2004
NCAA Final Four preview
Long Beach State
Team
outlook: The Beach, the at-large invitee
to this year’s men’s volleyball
Final Four, is looking for its second National
Championship and first since 1991. The 49ers
are ranked No. 2 nationally and seeded second
in the tournament, and although the team
has appeared in the Final Four five times
in the program’s history, it is the
only team in the Final Four that did not
gain the valuable experience of being part
of last year’s tournament.
Players
to watch: A 6 foot 7 inch senior outside
hitter, Scott Touzinsky, is the team’s
leader in kills per game at 4.57, nearly
twice as many as anyone else on the team
and the second straight year he has led
the team in the statistic. He also led the
49ers in service aces at 36 on the season.
Sophomore setter Tyler Hildebrand is crucial
to the 49ers’ success. He leads the
team in sets per game at 14.17 and must
put the ball on the hands of his hitters
for the 49ers to have success in the tournament.
Key
Matches: The key matches for The Beach were
against BYU. In order to win the National
Championship the 49ers must prove the team
can beat the Cougars, a feat it failed to
accomplish in three matches this season.
Lewis University
Team
Outlook: Lewis University, ranked No. 9
in the nation and seeded No. 4 in the Final
Four, is the defending national champions
after being the Cinderella story of last
years Final Four. Lewis became the first
Division II team and only the second team
outside of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
to win the National Championship. The Flyers
return nine players from last year’s
team. The team qualified for the Final Four
by defeating Ball State and winning the
Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association.
Players
to watch: Fabiano Barreto, who was named
to the all-tournament team last season,
was a four time MIVA player of the week.
The 6 foot 6 inch senior opposite hitter
leads the team in kills and attempts and
is the second player to be selected to the
all-MIVA team all four years as a Flyer.
Ryan Stuntz is the team’s best passer
and ranked second in the MIVA in digs per
game. The senior libero is a Redondo Beach
native and who went to South Torrance High
School.
Key
matches: Lewis has played several ranked
team’s this season, but the only top
15 teams Lewis has beat are Ohio State and
Ball State in its conference tournament
and Penn State in the first game of the
season. The team lost to BYU, UCLA, Pepperdine,
Hawaii and Loyola-Chicago.
Penn State
Team
Outlook: Penn State, ranked No. 7 in the
nation and seeded third, qualified for the
tournament by winning Eastern Intercollegiate
Volleyball Association. The team was part
of the Final Four last year at The Pyramid
where the Nittany Lions were eliminated
by BYU. Penn State has lost seven of the
last 10 meetings between first round opponent
Long Beach State, including a three-game
defeat at the hands of the 49ers at The
Pyramid in 2003. The Nittany Lions have
been to the Final Four 19 times and six
consecutive years, winning the championship
in 1994.
Players
to watch: Keith Kowal is a 6 foot 5 inch
junior middle hitter who was named the AVCA
National Player of the Week and the EIVA
Player of the Year. One of three captains,
Ricky Mattei is a senior libero who is first
all-time in digs at Penn State. Another
of Penn State’s top players is Nate
Meerstein. The sophomore middle-hitter was
an EIVA Player of the Week and is a force
at the net, recording 10
blocks
in a match versus UC Irvine.
Key matches: Penn State beat Hawaii in Honolulu
in the first game of the season, split two
games with Lewis, beat UC Irvine and Ball
State in five games each. The key losses
were to UC San Diego in five games and Ohio
State in a three-game sweep.
Brigham Young
Team
Outlook: Brigham Young, the No. 1 seed and
No. 1 national rank, has won the National
Championship two out of the last five years,
including a victory over the 49ers in the
1999 National Championship match. This is
the fourth time in six years that BYU has
made it to the Final Four and the team has
never lost in the National Semifinal match,
going 3-0. The team earned the No. 1 ranking
nationally on the strength of a 20-2 MPSF
record.
Players
to watch: Junior setter, Carlos Moreno was
named the MPSF Player of the Year. The pinpoint
passer led the team the team in assists
at over 14 per game and was second in service
aces. Fernando Pessoa is a 6 foot 4 inch
senior outside hitter who lead the team
with 467 kills and was named the AVCA National
Player of the Week for the week of February
24.
Key
matches: The Cougars beat Long Beach State
three times this season, twice at The Pyramid
and once in the MPSF Championship match.
The Beach was able to take two games from
BYU in the matches at LBSU and only one
in the game at the MPSF Tournament in BYU’s
home in Provo, Utah.
|
