UCSD Gets National Rematch : Volleyball: Tritons defeat SUNY Stony Brook to advance to championship match against NCAA Division III defending champion Washington University.

Some things never change.

The University of California at San Diego women’s volleyball team, for one.

The Tritons always find way to win in postseason play. It’s like clockwork.

UCSD (13-18) earned another trip to the NCAA Division III volleyball finals Friday night at Washington University by edging the University of Stony Brook (N.Y.) 15-13, 15-3, 6-15, 9-15, 15-12.

In the other semifinal, Washington University defeated Calvin College, 15-9, 15-8, 13-15, 15-5.

UCSD was making a record-setting 10th appearance in the national semifinals, and Friday night’s victory over Stony Brook (36-4) kept the Tritons undefeated in national semifinal play.

“I guess there is some mystique about the UCSD program because we have just been able to find ways to win over the years,” Triton Coach Doug Dannevik said. “We’re in the same position as the nine other teams that did this before us, but this one is very sweet because we entered the season with no returning starters coming back.”

The semifinal victory was a tale of two completely different matches. The Tritons came on late with three straight points (two on blocks by sophomore Julie Harvey) to win the opening game 15-13 before gliding to victory in the second game.

“My girls could have just quit right there, but it’s a credit to them that they came back the way they did,” Stony Brook Coach Teri Tiso said. “I’ve got to give them credit for playing so well in the third and fourth games.”

Stony Brook then turned the tide by racing to a 13-2 lead en route to an easy 15-6 victory in Game 3 before setting up the tiebreaking fifth game with a 15-9 victory in Game 4.

“We made some adjustments after the second game and executed a little better offensively after that,” Tiso said.

But the Tritons, behind senior outside hitter Elizabeth Banez’s team-high 16 kills and a game-high 25 kills from team leader Laura Kranz, had just enough in the final game to move on to tonight’s finals against undefeated defending champion Washington University.

“I think our players were ready for the pressure and the situations that come along with playing in a fifth game,” Dannevik said. “And I thought they played their best volleyball in that game. We just went out and won it right then.”

Banez felt that the rigors of playing a brutal schedule that featured 21 games against nationally ranked teams from the Division I and II levels had the Tritons ready at crunch time.

“We had to play a lot of matches like this in the regular season against some great teams, and that’s why we didn’t panic after Games 3 and 4 and were ready for the last one,” said Banez, whom Dannevik said played “the game of her life.”

Added Banez: “And records obviously don’t matter when you get this far. Everybody starts 0-0, and we proved that tonight.”

Two kills by sophomore middle blocker Jennifer Cross and a great serve from Banez helped UCSD put the Lady Patriots away in the fifth.

“I think a lot of it came down to who had the heart, and we showed we did,” Kranz said.

Next up is tonight’s rematch of last year’s final with the unbeaten host Bears, who are on a big-time roll. Washington U. won its second Division III national title in three years last season with a 14-16, 15-6, 9-15, 15-13, 15-8 victory over the Tritons.

“There is no question we are a big underdog,” Dannevik said. “So we hope that we can get in Wash. U’s head a little bit and make them think during the match.”

But UCSD should never be counted out on the volleyball court. The Tritons have won six of 11 national titles contested, including four of the last six.

“The bottom line is that we are here again,” Banez said. “It doesn’t matter how we got here, but here we are, and we might surprise them.”