NCAA Men’s Volleyball Tournament : USC, UC Santa Barbara Are Favored to Reach Final

It has been almost two decades now since the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. first sanctioned a national volleyball tournament, and still no team from outside California has won it.

Penn State was given a good chance to end the West Coast dominance this season, but the second-ranked Nittany Lions lost 6-foot 10-inch Chris Chase to injury, then lost their way to the Final Four.

They were beaten in the East Regional final last week by George Mason of Fairfax, Va., in an upset that was described by Don Shondell, veteran coach at Ball State, as “one of the greatest in NCAA tournament history.”

Coach Tom Tait of Penn State said last season that, until a team from outside California breaks through, the tournament will never be thought of as anything more than a regional championship.

Now, with the Nittany Lions home licking their wounds, that appears to be exactly what the NCAA is stuck with for the 19th straight season.

USC and UC Santa Barbara, who split two meetings during the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. season, are expected to play for the national championship Saturday night at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.

First, though, they must get past their semifinal opponents tonight.

UC Santa Barbara, 27-10, beat UCLA and Hawaii last weekend in winning the West Regional title and will take on George Mason, 27-11, in the opener.

In the late match, WIVA champion USC, 32-4, will meet Ball State, 19-8, of Muncie, Ind. USC has lost in the NCAA final three straight years.

Shondell, in his 24th season at Ball State, said he has never had a better defensive team, that he has the best setter in the tournament in sophomore Chris Cooper and that the crowd will be vocal in support of the Cardinals.

However, he also said a Ball State victory would constitute an upset comparable to George Mason’s victory over Penn State.

Still, he said, he has a better feeling going into the Final Four this time than he had in his previous eight trips.

“Most of he time when we’ve played in this tournament, it’s been at Pauley Pavilion,” Shondell said. “We never play well out there. Volleyball is such a big thing out there that it gives you a feeling of inferiority, so you don’t play up to your level.”

The Cardinals will face a formidable foe in the top-ranked Trojans, described by Coach Bob Yoder as the biggest and most talented team he’s had in seven seasons at USC. Considering that USC won 27 straight matches two seasons ago before losing in the NCAA final to Pepperdine, that’s saying something.

USC lost three starters from last year’s team but Yoder said that newcomers Jen-Kai Liu and Bryan Ivie “have really come in and filled out our team,” joining 3-year starters Tom Duke and Chris Martz, setter Mike Lauterman and redshirt returnee Scott McKeough.

UC Santa Barbara hasn’t been to the Final Four since 1975, but Coach Ken Preston said the Gauchos, who beat USC last month after USC had wrapped up the conference title, have played as well in the last few weeks as they ever have in his 10 seasons at UCSB.

Volleyball Notes

Only twice has a team from outside California even advanced to the final. Ohio State lost in 1977 to USC and Penn State lost in 1982 to UCLA. . . . UCLA beat USC in last year’s final for its 12th title. . . . Penn State had beaten George Mason five times, winning 15 of 16 games, and led, 2-0, in last week’s match before losing to the Patriots.