NCAA Men’s Volleyball Tournament : USC Rallies to Beat UC Santa Barbara in Final

Bob Yoder joked this week that, should USC lose again this season in the final match of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. volleyball tournament, he had a noose ready in his hotel room.

The Trojan coach had no reason to hang himself, though, after USC rallied to beat UC Santa Barbara, 15-17, 14-16, 15-10, 15-11, 15-9, before a crowd of 6,207 Saturday night at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.

Victory in the 2-hour 50-minute match gave USC its first NCAA men’s team championship since the volleyball team won its last title in 1980.

The Trojans had lost in the volleyball final four times since then, and Yoder’s teams were runners-up each of the last three years.

Their frustration ended on a night when junior hitter Lawrence Hom was brilliant off the bench, helping USC become only the second team in the 19-year history of the tournament to win the championship after losing the first two games of the final match.

Hom, who replaced Scott McKeough with USC trailing, 4-1, in the third game, sparked the Trojans with his steady passing and defense, and also was successful on 37.9% of his kill attempts,

“We just weren’t getting any offense or defense out of that position,” Yoder said. “We needed a change and (Hom) had been playing well in practice. I just thought it was right for him.

“I thought if anybody could turn it around, he could. And he played the match of his life.”

Said Hom, who opened the season as a starter, but lost his position to McKeough: “I’m just happy I got in. It was kind of a surprise, but everything just clicked. We started doing everything right.”

The Trojans had played well to that point, but UCSB rallied at the end to win each of the first two games.

“They just put rushes on us,” Yoder said. “They were playing so well. It was just a great effort to stay in there and turn it around.”

Hom’s play and the dominance of the middle by freshman Bryan Ivie, who put down 50% of his kill attempts, ruined Santa Barbara.

“We didn’t defend Hom very well,” said UCSB Coach Ken Preston, whose team made its first appearance in the final since 1975. “He hit high off the hands and I don’t think we defended him deep enough.”

Said UCSB’s David Rottman, who took a match-high 74 sets: “I think it was just a matter of them gaining some confidence and feeling better about themselves. And it just snowballed.

“The ball started falling on our side more than it did on their side.”

Volleyball Notes

USC sophomore Jen-Kai Liu, who had a team-high 32 kills, was named most valuable player and was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Tom Duke, Bryan Ivie and Mike Lauterman and UC Santa Barbara’s Jon Wallace and David Rottman. . . . Among USC’s NCAA-record 64 NCAA men’s team championships are three volleyball titles. . . . UC Santa Barbara has lost in the NCAA final four times. . . . Ball State defeated George Mason, 14-16, 15-13, 15-9, 16-14, in the consolation match.