USC Reaches the Semifinals in Volleyball

Keao Burdine had 30 kills and 30 digs to lead the USC women’s volleyball team to a 33-35, 30-27, 30-21, 34-36, 15-12 victory over top-seeded Nebraska in an NCAA tournament quarterfinal match at Louisville, Ky.

USC (23-5), the defending champion, advanced to next week’s national semifinals at Long Beach Arena.

UCLA (21-11) had a chance to join USC in the semifinals, but the Bruins saw their season end after Washington rallied for a 27-30, 30-19, 30-28, 24-30, 15-9 victory at Seattle.

On Thursday, the Trojans will face Minnesota, a 30-32, 34-32, 27-30, 30-28, 15-8 winner over Big Ten rival Ohio State at Minneapolis. USC swept Minnesota, 30-27, 30-28, 30-20, in last season’s semifinals.

Earlier this season, USC defeated Minnesota, 25-30, 32-30, 26-30, 30-28, 15-12, in a tournament at Fort Collins, Colo. The Trojans had five players in double figures in kills in that match, led by Burdine’s 21.

Stanford clinched the other spot in Long Beach with a 30-18, 31-29, 30-26 victory over Wisconsin at Green Bay, Wis., putting three Pacific 10 Conference teams into the semifinals.

In USC’s victory on Saturday, Staci Venski had 17 kills, Sarah Florian had 16 kills and Bibiana Candelas had 10 kills to lead a balanced attack.

With the score tied, 12-12, in the fifth game, USC used service and hitting errors by Nebraska before Florian slammed home the clincher.

Nebraska (30-2), which had its 27-match winning streak stopped, was led by freshman Sarah Pavan, who had a match-high 35 kills, most of them off sets by Dani Busboom, who had 64 assists.

Winter Sports

Bode Miller failed to win a downhill for the first time this season, finishing fourth in a World Cup race won by Austria’s Werner Franz at Val D’Isere, France.

Franz recorded his first World Cup downhill victory after 98 starts, charging down the Oreiller-Killy course in 1 minute 57.51 seconds.

Franz was 0.27 seconds ahead of Marco Buechel of Liechtenstein, with Michael Walchhofer of Austria third in 1:58.06.

Miller, the winner of the first two downhills this season, was next in 1:58.09. U.S. teammate Daron Rahlves tied for seventh in 1:58.27.

After eight races, Miller leads the overall standings with 530 points. He is followed by Walchhofer (284) and Austria’s Hermann Maier (279).

Alexandra Meissnitzer won for the first time in her home country, taking a super giant slalom at Zauchensee, Austria, in which American women were fourth and fifth.

Meissnitzer was timed in 1 minute 13.04 seconds, giving Austria a second straight win in the discipline. Italy’s Lucia Recchia was second (1:13.32) and Slovenia’s Tina Maze, among the last skiers, made an outstanding run on a choppy Kaelberloch course to overtake Caroline Lalive for third (1:13.56).

Lalive was timed in 1:13.64, and U.S. teammate Julia Mancuso was next in 1:13.69.

Finland’s Janne Ahonen was finally beaten in a World Cup ski jump this season, finishing second to Poland’s Adam Malysz at Harrachov, Czech Republic.

Ahonen won the first four meets -- two in Finland and two in Norway.

Malysz, the 2003 World Cup champion, won for the 25th time in his World Cup career. He jumped 143 meters in the first round on the K125 hill and 136 in the second for 284.2 points. Ahonen had 279.0 points with leaps of 141 and 136.5 meters.

Olympic gold medalist Jim Shea Jr. and Katie Koczynski won gold medals in skeleton in an America’s Cup tour event at Park City, Utah.

Shea was in third place after the first run, but his combined time of 1:42.80 topped the field.

In the women’s race, Koczynski claimed her second gold medal of the season. Her first run of 52.96 was the best on the day and she finished with a combined time of 1:46.07.

Miscellany

UNAM Pumas defeated host Monterrey, 1-0, to sweep this year’s two Mexican league soccer championships.

Pumas got a goal from Francisco Fonseca in the 46th minute to clinch its victory, 3-1, on aggregate.

Pumas won the first leg of the series, 2-1, at Mexico City on Wednesday.

Cyclist Chelsea Redwood has accepted a two-year suspension for testing positive for the appetite suppressant phentermine.

Redwood, 34, of Big Bear Lake, tested positive Sept. 26 during the U.S. Mountain Bike National Championships in Mammoth Mountain, U.S. Anti-Doping Agency officials announced Saturday.

She told officials she used the substance for weight loss without knowing it was banned by the Union Cycliste International, the international governing body for the sport.

Chellsie Memmel won the uneven bars and Alicia Sacramone won the vault in the year’s final World Cup gymnastics event at Birmingham, England, marking another strong performance by U.S. women.

Memmel, 16, scored a 9.625, beating Beth Tweddle. Sacramone, 17, scored a 9.481 on vault, beating Olympic gold medalist Monica Rosu.

Former lightweight boxing champion Paul Spadafora was jailed in Pittsburgh after a urine test showed he apparently used cocaine, authorities said.

Spadafora turned himself in to authorities Friday after violating terms of his bond, said sheriff’s Lt. Jack Kearney.

Spadafora, 29, had been free on bond but under house arrest while awaiting his Dec. 20 trial on attempted homicide.

The Netherlands’ 200-meter women’s medley relay team set a world record at the European short course swimming championships at Vienna.

The quartet of Hinkelien Schreuder, Moniek Nijhuis, Inge Dekker and Marleen Veldhuis won in 1 minute 48.21 seconds, breaking the mark of 1:48.31 set by Sweden in Valencia, Spain, four years ago.