Young Trojans Look for a Sweet Time

USC’s kids have grown up quickly.

Relying heavily on four sophomores and two freshmen, the USC women’s volleyball team has advanced to the NCAA tournament’s Sweet Sixteen and plays Ohio State today at the Sports Arena.

Sophomores April Ross and Katie Olsovsky were All-Pacific 10 first-team selections. Freshman Keao Burdine was a second-team selection.

“The axiom in volleyball is the teams with senior leadership have the best chance of winning,” Trojan Coach Mick Haley said. “It doesn’t mean it always happens.”

The winner between the Trojans (24-3) and Ohio State (27-3) plays Arizona or Pacific on Friday with a trip to the Final Four in San Diego at stake.

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Pepperdine plays Florida in a women’s volleyball regional at Lincoln, Neb., on Friday.

A victory would take the Waves where they’ve never been in the 26-year history of the program. Pepperdine has reached the round of 16 in three of the last four years, but never has taken the next step.

“We feel we have the athletes to do it,” said Nina Matthies, a former top beach player now in her 19th season as coach of the Waves.

“We’ve done our work. We’ve put the time in. Now we just need to do it on the court.”

Pepperdine has won 13 consecutive matches since a four-game loss at USC on Oct. 16.

If the Waves (23-3) defeat Florida (27-1), they will likely play No. 2-ranked Nebraska on Saturday.

The Waves lost to Nebraska at Lincoln in a 1998 regional semifinal and played there again this year, losing to the NCAA’s defending-champion Cornhuskers in three games during a tournament.

Pepperdine is led by sophomore Katie Wilkins, the West Coast Conference player of the year, who leads the Waves with 5.03 kills per game. Junior middle blocker Stacy Rouwenhorst, senior outside hitter Melissa Snow and junior setter Paola Rodriguez have provided the leadership for Wilkins and freshman hitter Brie Harris.

Florida has won 25 consecutive matches and Coach Mary Wise’s teams have won 91% of their matches in 10 years.