UNIVERSITY BEAT: PEPPERDINE VOLLEYBALL TEAM LOOKS STRONG EARLY.

Byline: Rizza Yap Daily News Staff Writer

The quick start by the Pepperdine women's volleyball team can be attributed in part to an early start. Early as in 7 a.m., sometimes 6 a.m.

To free up the players and coaches' day - five seniors have a must-take afternoon class and coach Nina Matthies is tired of missing her kids' games - practices were moved in the spring from 4 p.m. to early in the morning.

``We're up bright and early in the morning - we think we're swimmers,'' Matthies said.

The change seems to have propelled the Waves (13-0, 2-0) to their best start in the program's 23-year history. This season's senior-laden team outdid a 10-0 start in 1976 and already equaled last year's victory total.

Waking up before sunrise isn't the only difference in Matthies' program. This year's group also features more depth and two newcomers who made immediate contributions.

Middle blocker Jamie Hill, a sophomore transfer from Irvine, leads the West Coast Conference in hitting with a .416 mark, which ranks seventh in the nation. Against Santa Clara last week, Hill posted a .576 hitting percentage and a season-high 23 kills as the Waves overcame a first-game deficit to win the match.

Outside hitter Kristin Lee, a junior transfer from Moorpark College, is among Pepperdine's top five in four statistical categories. Her 137 digs so far is second-best on the team.

``Both of them have come in and added stability, competitiveness and a great attitude,'' Matthies said. ``It usually takes kids a while to feel at home with the system, (but) they feel and I feel like they've been here forever.''

The Waves, ranked No. 12 by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, face San Diego in a conference matchup Friday night at home. The unranked Toreros are 13-2, 2-0.

``I think they're a lot like we are, real strong middles, setting is good, left sides are ball-control players,'' Matthies said. ``It's going to be interesting to kind of play ourselves.''

Pepperdine will close out the weekend at home with a match against San Francisco and travels to Los Angeles next Wednesday for a nonconference contest with No. 6 USC, which split a pair of home matches last weekend.

The Women of Troy fell to No. 4 Stanford in three games, including a 15-0 shutout in the second, then collected a win over California to improve to 11-2 overall, 4-2 in the Pacific-10. Junior All-American candidates Jennifer Kessy and Jasmina Marinkovic lead the USC offense. Kessy has a team-best 201 kills and 127 digs, while Marinkovic is hitting .475 to lead the nation for the fourth consecutive week.

No. 21 UCLA faced a similar fate with the Bay Area schools, winning in five sets against the Golden Bears and losing in three to the Cardinal. The Bruins are 6-5, 2-4 but still lead the nation in kills per game (19.16) and assists (18.22).

Heading north: The USC and UCLA women's soccer teams travel to the Bay Area this weekend to open Pac-10 conference play against California and Stanford.

The Bruins, ranked No. 18 by Soccer News, are 8-2-0 after a 3-1 loss to undefeated BYU last week and a 3-1 win over San Francisco. Senior forward Traci Arkenberg leads the team in assists with 25.

USC, No. 20 in the Soccer Buzz poll, has maintained its first-ever national ranking for the second week with help from sophomore midfielder Kim Clark, who has notched six goals and nine assists. The Women of Troy are 9-1-1, coming off a 1-0 win over Irvine, which is ranked No. 6 in the West Region.

Sneak preview: The UCLA cross country team (ranked No. 21) travels to Greenville, S.C., this week to compete in the 25th annual Furman Cross Country Invitational/NCAA Preview Meet. Twelve of the 30 schools scheduled to compete are ranked in the nation's Top 25. Sophomore Kim Mortensen of Thousand Oaks, No. 1 runner for the Bruins, is questionable for the meet after she was hit by the flu and a right hip/back injury last week.

In a local meet, the Pepperdine cross country team will host USC, Loyola Marymount and San Diego on Saturday.

Battle for first: The nation's top-ranked Pepperdine men's water polo team will face No. 2 California in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation game on Saturday in Malibu. The Waves are 11-0, 2-0, and the Golden Bears are 8-1, 3-0, their loss coming against Pepperdine in last month's SoCal Tournament at USC.

California leads the all-time series 29-4-1, with the Waves posting their only home win on Oct. 14, 1983. In last week's 11-9 overtime win over No. 10 Santa Barbara, Pepperdine two-meter man Alan Hermann scored seven goals.

KEY MATCHES THIS WEEK

WATER POLO

California at Pepperdine, Saturday, 12 p.m.

Stanford at UCLA, Sunday, 12 p.m.

California at USC, Sunday, 12 p.m.

WOMEN'S SOCCER

UCLA at California, Friday, 4 p.m.

USC at Stanford, Friday, 4 p.m.

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL

San Diego at Pepperdine, Friday, 7 p.m.

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Box

Box: KEY MATCHES THIS WEEK (see text)