L.A. UNIVERSITY BEAT / WENDY WITHERSPOON : Sealy Finally Gets Chance to Help UCLA Win NCAA Volleyball Title

As a highly recruited volleyball player at Santa Monica High in 1990, Mike Sealy figured he would head to UCLA and just wait for the national championships to start rolling in.

The Bruins, after all, had won 13 of 20 NCAA titles, including the 1989 title. For Sealy, winning at least one more title during a four-year UCLA career seemed virtually guaranteed.

But Sealy, now a senior, is still waiting for a title as the Bruins head into their first NCAA Final Four in four years.

UCLA (22-3) will play Ohio State (28-8) in the semifinals Friday at 8 p.m. at Pauley Pavilion.

“I guess coming out of high school, knowing the tradition that UCLA had, I just always assumed that (a national championship) is what would happen,” Sealy said. “I never really realized the kind of work and effort that it took.”

The Bruins have also had their share of bad fortune. In 1990, UCLA was passed over by the NCAA for the at-large bid to the Final Four. Previously, the NCAA had always awarded the at-large bid to the team that finished in second place in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. postseason tournament.

The Bruins finished second that year, but the NCAA awarded the bid to USC, which had been eliminated in an earlier round.

“I know for me, it gave me a huge negative tone and it was hard to get through,” Sealy said. “We did everything we needed to do to go and then all of a sudden we don’t go.”

After that, two more years passed without the Bruins advancing to the Final Four. Suddenly, Sealy was facing his senior season without a title, and, what’s more, his starting position was being threatened by Stein Metzger, a redshirt-freshman setter.

Metzger was a top recruit out of Punahou High in Honolulu, and his club team won the 1991 junior national championship.

Sealy knew that for the first time in his Bruin career, he would have to work to retain his starting position. “That kind of lit the fire under me,” Sealy said.

Sealy locked the volleyballs in the closet last summer and hit the weight room. The work paid off.

Sealy, 6 feet 7, already had height going for him, and with increased strength and quickness from his weight training, opposing middle blockers have had very little time to react to his sets this season.

“Mike came back so much stronger after his weight training during the summer, he was a step quicker and jumped higher and blocked better,” Coach Al Scates said.

The Bruins were 17-7 last season but had all six starters back and have been ranked No. 1 the entire season. The Bruins secured a berth to the NCAA Final Four by winning the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship last Wednesday night.

If they beat Ohio State Friday, the Bruins might meet Cal State Northridge (22-9) in the NCAA final Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion. Northridge, seeking its first NCAA title, faces Penn State (20-4) in the semifinals Friday at 6 p.m.

As expected, Northridge received an at-large bid Sunday after defeating Cal State Long Beach, 15-13, 15-8, 15-10, Saturday night at UC Irvine to win the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament.

What a difference one player can make.

David Ekerot, a senior from Lund, Sweden, returned to the second-ranked USC men’s tennis team last month after a series of injuries prevented him from competing for almost four months.

Playing No. 4 singles, Ekerot helped USC to a 5-1 victory over top-ranked UCLA on April 9.

The victory helped the Trojans, 18-2 overall and 9-1 in Pacific 10 Conference, win their third consecutive Pac-10 title.

Ekerot, ranked 12th, also advanced to the final of the Pac-10 singles championship at the Ojai Invitational last week, where he lost to Fritz Bissell of UCLA, 6-3, 6-4.

Ekerot’s long absence gave him renewed enthusiasm for the season. “I was out for a long time and I wanted to come back so bad that once I was back I was really hungry to play,” he said. “I missed the heart of the season, but we have the important parts left so I’m kind of psyched about that.”

With Ekerot, USC might be the strongest team at the NCAA men’s tennis championship May 14-23 at the University of Georgia.

Notes

Natalie Williams of UCLA has won her second consecutive national Honda Award for women’s volleyball. As one of 11 winners in individual sports, Williams will become eligible for the Honda-Broderick Cup, which honors the outstanding collegiate female athlete. . . Jane Chi, a UCLA freshman from Boise, Idaho, upset fourth-ranked Heather Willens of Stanford, 6-1, 1-6, 7-5, in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 singles tournament at the Ojai Invitational last week. Chi is ranked 93rd. . . . The NCAA women’s tennis championships will be held May 12-20 at the University of Florida. . . . Pepperdine’s fourth-ranked doubles team of Cary Lothringer and Ari Nathan are 15-0 this season in dual-match play. The 10th-ranked Waves are 18-5.

Jason Mulholland, a sophomore opposite hitter for the USC men’s volleyball team, had 55 kills in the Trojans’ first-round loss to Cal State Northridge at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament Wednesday to tie the NCAA record. Dave Goss of Stanford set the record last season. . . . No team outside of Southern California has won an NCAA men’s volleyball title. UCLA has 13 titles, Pepperdine and USC each have four, and San Diego State and Cal State Long Beach each have one. . . . UCLA has won seven of its 13 NCAA titles at Pauley Pavilion. Coach Al Scates has never lost an NCAA Final Four match at Pauley Pavilion.