Pepperdine will get the chance to prove they're worthy of a top five ranking if they can beat No. 2 USC for the second time this season.

Stanford has a tough weekend ahead that will likely impact its No. 5 ranking one way or another. They're due to battle No. 3 UCLA and No. 11 UCI.

Here are the rest of the games to keep an eye on this week:

Thursday, February 11th

Long Beach State @ CSUN

Friday, February 12th

Pepperdine @ USC

CSUN @ UCSD

UCLA @ Stanford

UCSB @ Long Beach State

Saturday, February 13th

UCI @ Stanford

UCSB @ UCSD

This past weekend, the Pepperdine Waves took down No. 1 CSUN in four games. You wouldn't know it by looking at this week's Coaches Poll which still places CSUN in the top spot and Pepperdine all the way down at No. 7. You also wouldn't know that Pepperdine is the only team that has beaten each of this week's top three teams - CSUN, USC and UCLA.

So why are the Waves sitting so far down in seventh, you ask? One would have to look a little further into their record. The Waves are currently 4-4. And while the tale of their wins against more highly ranked teams looks fantastic, a look at their four losses makes them look inconsistent.

The Waves took acceptable losses to UCI (then ranked No. 3, now ranked No. 11) and Long Beach State (then ranked No. 8, now ranked No. 6.) However that loss to Long Beach was in three sets and their other two losses are even less impressive. The Waves lost in five to unranked California Baptist and in four to UCSD, currently ranked No. 13.

So in seventh they sit. The next round of meetings with the top teams should tell us if they deserve to be ranked higher. But if they continue to bring their A game only to matches with top teams and struggle against teams they should be beating with relative ease, they'll go nowhere in the rankings. Where they go in the playoffs, where consistently beating top teams comes in handy, well, that could be another story.

The reigning men's volleyball national champs are losing. A lot. Currently, the UCI Anteaters are 2-6 in their conference, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

As of last week they had dropped out of the top ten. But don't count these guys out just yet, because every once in a while, a team's record means absolutely nothing. This is one of those times.

UCI may have lost three starters from the national championship squad, but they still have a strong crew on the floor and one of the best coaches in the game on the sidelines. Four of the six losses on UCI's record came in five set matches. In other words, they almost won.

They almost beat Hawaii twice, USC once and BYU on night one. On night two against BYU, they did win - in straight sets. As we all know, almost doesn't count on a team's record. But knowing they can play with just about anybody may give them the confidence they need to conquer the latter half of the season.

So don't be surprised if the Anteaters channel some of that national champion juice they had last season and put it on display over the next month or two. A little more consistency and a few less missed serves and UCI will once again be a force in the playoffs. Opponents beware.

Matches like last night's between the USC Trojans and the CSUN Matadors are when you wish that men's college volleyball had more TV time.

But alas, the match between this week's new No. 1 team and the team that had been No. 1 every week previous was televised nowhere.

In the end, it seems the Matadors may have the Trojans number in more ways than one. They've managed to beat USC the last 15 times they've played dating back to 2004. On this occasion, CSUN took the match in five sets to protect their new No. 1 ranking.

It certainly wasn't easy this time though. Read more...