The NCAA News - News and Features

April 28, 1997

Championships preview -- National Collegiate

Long list of challengers expected to give defending champ UCLA a battle

Event: 1997 National Collegiate Men's Volleyball Championship.

Overview: Two-time defending champion UCLA is ranked No. 1 again in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll. The Bruins' 20-3 record includes triumphs over national challengers Brigham Young, Hawaii, Pepperdine and Stanford. Coach Al Scates, now in his 35th year at the helm, earned his 900th career win earlier this season against Southern California and has produced 16 championship teams, tying former Houston golf coach Dave Williams for the most NCAA team titles for a coach. This year's Bruin squad features Paul Nihipali, who is ranked among national leaders in kill average, and Tom Stillwell, who leads the country in blocks. UCLA's losses have been to Pepperdine, UC Santa Barbara and Penn State .... The Nittany Lions, champions in 1994, have won a school-record 22 consecutive matches heading into the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association tournament, where they likely will tangle with Princeton, winner of 21 straight matches. Penn State leads the nation in hitting percentage and is ranked second in the AVCA poll with a 27-1 record .... In the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, third-ranked Stanford will challenge UCLA behind outside hitter Mike Lambert (478 kills) and setter Stewart Chong (18.32 assists per game). Stanford, however, probably will first have to beat Pepperdine and Brigham Young, both ranked in the AVCA top five .... In the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, top seed Ball State is favored to stave off challenges from Ohio State and Lewis.

Field: The championship field includes four teams -- one each from the West, Midwest and East regions and one selected at large. Automatic qualification has been granted to the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

Dates and site: The semifinals and championship match will be May 1 and 3 at Ohio State.

Television coverage: ESPN2 will televise the semifinals tape-delayed at 12:30 a.m. (Eastern time) May 2 and 12:30 a.m. May 3. ESPN2 also will provide tape-delayed coverage of the championship match at 12:30 a.m. May 4.

Information/results: The fax-on-demand telephone number is 770/399-3060 (passcode 1915); request numbers are 1673 for bracket/schedule, 5322 for semifinal results and 5323 for championship-match results. Game scores and pairings also will be available on the World Wide Web at www.ncaa.org. Championship results will be published in the May 12 issue of The NCAA News.