Trojans Advance to Final Four

Senior outside hitter April Ross had 19 kills to lead the top-seeded USC women’s volleyball team to a 24-30, 30-26, 30-17, 30-17 victory over UCLA Saturday night in front of 2,612 in the championship match of the Nebraska regional at Lincoln.

The Trojans (33-0) advance to the NCAA Division I final four at Reunion Arena in Dallas where they will play California regional winner Minnesota.

The Gophers beat Washington, 19-30, 32-30, 33-31, 25-30, 15-9, at the Pyramid in Long Beach.

USC broke the NCAA record for consecutive wins, set by Penn State in 1990. The Trojans have won 45 straight matches dating to Nov. 2, 2002, when they lost in five games to Stanford.

Ross, who had five kills in the final set, was one of four Trojans to record 10 or more kills.

Emily Adams had 14, while Keao Burdine and Katie Olsovsky had 13 and 11, respectively. Burdine was named the regional MVP.

Brittany Ringel had 17 kills to lead the Bruins (24-9).

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Minnesota (26-10) took a 7-3 lead in the fifth game in part because Husky freshman Courtney Thompson had difficulty setting up her hitters.

The Gophers extended the lead to 13-8 on a kill by Erin Martin and a solo block by Meredith Nelson on Washington outside hitter Sanja Tomasevic.

After Cassie Busse of Minnesota sent a kill attempt wide, Washington handed the next point to the Gophers when Thompson served out of bounds.

The Gophers got match point on the next play when the Huskies turned over a free ball that led to a Busse kill into the back corner.

Opposite hitter Busse finished with 21 kills and was named regional MVP.

Tomasevic led Washington (23-9) with 21 kills and 13 digs.

Times staff writer Paul McLeod contributed to this report.