USC Goes After Volleyball Title : Trojans Top-Rated; Pepperdine Also in NCAA Final Four

A year ago, USC’s volleyball team lost to Pepperdine in the NCAA championship match.

Heading into this weekend’s NCAA Final Four at University Park, Pa., USC Coach Bob Yoder is hoping to take his Trojans “one notch higher.”

The top-ranked Trojans play Ohio State tonight in a semifinal match, while Pepperdine faces host Penn State in the other semifinal. The final is set for Saturday.

USC has lost just one match this season--the nonconference season opener against UCLA--and has the best records in school history, 26-1 overall and 20-0 in the California Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn.

With his team ranked third going into the season, behind Pepperdine and UCLA, Yoder, 29, knew that he had set high standards, and the task became tougher when USC lost to the Bruins in the Kilgour Cup tournament at UCLA.

“The team’s confidence was shattered,” Yoder said. “I think we overrated ourselves.”

But perhaps the defeat did more good than bad.

“It did shake us up,” Yoder said. “We worked real hard after the loss, we made some lineup changes which allowed our outside hitters to hit more from the right side. We discovered that they hit better from the right side, particularly Adam Johnson.”

Johnson finished third in the CIVA in hitting percentage at .398, and fourth in kills with an average of 5.38 a game. Chao Ying Zhang, the Chinese import, was fifth in hitting at .392.

Dave Yoder, the coach’s brother, and Chris Martz became mostly left-side hitters. Yoder hit just .250, and Martz hit .278. Dave Yoder was ninth in the CIVA in kills, however, at 4.64 a game.

“(The lineup change) also allowed Tom Duke to block from the middle, from where he was more successful,” Yoder said.

Duke led the CIVA in hitting percentage this year at .470, and was second in blocking behind UCLA’s Don Dendinger at 1.63 a game. Chao finished the season fourth in blocking at 1.55.

Once the Trojans found the right chemistry, there was no stopping them. They defeated UCLA three times, Pepperdine twice, and dominated the CIVA, which has seven teams in the country’s top-ten.

“We’re not that dominant on defense. We don’t blow teams out,” said Yoder, who in seven years at two universities--he was at Ohio State before coming to USC--has taken five teams to the final four.

Only 11 of 27 matches went longer than three games, however.

“Also, the team is particularly close,” he said. “There are no real conflicts, which is rare. We’ve defined what we do well and have stuck with it. We’ve never abandoned it, even in close situations.”

Duke agreed. “We are a really close team,” he said. “We may not be the best overall team, but we know how to play together as a team.”

Rudy Dvorak, brother of Dusty Dvorak, a member of the 1984 gold-medal winning Olympic team and a four-time USC All-American setter, went into that even deeper. “The blend of young, hungry players with the veterans is the key,” he said. “Two freshmen, two juniors and two seniors makes for a fresh blend of talent. I don’t think you could do it with six freshmen, or even six seniors.”

The team, with Coach Yoder’s comments:

--Duke, 6-6 freshman middle blocker from Santa Barbara. Recruited by UC Santa Barbara in basketball and volleyball. “A real good athlete. He decided to come here. We were lucky to get him.”

--Martz, 6-3 freshman setter from Hacienda Heights. “A solid starter who has developed into a really good hitter the last few weeks.”

--Dvorak, 6-3 senior setter from Laguna Beach. “Had his best year this year. Has blocked better and has really helped the team.”

--Yoder, 6-2 junior outside hitter from San Clemente. “Has improved his passing and has become even more aggressive.”

--Johnson, 6-2 junior outside hitter from Laguna Beach. “The best all-around player. A real good passer and a good blocker.”

--Chao (The Great Wall), 6-3 senior middle blocker from Peking, China. “Has improved his blocking this year and has great leaping ability. The best middle hitter in the league. Quick, a decent blocker. . .maybe a great blocker.”

--Bench. “We haven’t had to use the bench all that much with the exception of junior outside hitter Mike Hurlbut, who plays opposite center. We use him when we need a sudden burst of offense.”

The team has come from behind and won several matches in which Hurlbut replaced the defense-oriented Martz when the team needed a spark.

The Trojans have finished among the top five teams in four of Yoder’s five years as coach. “I inherited a pretty good group,” he said.

For their success this season, the Trojans earned an automatic berth in the final four and appear headed for a rematch with defending champion Pepperdine.

USC has to beat Ohio State to reach the final, but Yoderis expecting that. “I would assume we will,” he said.

Pepperdine Coach Rod Wilde wants the chance to repeat, but thinks his team will have more trouble than USC getting into the final.

“Penn State is the best team to come out of the East,” he said. “Freshman Christopher Chase is probably one of the best players in the country.”

Still, Wilde believes that the Waves will make it to the final match.

“We have a more balanced attack, where they basically have a three-man team,” he said.

As for beating USC should the two West Coast teams meet again, Wilde said: “Anything can happen in an NCAA championship.”

Pepperdine (20-7) played USC twice this season, the Trojans winning, 15-10, 13-15, 15-13, 6-15, 15-11, and 17-15, 13-15, 15-10, 16-14.

NCAA VOLLEYBALL FINAL FOUR

At Penn State

Tonight (Semifinals)

Pepperdine (20-7) vs. Penn State (32-8)

USC (26-1) vs. Ohio State (25-13)

Saturday

Winners of semifinal matches play for championship.