Four of Nation’s Best Teams to Compete in Collegiate Volleyball Tournament

The Titan Collegiate Tournament, one of the nation’s top preseason women’s volleyball tournaments, begins this morning at Cal State Fullerton.

Sixteen teams, including four ranked in the top 20 in the nation by the Collegiate Volleyball Coaches Assn., will open pool play today with the top eight teams continuing in Saturday’s playoffs. The championship match is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Titan Gym.

The favorites in the tournament are second-ranked USC, San Diego State, Pepperdine, and the University of Arizona. The Trojans, defending tournament champions, have two returning All-Americans, Olympic team setter Kim Ruddins and outside hitter Tracy Clark, an El Toro High School graduate.

Other contenders will be UC Santa Barbara, Fresno State, and Cal State Fullerton, which began the season with a 5-0 record, the best start in school history. Other schools who will compete are Cal Poly Pomona, Portland State, Loyola-Marymount, Santa Clara, UC Riverside, Oregon State, Rhode Island, Utah State and Sacramento State.