U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL: ORANGE COUNTY’S DAY : LOS ANGELES 1991 : Price Assists Gold Medal Win : Volleyball: Former Corona del Mar star sets up Marin Gjaja’s key kills in South team’s victory over the West.

Ty Price did a double take when he spotted Marin Gjaja’s name on the Olympic Festival volleyball roster.

“I said, ‘Who the heck is this guy?’ ” said Price, a setter on the South team and a teammate of Gjaja’s. “I had never heard of him. I had to ask someone who he was.”

You can’t blame Price. Gjaja, after all, was a football player from Princeton. An Ivy Leaguer playing volleyball, a sport dominated by beach kids? Go figure.

But after Sunday’s gold-medal match, Gjaja had left a lasting impression on everyone--especially Price.

Gjaja, 6 feet 5 and 225 pounds, had a match-high 56 kills as the South held on for a 15-9, 15-13, 10-15, 10-15, 15-12 victory over the West at Loyola Marymount’s Gersten Pavilion.

“Marin’s definitely a stud,” said Price, a 6-1 junior from San Diego State who finished with 108 assists. “I went to him as many times as I could.”

Price and Gjaja, an outside hitter, found a common thread during the Festival--football.

Price played quarterback and led Corona del Mar’s team to the 1988 Southern Section Division VI title. He also led the Sea Kings to a section volleyball title.

Gjaja, a tight end, started 10 games last season for Princeton, catching 20 passes for 217 yards and one touchdown.

So the gold-medal match was dominated by a couple of guys who can throw and catch--two things you can’t do in volleyball.

“Everything was clicking with Ty and I,” Gjaja said. “That was the best I have ever played. Ty was putting the ball right up there for me. It was like he had it on a string.”

Gjaja wasn’t a bad volleyball player at Princeton, either. He was a four-time all-conference selection and helped the Tigers to four consecutive league titles.

“He dominated all the (Festival) scrimmages,” Price said of Gjaja. “He’s a physical player and he’s very intense.”

When the South fell behind in the third and fourth games, Gjaja was shouting encouragement to his teammates. His voice was hoarse after the match.

“Because of football, the only way I know how to play (volleyball) is to be intense,” Gjaja said. “I’m just lucky my voice lasted as long as it did.

“But I think intensity can make up for a lack of talent. Adrenaline is a very useful chemical, and I use it to my advantage.”

Gjaja controlled the match early. He had 10 kills in the first game and added 14 in the second as the South took a two-game lead.

But the West, behind the play of Pepperdine’s Dijon Douphner, came back from a 7-5 deficit to win the third game, then rolled to a 15-10 victory in the fourth.

Douphner, the stepson of Pepperdine and 1988 U.S. Olympic Coach Marv Dunphy, had 43 kills and a .603 hitting percentage.

The West took a 2-0 lead in the fifth game, and West Coach Fred Featherstone of Grossmont (Calif.) College thought his team had the match under control.

“I thought the South players were getting tired,” Featherstone said.

But kills by Gjaja, USC’s Chris Underwood and a block by Ken Lynch of Cal State Northridge keyed an 8-2 run by the South.

The West cut the deficit to 13-12, but a kill by UCLA’s Erik Sullivan and a block by Underwood ended the match.

Former Marina High player Duane Cameron finished with 12 kills and 12 digs for the South.

UCLA’s Brian Boone, a former Edison High player, had 11 kills and Pepperdine’s Dain Blanton (Laguna Beach High) added three kills for the West.

“It makes it fun to play against guys from high school,” Price said. “(Former Mira Costa setter) Jason Stimpfig would make a great play, and I would say, ‘Hey, you’ll have to teach me how to do that sometime.’ ”