Loyola Volleyball Team Needs to Go 3-for-3 for Title : Colleges: A victory in their last three matches would give the Lions the West Coast Conference championship.

With hopes of winning its first West Coast Conference title since 1986, the Loyola Marymount women’s volleyball team will play road matches against St. Mary’s tonight, Santa Clara on Friday and San Francisco on Saturday.

The Lions (18-10) are in second place in the conference at 9-2. They trail Santa Clara (19-10, 11-1) by 1 1/2 games.

The Lions put themselves in position to win the championship by winning matches from the University of San Diego and Santa Clara last week at Gersten Pavilion.

Loyola can win the conference title by sweeping its three matches.

“This is right where we wanted to be,” Stratos said. “We have a chance to win the title and, in a sense, destiny is in our hands. But it will not be an easy task.”

Although most of the attention will be on Friday’s match against Santa Clara, Stratos doesn’t want the Lions to look past tonight’s match against St. Mary’s. Loyola defeated St. Mary’s in three games Oct. 17, and the Gaels (6-23, 2-10) are struggling.

“We need to maintain a focused attitude about this,” he said. “We need to remember that St. Mary’s is who we have to gear up to play first. I don’t even want to think about (Santa Clara) until then.”

The Lions have defeated the Broncos twice this season. In addition to their win last week, Loyola beat Santa Clara in three games at the UC Santa Barbara tournament Sept. 12. Stratos, who has coached the Lions since 1990, is 3-1 against the Broncos and has yet to lose at Santa Clara.

“The last two years we have beaten them at their place, so I hope we can do that again,” he said. “We hope the seeds of doubt have been planted in their minds. We can use any advantage we can get.”

Stratos is hoping that the Lions can draw from the experience of players such as senior middle blocker Dana Bragado, senior outside hitter Joli Eberhart and junior outside hitter Deanna Doolittle. All three had outstanding matches last week, and Bragado was named conference player of the week.

“We need to have them out on the floor right now because we’re starting two freshmen and a sophomore (setter Robin Ortgiesen), although she’s been doing well,” Stratos said.

“I’m very confident right now, and if we are beaten it’s not going to be because we didn’t play well.”