Pacific, USC Meet in Volleyball Semifinals

University of the Pacific, led by freshman Elaina Oden, will play USC, and defending champion UCLA will take on No. 1-ranked Stanford tonight at Kalamazoo, Mich., in the semifinals of the NCAA Division I women’s volleyball tournament. The winners will play Sunday for the championship, preceded by a third-place matchup.

UOP won the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. championship with a 15-1 mark and is 34-3 overall. The Tigers, competing in the toughest of the four regional tournaments, advanced to the final four by eliminating league rivals Hawaii and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Stanford, which defeated UCLA in two of three meetings during the season, finished as the No. 1 team in the final NCAA poll (Pacific was No. 3, UCLA No. 4 and USC No. 5).

UCLA defeated Stanford in last year’s title match. The other NCAA women’s championships were won by USC (1981) and Hawaii (1982-83).