Monday, April 27, 1998
NCAA at-large berth
goes to Bruins
UCLA loses in the MPSF final,
By Cindy Luis
but rounds out the field for the
NCAA men's volleyball tourney
Star-BulletinLOS ANGELES -- Is it any surprise that "slam dunk" and "UCLA" would be used in the same sentence? But this is volleyball, not basketball, a sport in which the Bruins were perennial champions in the 1960s and '70s.
UCLA has been pretty dominating in volleyball, too, winning 16 national titles. In Marv Dunphy's mind, there was no question top-ranked UCLA would receive the at-large berth into this week's NCAA men's volleyball championship at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Pepperdine coach was confident the Bruins would be in the final four, along with his Waves, Midwest champ Lewis (Romeoville, Ill.) and East champ Princeton. The Waves (22-4) meet Princeton (16-8) and the Bruins (26-4) play Lewis (25-8) in Thursday's semifinals.
"It's a done deal as far as I'm concerned, a slam-dunk decision," Dunphy said after Pepperdine stunned UCLA, 15-12, 11-15, 15-4, 15-12, at Pauley Pavilion for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship Saturday night. It was the first time since 1986 that the Waves defeated the Bruins on UCLA's home court, a streak of 14 matches.
UCLA's selection wasn't officially a done deal until after a conference call involving the three-member selection committee yesterday morning. The only other team given serious consideration was Ohio State, which was briefly ranked No. 1 in the coaches' poll after upsetting Pepperdine last month. The Buckeyes were eliminated in the semifinals of their conference tournament.
Bob Hiegert, the West region representative on the selection committee, said Saturday night that believed UCLA would be in the national tournament, win or lose. If the Waves hadn't won the MPSF berth, and if the other two committee members pushed for Ohio State, the selection process might have been interesting.
But Pepperdine (22-4) made it easy for the committee, needing 2 hours and 55 minutes to beat UCLA (26-4) for the first time in three tries this season.
For the second consecutive year, the top-seeded Bruins lost the conference final at home. Last year they lost to Stanford, which went on to beat UCLA for the national title.
"We expect to see UCLA in the final," Pepperdine setter J.J. Riley said. "But we've got to take care of business first against Princeton. We don't know what they have, but we heard they're really good.
"We're hoping to have the home-court advantage."
Riley is one of five Hawaii-raised players on Pepperdine's roster. Two of them had big roles in Saturday's victory: blocker Rick Tune (15 kills, seven blocks) and hitter Scott Wong (15 kills, 18 digs).
It will be Tune's third final four. He played for the Rainbows in 1995 and 1996 before transferring to Pepperdine this season to play as a graduate student.
"It's a dream come true, to be in another final four my last season," Tune said. "It's a great feeling to be able to go back and try to win it at home with a great bunch of guys.
"I don't know if this was a preview of the championship match. Lewis and Princeton are both good teams and you can't overlook anyone."
UCLA might have started to look past Pepperdine after taking a quick 10-2 lead in Game 1. Trailing 12-6, the Waves stormed back behind MPSF Player of the Year George Roumain (47 kills) to score nine unanswered points and pull out the game.
Dunphy stuck with his starters while Bruins coach Al Scates continued to throw fresh players at the Waves. It only disrupted UCLA's rhythm as the Bruins got blown out in Game 3.
UCLA looked poised to force a fifth game, jumping out to leads of 6-2 and 10-5 in Game 4. But Pepperdine didn't panic, taking a 12-10 lead, only to have UCLA tie it at 12.
Roumain buried a line shot to put the Waves on top, 13-12. Sixteen sideouts later, two hitting errors by the Bruins lifted Pepperdine into its ninth final four, and first since 1992.
The Waves have won four national titles, the last in '92. UCLA is making its 21st appearance in the final four. It last won the national title in 1996, beating Hawaii in five.
NCAA men's volleyball
Thursday Semifinals -- UCLA (26-4) vs. Lewis (25-8), 6:30 p.m.; Pepperdine (22-4) vs. Princeton (16-8), 8:30 p.m.;
