NCAA Spikes UCLA, Invites USC : College volleyball: Bruins, losers to Long Beach in WIVA championship, are out of final four for sixth time in 21 years.

UCLA was stunned and USC pleasantly surprised when pairings were announced Monday for the NCAA men’s volleyball final four this weekend at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

The Bruins expected to gain an at-large bid because they advanced to the final of Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. tournament last Saturday, where they lost to Cal State Long Beach in five games.

Long Beach, as the tournament champion, earned an automatic bid to the final four.

USC was eliminated earlier by Long Beach, and Trojan Coach Jim McLaughlin thought that all but ended his team’s chances.

The Bruins, based on tournament precedent, figured they would get a bid.

“We had a team meeting to review the (WIVA championship) match at Northridge and prepare for the finals next week,” UCLA Coach Al Scates said.

Then he heard from Robert Newcomb, chairman of the NCAA men’s volleyball committee.

“He said, ‘I have some bad news for you. You’re not going, USC is.’ ”

The Bruins, winners of 13 national championships in 15 appearances in the final four, will not go to the final four for only the sixth time in 21 years.

“They were stunned because, since 1970, the NCAA has always taken the team that finished highest in our postseason competition, and have never gone back and taken a team that was eliminated in an earlier round of the postseason competition,” Scates said. “And I had assumed going in that the team that made the final round would make the NCAAs, as they had done in the previous 20 years.”

Newcomb was not available to comment on the selection process.

Both USC and UCLA have 23-5 records, but USC defeated UCLA in both meetings this season--March 2 in a league match at UCLA and April 7 in the final of the UCLA Invitational. The Trojans also finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in the coaches’ poll. The Bruins were No. 3.

Still, McLaughlin said: “I was a little surprised. Right after we lost to Long Beach, when we got back in the locker room I told the guys: ‘Meet for team meetings Monday. There’s a small chance we can go, but as far as I’m concerned right now, the season’s over.’ ”

Long Beach (27-6), ranked No. 1 and competing in its first final four since 1973, will meet Rutgers Newark (27-14) in one of two matches Friday night. The Trojans will play Ball State (27-10) in the other. The winners play for the championship Saturday.