VOLLEYBALL : USC Makes NCAA Field Through Front Door

Having slipped in through the back door last year, USC took a less controversial route to the NCAA men’s volleyball final four this season.

The Trojans’ path went over rather than around UCLA, which they defeated, 13-15, 15-5, 15-6, 9-15, 15-10, in the Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. championship match between the two division winners Wednesday at UC Irvine’s Bren Center.

Behind a match-high 41 kills by All-American Bryan Ivie, the top-ranked Trojans (26-1) avenged their only loss and earned the West Region’s automatic berth in the final four, which will be played May 3-4 in Honolulu.

The loss dropped UCLA (15-8) into the WIVA tournament, where they will play in the semifinals today at 5 p.m. against third-ranked Cal State Northridge, which defeated Pepperdine, 15-3, 11-15, 16-14, 15-12.

In another match Wednesday, Cal State Long Beach (27-4) defeated UC Santa Barbara, 15-5, 15-5, 15-7. Santa Barbara is 10-20. In the other semifinal, Long Beach will face San Diego State (22-6), which beat Loyola Marymount (9-14), 13-15, 15-8, 15-7, 15-6, Wednesday.

The winner of Saturday’s tournament championship match will become the West’s candidate for the only wild-card berth in the final four.

The clear-cut favorite in Hawaii will be USC, which was taken to five games for only the second time this season. The Trojans played a typically strong side-out match against UCLA and hit .411 as a team.

“I think we have the best team,” USC Coach Jim McLaughlin said. “If SC plays well and anybody plays well, SC wins.”

UCLA hit .311. However, UCLA Coach Al Scates predicted that a rematch would end differently. The Bruins defeated USC in four games in the championship match of the UCLA tournament on April 6.

“I think we can win it, if we get in it,” Scates said of the final four. UCLA missed out on a berth last season despite meeting what it thought was the criteria for selection.

UCLA finished second in the 1990 WIVA tournament, losing to Cal State Long Beach in the semifinals. But USC, which also had lost in the semifinals, successfully lobbied for the wild-card bid based on two regular-season victories over the Bruins. The Trojans went on to win the national championship.

“That was a cheap way to get in, but at this time of year we would have the same intensity whether it happened or not,” Scates said. “It’s hard to imagine something happening to make us want to beat them any more than we do anyway.”