USC Stars Light Final Four Path

USC is playing for a national championship this week and helping to lead the way are Emily Adams and Alicia Robinson, daughters of former NBA players.

However, Adams and Robinson are sophomores on the women’s volleyball team, not the school’s basketball team, and the top-ranked Trojans are in New Orleans for their second appearance in three years in the NCAA Final Four.

USC (29-1) will play Florida (34-2) in the semifinals tonight at the New Orleans Arena. The Trojans, the top-seeded team in the tournament, are trying to win their first championship in 21 years.

Adams, 6 feet 5, and Robinson, 6-2, will start tonight for a team that has its best record since 1976, when it finished 34-1 in its first year.

“Emily, Alicia and Keao [Burdine] are the keys to our future,” Coach Mick Haley said. “They’ll form the leadership base for the coming year.”

Alvan Adams, Emily’s father, played 14 seasons with the Phoenix Suns. Leonard “Truck” Robinson, Alicia’s father, was a 10-year NBA veteran and a teammate of Adams’ for three years.

Growing up in the Phoenix area, the girls, who are now roommates, often played with or against each other in sports ranging from softball to soccer to club volleyball.

In high school, Adams’ school, Xavier Prep, often defeated neighboring Central, Robinson’s school, on its way to three state volleyball championships in four years.

Despite their bloodlines, basketball was, perhaps, their least favorite sport. Adams said she played it only in a park league and preferred softball and soccer. Robinson hardly played it at all.

Alvan Adams said he never steered his daughter in any direction.

“I just wanted her to narrow her number of sports down and pick two of them to play in high school,” said Adams, now the vice president of facilities management for Bank One Ballpark and America West Arena. “We went to [a volleyball] match where Xavier was playing Central and they were the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the state at the time. It was a great match.

“I asked Emily if she ever saw herself being that intense, like those girls. She said, ‘Yeah, I do.’ ”

One of the tallest players in USC history, Adams, a middle blocker, ranks third in the nation with a .419 hitting percentage and leads the team with a 1.37 blocks per game average.

Robinson, an outside hitter, earned Pacific 10 Conference honorable mention honors as a freshman but struggled early as a starter this season.

“I was having some problems with my timing,” she said.

Robinson has a team-leading 116 hitting errors but came through with 11 kills in the Trojans’ three-game regional final victory over Pepperdine.

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NCAA Women’s

Volleyball

Championship

TODAY’S SEMIFINALS

Site: New Orleans

All times PST

* Stanford (31-4) vs. Hawaii (34-1), 4:30 p.m.

* USC (29-1) vs. Florida (34-2), 6:30 p.m.

Fast facts: Stanford is the defending champion. USC is in its second Final Four in three years.