spectacular and I'm excited to be a part of it. Even if I was just there to carry the Gatorade buckets, I'd be happy to be there,'' said Schubert, now in his 11th year at USC.

CSUN 

The men's volleyball team upset No. 1 UC Irvine in four games and beat No. 11 UCLA for the first time at Pauley Pavilion last week.

Outside hitter Joe Nargi earned national and Big West Conference player of the week honors for his performance. The 6-foot-7 senior and former Taft High of Woodland Hills standout had 25 kills against the Bruins and 20 against UC Irvine.

The Matadors moved to No. 8 this week and play two matches at Hawaii, which replaced UC Irvine at No. 1 in the nation, on Thursday and Friday.

LOYOLA MARYMOUNT

The softball team will play in the newly formed Pacific Coast Softball Conference beginning April 5. The conference is comprised of Sacramento State, Loyola Marymount, Portland State, Saint Mary's, Santa Clara and San Diego. Before joining the PCSC, the schools were members of the Western Athletic Conference, Western Intercollegiate Softball League and Big West Conference for softball.

The winner of the conference will receive an automatic entry into the 64-team NCAA Tournament in May. This bodes well for LMU, which was picked, along with Sacramento State, as the preseason conference favorites.

PEPPERDINE

The men's volleyball team moved up one spot to No. 3 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association rankings after it won its eighth consecutive match with a victory over Pacific on Saturday night.

The Waves are the only team with an unblemished Mountain Pacific Sports Federation record heading into matches at No. 12 UCLA and No. 2 UC Irvine on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.

UC Irvine (12-2, 5-2) is the only team to have beaten Pepperdine (9-1, 7-0) this season, sweeping the Waves at Firestone Fieldhouse on Jan. 6.

Senior Libero Dhiraj Coats and sophomore setter John Mayer, both transfers from Pierce College, are starting.