Thursday, April 30, 1998

Eyes on the prize

History favors perennial NCAA tournament powers
UCLA and Pepperdine, but Lewis and Princeton
like their chances in the final four,
which kicks off tonight

By Cindy Luis
Star-Bulletin

Strangers, casual visitors, part-time residents and practically kamaaina.

That's what the field looks like for the 29th NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship Tournament, which begins tonight at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Princeton is making its first appearance in the tournament and Lewis its second. Three-time winner Pepperdine is back after a six-year hiatus, and UCLA is back -- again -- seeking an unprecedented 17th trophy.

History doesn't favor the teams east of California's I-5 freeway. Consider that:

Only Penn State (1994) has been able to break through the Golden State stranglehold on national titles.

Only three non-California teams have reached the championship match: Hawaii (1996), Penn State (1995, '94, '82) and Ohio State (1977);

But that's why the matches are played -- to add to history and, perhaps, to rewrite it.

A look at the field, according to seeding:

1. PEPPERDINE (22-4): The Waves have some history on their side. Last year, Stanford defeated UCLA for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title on the Bruins' home court. A week later, the Cardinal beat UCLA for the national title.

"We don't know too much about Princeton, but we do know about their coach and a couple of their players," Pepperdine coach Marv Dunphy said of tonight's opponent. "Obviously, when you knock off a Rutgers and a Penn State . . . well, anytime you win anything, you never apologize for it.

"They won the East and their numbers suggest they're a good team. It's a nice story for volleyball that they're here."

Princeton might be Cinderella, but the Waves are hoping to be the favorite sons. Pepperdine features five players from Hawaii, including three starters: MPSF Freshman of the Year Scott Wong, senior setter J.J. Riley and former Rainbow Rick Tune, who is playing as a graduate student.

The Waves also have junior George Roumain, named yesterday as the National Player of the Year as well as an All-American for the second straight season. Joining him on the All-America team is senior blocker Chris Jacobson.

"This is something I've thought about ever since I was a junior in high school," said Wong, whose brother, Kevin, won two national titles with the Bruins (1993 and '95). "It's great to have a chance to live a dream."

2. UCLA (26-4): This could easily be called the Bruin Invitational.

"We're just trying to stay above .500," UCLA coach Al Scates joked. "You try to win half of them and we're 16 of 28. That's not bad."

The Bruins are 16-4 in championship matches and have never finished lower than second in 20 tournament appearances. And after finishing second, they always came back to win the championship the next year.

The Bruins looked vulnerable Saturday against Pepperdine, sitting on huge leads in Games 1 and 4 before the Waves rallied to win both games and the match. Lewis has the same capability to sideout a team to death, and UCLA won't be looking past the Flyers, who took the Bruins to five games a year ago before losing, 24-22, in Game 5.

Scates said this team has better balance than last year's squad. His two freshmen All-Americans -- blocker Adam Naeve and setter Brandon Taliaferro -- have been even more impressive as sophomores. The pair, ranked 2-3 nationally in service aces, repeated as All-Americans yesterday.

Adding to the balance is senior hitter Ben Moselle, who earned second-team All-America honors yesterday. Senior middle Tom Stillwell ranks sixth on UCLA's career kill list and junior Fred Robins of Kamehameha is considered one of the best passers in the country.

By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin Hawaii middle blocker Andre Breuer, right, goes for a block against UC Irvine earlier this season. Yesterday, Breuer became the 14th UH player to earn All-America honors. Roumain named top player Star-Bulletin staff The honor is nice, but George Roumain isn't in Hawaii to win individual awards. "I'm not into that stuff," said Roumain, who was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association Player of the Year yesterday. "It's a great honor, but I just want to win." Roumain will try help Pepperdine do just that when the top-seeded Waves take on Princeton in tonight's second semifinal of the NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship at the Stan Sheriff Arena. UCLA and Lewis meet in the first semifinal at 6:30 p.m. "George is our most improved player this season," Pepperdine coach Marv Dunphy said. "He's matured a lot. He carries a big load for our team and carries it well." Roumain, a junior opposite, was one of six repeat selections from last year's All-America teams. Others are UCLA's Adam Naeve and Brandon Taliaferro, Lewis' Victor Rivera, BYU's Ryan Millar and Gaby Amar from Long Beach State. Amar, Millar and Roumain were first-team picks last season. Naeve, Rivera and Taliaferro were second-team picks. Among the newcomers on the first team were Hawaii's Andre Breuer, a sophomore middle. He was the lone Rainbow named and the 14th Hawaii player to earn All-America honors. Joining Breuer were Angel Aja of Ohio State and Stanford's Andy Witt. All Stars First team Player, School, Pos., Class Angel Aja, Ohio St., S, So. Gaby Amar, Long Beach St, MB, Sr. Andre Breuer, Hawaii, MB, So. Ryan Millar, BYU, MB, Jr. Adam Naeve, UCLA, MB, So. Victor Rivera, Lewis, OH, Jr. George Roumain, Pepperdine, Op, Jr. Brandon Taliaferro, UCLA, S, So. Andy Witt, Stanford, OH, So. Second team Player, School, Pos., Class Ossie Antonetti, BYU, OH, Jr. Rene Esteves, Ohio St, MB, So. Wycliffe Gordon, N.J. Tech, MB, Sr. Chris Jacobson, Pepperdine, MB, Sr. Ben Moselle, UCLA, MB, Sr. Reid Priddy, Loy. Marymount, OH, So. Dan Schultz, Loy.Chicago, OH, Jr. Chris Seiffert, Long Beach St, S, So. Hector Soto, IP-Ft. Wayne, OH, So. Player of the Year: George Roumain, Pepperdine

3. LEWIS (25-8): The Flyers' volleyball history has been short and sweet. The program, in its fifth season, is making its second appearance in the national tournament in three years.

Lewis is a tremendous sideout team, averaging about 74 percent. The Flyers know they can dig the Bruins. The question is, for how long?

"We're going to have to play great defense," Lewis coach Dave Deuser said. "UCLA has great jump serves and if they get on a roll, it will be hard for us to stop them. But if we pass well, we'll sideout well. The challenge will be to score points on them."

The Flyers have junior hitter Victor Rivera to count on. This year, the two-time All-American broke the NCAA record for single-season kills (he currently has 872).

Lewis is ranked third in the nation in hitting percentage behind Ohio State and UCLA. Setting the Flyers is sophomore Edgardo Deniz, who set the NCAA single-match record for assists two weeks ago with 140 in the MIVA Tournament final against Loyola-Chicago.

"What I like about our team is we don't die," Deuser said. "Against Loyola, we were down 0-2 and then we picked our defense up.

"We know that it's been 21 years since a Midwest team made the finals (Ohio State in 1977). But if we can play defense, we can pull something off."

The Flyers and Bruins met earlier this season, with UCLA winning at home in four.

Lewis is the only final four team without a Hawaii-raised player on the roster.

4. PRINCETON (16-8): It's new territory for the Tigers, who are only the second Ivy League team to advance to the final four.

Princeton got into the island mood two weeks ago. After winning the EIVA championship, the Tigers wore leis and flashed the shaka sign for their post-match picture. Senior blocker Dan Brandt has schooled his teammates well.

"I can't think of any better way to end my career," said Brandt, one of five Punahou School products in this week's tournament. "After trying to get to the final four the past few years, this is great. My whole team was cheering for me to get back home.

"We had a rocky start. But once we beat Penn State, 3-0 (March 27), we gained confidence. Once we beat them our team started to believe again."

Princeton is a different type of team. Brandt skipped the Ivy League Tournament for an astrophysics exam. Senior co-captain Scott Birdwell missed three home matches while completing research for his senior thesis.

What the Tigers have learned along the way is to play defense and win the big points.

"In the middle of the season, I didn't think we were capable of being here," Princeton coach Glenn Nelson said. "But during the last stretch of the season, we played some really good defense.

"We started winning those big points when it got to 12-all. We started playing with confidence."

And the Tigers started dominating, going 8-1 since a 3-0 loss to George Mason on March 6. They didn't drop a game in three EIVA Tournament matches.

"Our defense has definitely picked up and we started making the big plays at the right time," said sophomore setter Jason Morrow, who became the first player in Princeton history to be named the AVCA National Player of the Week. "Things came together at the right time."

The Tigers will have to put together their best match of the season tonight. Pepperdine will put up a huge block and "it will take a miracle for us to win it all," Nelson said.

"Pepperdine is a stronger team at the net than we are. We're going to have to get down and play defense, dig a ton of balls and hope we get the chance to get it to 12-all."

"I think everybody's pretty surprised to see Princeton here," said senior hitter Jeff Cooper, a former ball boy for the UCLA volleyball program.

"I don't think we're the underdogs as much as people portrayed us. We always knew we had the potential to beat anybody in the East. We finally lived up to our potential."

NCAA Volleyball Finals

UCLA vs. Lewis, 6:30 p.m.
Pepperdine vs. Princeton, 8:30 p.m.
Where Stan Sheriff Center
TV UCLA vs. Lewis, live on ESPN2; Pepperdine vs. Princeton, one-day tape delay on ESPN2 (Friday, 6:30 p.m.)
Tickets $10 for single tickets; $18 for two-day package

---

Pepperdine Waves Record 22-4 overall, 16-3 MPSF Coach Marv Dunphy, 277-125 (16 seasons), 277-125 at Pepperdine National ranking No. 1 Final four record 12-4 (three titles) Starting lineup Setter J.J. Riley; outside hitters George Roumain, Scott Wong, Peter Kodascy; middle blockers Rick Tune and Chris Jacobson Stat leaders Kills: Roumain (682); Hitting percentage: Tune (.494); Digs: Wong (213); Blocks: Jacobson (183); Aces: Roumain and Wong (26); Assists: Riley (1,283) Team strengths Blocking (tops in MPSF) and hitting efficiency (three players in top 12 nationally). Roumain named national player of the year yesterday, Wong the MPSF Freshman of the Year. Team weaknesses Not the best serve-receive team in the field. Tendency to rely on Roumain. No bench depth. They said it "I played football for a few months, but there was too much equipment to put on." 6-6, 250-pound George Roumain on why he chose volleyball over football. Roster No./Player, Position 1 Craig Gamble, OH 2 Chris Jacobson, MB 3 Donny Killian, MB 5 Erik Koenig, OH 6 Matthew Boice, MB 7 Richard Chou, OH 8 Kurt Nelson, S 9 J.J. Riley, S 10 George Roumain, OH 12 Scott Wong, OH 13 Peter Kodascy, OH 14 Pono Kahale, OH 15 Rick Tune, MB 16 Joshua Crosier, MB 1998 results (22-4) Opponent, Score La Verne, W 3-0 CSU Northridge, W 3-0 Loyola Marymount, W 3-0 UCLA, L 2-3 UC Irvine, W 3-0 BYU, W 3-0 BYU, W 3-1 at CSU Northridge, W 3-0 at Stanford, W 3-1 at Pacific, W 3-0 at UCSB, W 3-0 at Hawaii, W 3-0 at Hawaii, W 3-0 Penn State, W 3-0 Southern Cal, W 3-0 Long Beach State, L 2-3 Ohio State, L 1-3 at UC San Diego, W 3-0 at San Diego State, W 3-1 UC Santa Barbara, W 3-0 at UC Irvine, W 3-0 at UCLA, L 1-3 at Loyola Marymount, W 3-1 x-Stanford, W 3-1 y-Hawaii, W 3-1 y-at UCLA, W 3-1 x-MPSF first-round y-MPSF final four at UCLA UCLA Bruins Record 26-4 overall, 17-2 MPSF Coach Al Scates, 944-147 (36 seasons), 944-147 at UCLA National ranking No. 2 Final four record 44-5 (16 titles) Starting lineup Setter Brandon Taliaferro; outside hitters Fred Robins and Ben Moselle; opposite Evan Thatcher; middle blockers Adam Naeve and Tom Stillwell Stat leaders Kills: Naeve (471); Hitting percentage: Stillwell (442); Digs: Robins (197); Blocks: Stillwell (125); Aces: Naeve (51); Assists: Taliaferro (1,654) Team strengths Tradition of winning, balanced attack, All-American setter Taliaferro, tough jump serves (led MPSF in ace average) Team weaknesses Tendency to give up runs of points when frustrated, over-confidence. They said it "Yeah, I slit my wrist last year. But I'm wearing a watch so you can't see the scar." UCLA coach Al Scates on not three-peating as NCAA champs last season. Roster No./Player, Position 1 Seth Burnham, Q 2 Eric Vallely, S 3 Brandon Taliaferro, S 4 Matt Davis, OH 5 Mark Williams, OH 8 Jared Dannis, Q 9 Evan Thatcher, OP 12 Donald Pathasnanon, OH 14 Fred Robins, OH 15 Danny Farmer, Q 17 Tom Stillwell, Q 18 Adam Naeve, Q 19 Charlie Jackson, S 20 Ben Moselle, OH 25 Clay Chilcott, OP 26 Andor Gyulai, OH 1998 results (26-4) Opponent, Score a-Ball State, W 3-0 a-Penn State, W 3-0 a-Hawaii, W 3-0 at Loyola Marymount, W 3-0 at UCSB, W 3-0 at Pepperdine, W 3-2 Southern Cal, W 3-1 at Long Beach State, W 3-0 San Diego State, W 3-0 UC San Diego, W 3-0 UC Santa Barbara, W 3-0 CS San Bernardino, W 3-0 CS Northridge, W 3-0 UC Irvine, W 3-0 Lewis, W 3-1 Loyola-Chicago, W 3-0 BYU, L 0-3 BYU, W 3-0 at Stanford, L 0-3 at Pacific, W 3-0 Rutgers-Newark, W 3-0 at Hawaii, W 3-1 at Hawaii, L 0-3 at CS Northridge, W 3-0 Loyola Marymount, W 3-1 Pepperdine, W 3-1 at UC Irvine, W 3-1 x-Loyola Marymount, W 3-0 y-Long Beach State, W 3-0 y-Pepperdine, L 1-3 a-Outrigger Hotels Tournament, Honolulu x-MPSF first-round y-MPSF final four at UCLA

Lewis Flyers Record 25-8 overall, 8-2 MIVA Coach Dave Deuser, 127-47 (five seasons), 127-47 at Lewis National ranking No. 6 Final four record 0-1 (shared third in 1996) Starting lineup Setter Edgardo Deniz; outside hitters Victor Rivera and Tim Casey; opposite Ryan McNeil; middle blockers Guy Nembhard and Bryan Johnwick Stat leaders Kills: Rivera (872); Hitting percentage: Nembhard (.434); Digs: Rivera (208); Blocks: Nembhard (183); Aces: Rivera (35); Assists: Deniz (1,874) Team strengths Tremendous sideout ability, scrappy defense, All-American Rivera broke NCAA record for kills this season (872). Team weaknesses Lack of height (no starter over 6-5), tendency to rely on Rivera. They said it "If we pass well, we'll sideout well. But the challenge will be to score points." Flyers coach Dave Deuser on playing UCLA. Roster No./Player, Position 1 Troy Hari, S 2 Jeff Getz, OH 3 Ryan McNeil, OH/OPP 4 Victor Rivera, OH 5 Eduardo Quinones, OH 6 Tim Casey, OH 7 Bryan Johnwick, MH 8 Edgardo Deniz, S 10 Kevin Ludden, OH 11 Eric Simms, MH 12 Marty Zambo, OPP 13 Ken Regan, S 15 Chris Haworth, S 16 Guy Nembhard, MH 1998 results (25-8) Opponent, Score Clarke, W 3-0 Marycrest, W 3-0 Rutgers-Newark, W 3-0 at Clarke, W 3-1 Graceland, W 3-0 Quincy, W 3-0 Ohio State, L 2-3 at IP-Ft. Wayne, L 1-3 at Ball State, W 3-1 at Loyola-Chicago, L 1-3 at Quincy, W 3-1 Park, W 3-0 a-Rutgers-Newark, L 0-3 a-Penn State, W 3-1 at George Mason, W 3-0 at UCLA, L 1-3 at San Diego State, W 3-2 at Long Beach State, L 0-3 at UCSB, W 3-1 b-Concordia, N.Y., W 3-0 b-American, Puerto Rico, L 0-3 Loyola-Chicago, W 3-1 George Mason, W 3-2 New Jersey Tech, W 3-1 Ball State, W 3-0 IP-Ft. Wayne, W 3-2 Columbia, Mo., W 3-0 Tri-State, W 3-0 at Ohio State, L 2-3 at Mercyhurst, W 3-0 x-Mercyhurst, W 3-0 y-IP-Ft. Wayne, W 3-1 y-Loyola-Chicago, W 3-2 a-Golden Dome Invitational, Newark, N.J. b-Puerto Rico Classic x-MIVA first round, Romeoville, Ill. y-MIVA final four, Muncie, Ind. Princeton Tigers Record 16-8 overall, 5-1 EIVA Coach Glenn Nelson, 427-127 (20 seasons), 427-127 at Princeton National ranking No. 11. Final four record 0-0 (first appearance). Starting lineup Setter Jason Morrow; outside hitters Jeff Cooper and Steve Cooper; opposite Scott Birdwell; middle blockers Derek Devens and Dan Brandt. Stat leaders Kills: J. Cooper (420); Hitting percentage: J. Cooper (.405); Digs: S. Cooper (158); Blocks: Devens (104); Aces: J. Cooper (11); Assists: Morrow (1,346) Team strengths Defense, all-around court intelligence, momentum (9-0 in three EIVA Tournament matches). Team weaknesses Lack of height (no starter over 6-4) and big-game experience. They said it "As a kid, I worked UCLA matches as a ball boy in Pauley Pavilion. I worked a couple of final fours and always dreamed I'd have a chance to play at that level. But I never thought I'd get that opportunity." senior Scott Birdwell. Roster No./player, Position 2 Eric Berg, OPP 3 Blair Anderson, OH 5 Tom Dowd, MB 6 Steve Cooper, OH 7 Jason Morrow, S 9 Ryan Black, MB 10 Scott Birdwell, OPP 11 Dan Brandt, MB 12 Derek Devens, MB 13 Jeff Cooper, OH 14 Jim Citron, OH 15 Brandon Vegter, MB 16 Kevin Roche, OH 31 Pablo Clarke, OH 32 John Lerch, OH 1998 results (16-8) Opponent, Score at La Verne, W 3-0 at UC Irvine, L 0-3 at Long Beach State, L 0-3 at Juniata, W 3-1 at Penn State, L 1-3 Rutgers-Newark, L 1-3 New York University, W 3-0 Concordia, W 3-0 Vassar, W 3-0 Springfield, W 3-0 Loyola-Chicago, L 3-1 at New York University, W 3-0 Harvard, W 3-0 at George Mason, L 0-3 at Rutgers-Newark, L 2-3 Queens, W 3-1 Penn State, W 3-0 New Jersey Tech, W 3-2 East Stroudsburg, W 3-1 at Southampton, W 3-0 at East Stroudsburg, L 1-3 x-Springfield, W 3-0 y-Penn State, W 3-0 y-Rutgers-Newark, W 3-0 x-EIVA first round, Princeton, N.J. y-EIVA final four, Newark, N.J.