Hawaii may be saving best for NCAAs
Katz, Olive both sit out final frame in UH’s loss to UCLA in
MPSF final
By Eric Branch
and Lawrence Ma
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — After falling behind UCLA, 2-1, in the
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation finals Saturday night in Pauley
Pavilion, Hawaii head coach Mike Wilton all but conceded the match
by pulling MPSF Freshman of the Year Yuval Katz and the Rainbows’
other go-to hitter Jason Olive in the fourth game.
Was Wilton merely resting his stars knowing that the No. 2
Rainbows were virtually guaranteed of receiving the at-large bid in
this weekend’s NCAA Final Four? It’s doubtful when you consider
that the Rainbows returned to the islands Sunday and left Tuesday
for the 5,000 mile flight to Springfield, Mass.
"I don’t know why he did that," UCLA head coach Al Scates said.
"Sometimes if you pull your starters you can explain to your team
that you lost without your best guys in there. It’s a way of saying
you didn’t really lose."
While the Rainbows really did lose the final game 15-5, Wilton
said he was merely looking to see somewhat of a different
combination. The logic seemed to miff Olive, who spent the lost
frame lying down at the far end of the bench, chatting with a ball
boy.
"He didn’t explain to me why I was pulled," Olive said. "All I
know is that it’s my senior year  I would have liked to
finish the match."
* * *
While MPSF representatives UCLA and Hawaii slugged their way
into the Final Four, playing a combined total of six top-10 teams
(including each other) during the MPSF playoffs, Midwest
Intercollegiate Volleyball Association representative Ball State
and Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association representative
Penn State enjoyed a relative cakewalk.
Only Penn State, by defeating No. 12 George Mason, in the EIVA
final on April 22, played a team ranked in the top 20.
"It’s a lot harder to play and get through our bracket than it
is for those two teams out there," Scates said. "For us the real
challenge is just making the Final Four. Once we’re there it
actually gets a little easier."
Despite his team’s stroll to Springfield, PSU head coach Mark
Pavlik feels his team is ready entering the weekend.
"I’m sure we enjoyed an easier road but now all that matters is
that we’re in," Pavlik said. "We also might have a little advantage
because we finished our tournament a week earlier than the MPSF
teams did. It gives us two weeks to rest up and prepare."
* * *
Speaking of Penn State …
A head coach leads his team to a monumental upset over mighty
UCLA to win the national title. He is named the Coach of the Year.
He’s got virtually his entire team back. He can easily make the
Final Four again and possibly repeat.
But instead, he looks for another job, an assistant coach job no
less, and takes off.
That’s the story of Tom Peterson, who guided Penn State to the
1994 NCAA Championship. The Nitanny Lions defeated the No. 1 Bruins
to win Penn State’s first NCAA men’s volleyball title, which was
also the first ever won by a school outside of California.
Two weeks after Penn State’s win, rumors began to surface
indicating that Peterson, a Mormon, was on his way to Brigham
Young, where he had received bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate
degrees. Peterson also played volleyball at BYU in the mid-1970s
and coached there from 1984-88.
On June 16, 1994, Brigham Young finally released Peterson’s
acceptance of an assistant coach’s position, and Peterson was on
his way back to Utah. This year, the Cougars went 14-8 overall and
fell in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament to UCLA.
Aside from assisting Cougar head coach Carl McGown, Peterson also
teaches at Salt Lake Community College.
Peterson commutes back and forth between Salt Lake and Provo,
but he says he doesn’t mind since he’s home again. And as far as
the decision to leave Penn State was concerned, Peterson said he
made up his mind well before BYU’s June 16 press release.
"Well, I had made that decision before the Final Four, so it
wasn’t just because we won or anything," Peterson said.
Fast-forwarding to this year’s Final Four, Peterson will be in
the stands in Springfield when the third-ranked Nitanny Lions make
their defense. Penn State made it back to the Final Four with a 3-1
win over No. 12 George Mason in the EIVA Tournament. Sophomore
middle blocker Ivan Contreras led the Lions with 28 kills.
"I wish all those guys all the luck in the world," Peterson
said. "It’ll be fun to go out there to watch them play. I think
they have a real good shot at repeating. I think they have maybe
even better talent than we did last year, because all those guys
have another year of experience.
"I wish them all the luck. Things are good for me, and things
are great for them, so I guess things are working out all
right."
Peterson thinks UCLA has the best talent in the nation, but he
also thinks that an off-night for a couple of Bruins could make
them vulnerable to another upset. His secret against UCLA is a
protracted battle, akin to the 1994 NCAA Finals, when the Nitanny
Lions dragged the Bruins into the rally-scoring fifth game and
prevailed.
"The longer the match goes on, the more chance you have against
UCLA, for a couple of reasons," Peterson said. "One, they tend to
get out of rhythm. Two, they don’t see long matches that much.
There are a lot of good players these days, a lot more than what
there used to be. So I think anybody does have a shot."
* * *
After a team stays atop the polls for an entire season and wins
29 of 30 matches it figures that some individual honors would be
coming their way.
Not surprisingly, UCLA cleaned up as the MPSF All-Conference
selections were announced last week. Once again two-time
All-American quick hitter Jeff Nygaard took home the biggest chink
of hardware, winning MPSF Player of the Year for the second
straight year.
Nygaard led the conference in blocks (2.02 per game) and placed
second in hitting percentage (.470).
Sophomore opposite Paul Nihipali joined Nygaard on the first
team while junior setter Stein Metzger received second-team honors
and senior swing hitter Erik Sullivan was on the third team.