Her Major Now Is Volleyball History : NCAA semifinals: Bremner, UCLA drive toward unprecedented third national title in a row. CS Long Beach plays Stanford.

Julie Bremner walked into the press room in UCLA’s J.D. Morgan center two weeks ago and dropped two large textbooks onto a table.

Bremner, a setter for the UCLA women’s volleyball team, had just led the top-ranked Bruins to a victory over Ball State in the first round of the NCAA Division I women’s volleyball tournament.

Reporters waited for Bremner to talk about why UCLA is being called the best women’s volleyball team ever.

But Bremner’s textbooks told another story: This team might make history, but she still has to study.

“School comes before volleyball,” says Bremner, a junior majoring in kinesiology who hopes to attend medical school. “When I’m out of the gym, I’m in the library.”

Bremner will lead two-time defending national champion UCLA into the NCAA semifinals tonight against fifth-ranked Florida at 7 in New Mexico’s University Arena, after the 5 p.m. matchup between Cal State Long Beach, 1991 NCAA runner-up, and Stanford.

UCLA (32-0) has the chance to win an unprecedented third consecutive national championship. The Bruins also could become the second team to finish the season undefeated. USC went undefeated in 1977.

When Bremner joined UCLA last season after playing for two years with the United States national team, she added a final, essential element to an already talented team.

“(Bremner) is certainly very key to our chances for success,” said Andy Banachowski, UCLA coach. “We have a fine backup setter in Amy Boyer, but she doesn’t have the experience that Julie has had coming into our program and has gained working with the players through the year. Our team would certainly look a lot different if Julie weren’t out there.”

Bremner, from Lisle, Ill., played volleyball at Notre Dame her freshman season before leaving to play for the national team in 1989-90. But Bremner says she wanted to return to school.

She chose to attend UCLA partly for its academics and partly because she enjoyed playing volleyball with UCLA’s Natalie Williams and Elaine Youngs, with whom Bremner played on the U.S. national B team during the summer of 1991.

But when she arrived at UCLA, Bremner found herself sharing setting duties with Jennifer Gratteau.

“To come back and be humbled that way, I’m not going to say it was pleasant, but I learned,” Bremner said.

Banachowski eventually settled on a starting lineup, and Bremner started 15 of UCLA’s final 16 matches in 1991, including the national championship match against Long Beach.

Bremner is surrounded by three senior All-American outside hitters: Williams, Youngs and Jenny Evans.

“Julie Bremner has done a tremendous job running our offense, keeping all the hitters happy,” Banachowski said. “We have a lot of good hitters. They all want the ball on every single play.”

In important situations, however, Bremner sets the ball to Williams, a two-time most valuable player of the NCAA tournament.

In tonight’s semifinals, UCLA’s veterans face a team that is making its first appearance in an NCAA final four. Gudula Staub leads Florida in kills (453), service aces (61), attempts (945) and digs (354).

UCLA defeated Florida, 16-14, 15-8, 15-11, on Sept. 10 in the Brigham Young tournament. If Florida defeats UCLA in the semifinals, it would be the first team from east of the Mississippi River to advance to the championship match.

Third-ranked Long Beach (30-2) is led by Danielle Scott, a powerful All-American middle blocker who leads the nation in hitting percentage, .467.

Scott also is an all-Big West Conference center in basketball.

When Long Beach played Stanford on Sept. 4, the 49ers rallied from a two-games-to-none deficit to force a fifth game before Stanford won, 15-12, 15-4, 11-15, 8-15, 15-12.

The 49ers’ only other loss this season was to UCLA.

Stanford’s only two losses this season were to UCLA.

Bev Oden, the youngest of three volleyball playing sisters, leads Stanford (29-2). While it is her first appearance in an NCAA final four, it is the sixth season that a woman named Oden has led a team there.

Bev Oden, a senior 6-2 hitter, needs 20 kills to pass her sister, Kim, for second place on Stanford’s all-time kills list. Kim led Stanford to four final four appearances from 1982-85. Elaina Oden led Pacific to national championships in 1985 and 1986. Kim and Elaina both started on the 1992 U.S. Olympic team.

Volleyball Notes

Natalie Williams was selected the American Volleyball Coaches’ Assn. player of the year for the NCAA Division I. Williams enters the NCAA final four with more than 2,000 kills and 500 blocks in her career.