Volleyball Tournament Begins Today

In each of the 22 seasons the NCAA has held a Final Four in men’s volleyball, the champion has come from the West Coast. So it’s no surprise that the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. bills its annual tournament, which begins today at UC Irvine, as the real national tournament.

In matches this afternoon at the Bren Center, No. 2 Stanford (20-3) and No. 10 Hawaii (15-12) will play at noon; No. 8 USC (11-12) and No. 4 UCLA (16-6) at 2:30 and No. 5 Cal State Northridge (17-11) and No. 6 UC Santa Barbara (15-12) at 5.

Tonight at 7:30, the league’s division champions, nationally top-ranked Cal State Long Beach (27-2) and No. 3 Pepperdine (21-4), will play, the winner earning the league’s automatic berth in the final four and the rest of the tournament off. The loser drops into the bracketed portion of the WIVA tournament to compete for an at-large berth.

The tournament semifinals will be Friday and the final Saturday.

UCLA, which upset defending national champion Long Beach last week, has won 13 national titles. USC has won four, Pepperdine three and San Diego State and Long Beach one each.