By Ron Parsons
Arizona Daily Wildcat
For the second week in a row, the Pacific 10 Conference placed seven teams in the USA TODAY/AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll. Arizona (12-3), on the strength of two home victories over the Oregon schools, moved up one place to No. 12.
Stanford (12-2) remained at No. 4 after defeating both Washington schools. Despite a loss to Stanford, Washington State (14-1) moved up two spots to No. 5 after beating California last week.
The UCLA Bruins (9-4) slipped three notches, dropping to ninth after losing to 17th-ranked Southern Cal last Friday. Arizona State stayed at No. 14 as the Sun Devils also swept the Oregon schools last weekend.
USC remained the country's 17th-ranked team despite beating the Bruins, and the Washington Huskies dropped to No. 23 after dropping a pair of matches to the Bay Area schools.
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The Pac-10 conference standings:
Stanford, undefeated in the league with an 8-0 mark, is in first place. The Cardinal played California last night, but would remain on top even with a loss.
Washington State, 6-1 in conference play, is in second place. The Cougars travel to Oregon this weekend for a pair of matches.
Arizona heads up a four-team tie for third place. UA, Arizona State, UCLA, and USC all hold 4-3 records. That will change after this weekend, however, as the Arizona schools travel to Los Angeles.
Rounding out the conference standings are Cal at 3-5, Washington at 2-5, Oregon State at 1-8 and the Oregon Ducks at 0-7.
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Senior outside hitter Kelly Kuebler of USC was named the Pac-10 player of the week after guiding the Trojans to two victories last week, including a win over No. 9 UCLA.
The victory over the Bruins marked the Trojans' first over their cross-town rival in 15 matches, dating to 1987. The Trojans also beat Pepperdine last week.
Kuebler, named a second-team All-American last year, recorded 29 kills and 35 digs in the matches. She also had four solo blocks and three service aces.
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Arizona sophomore middle blocker Stephanie Venne is in the conference's top 10 in several categories.
Venne is fourth in hitting percentage with a .345 average. In 55 games she has amassed 130 kills.
She is first in aces-per-game with a .51 mark, and ninth in blocks-per-game with 1.29 per game.
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UA is second in the Pac-10 in hitting percentage with a .256 mark, and fourth in blocks-per-game with three.
In national NCAA statistics, Arizona is ninth in kills average (16.83 per game) and sixth in assists average (15.15 per game).