USC Men's Volleyball Faces No. 2 Long Beach State
June 21, 1999 | Men's Volleyball
April 27, 1999
THE FACTS--The hot No. 7 USC men's volleyball team (23-11 overall, 16-10 NCAA, 11-8 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation for a second place tie in the Pacific Division)--riding the momentum of huge wins at Hawaii to close the regular season and Pepperdine in the MPSF tournament's first round--faces No. 2-ranked nemesis Long Beach State (21-2, 17-2 first in Pacific) in the MPSF tourney's second round at BYU this Thursday (April 29) at 5 p.m. The winner plays the winner of the subsequent 7:30 p.m. contest between BYU (26-1, 18-1 first in Mountain, ranked No. 1) versus Hawaii (19-9, 11-8 second tie in Pacific, ranked No. 4) in the tourney's championship match on May 1 at 7 p.m., with the victor advancing to the NCAA Final Four.
ON THE INTERNET--Fans can listen to the USC-Long Beach State match by going to www.longbeachstate.com, then following the link to broadcast.com. Long Beach State will be providing an internet radio broadcast.
RANKINGS--USC is ranked seventh in the USA Today/AVCA Coaches poll and ninth in the Volleyball magazine poll. Long Beach State is second in both polls.
OPPONENT--Long Beach State, a 3-0 winner over UC Irvine in the MPSF tourney's first round, has lost just twice in 1999 (road matches at Pacific and UC Irvine). Among the wins have been 3 over USC (the first 2 were 5-game matches, going 20-18 and 17-15 in the fifth games, and the third went 4 games). USC holds a 43-27 edge in its series with the 49ers, but LBSU has won the last 7. BYU's only loss was in 5 games to Long Beach State (the Cougars beat Pacific 3-0 in the MPSF first round). Troy holds a 15-9 series lead over BYU, but has lost the past 2 (including in 4 games at home earlier this season). Hawaii, which beat UCLA 3-1 in the MPSF first round, trails in the USC series, 24-19, and in the last meeting 2 weeks ago in Honolulu, USC ended a 9-match losing streak to the Rainbows with a 3-2 win (Troy's first win over them in Honolulu since 1991).
LAST MATCH--Behind Brook Billings' match-high 36 kills, USC won its first postseason match since 1994 with a 15-9, 11-15, 15-9, 15-6 win at Pepperdine on Saturday (April 24) in the MPSF Tournament first round. It ended USC's 11-match losing streak to the Waves and was Troy's first victory in Malibu since 1991. Billings also hit .526 and added 11 digs, both match bests. Eli Fairfield had 14 kills and 11 digs, Trevor Julian had 14 kills and 10 digs, Omar Rawi had 11 kills and hit .381 and Beau Rawi had 10 kills and hit .438. The Trojans hit .351 to the Waves' .196.
USC IN MPSF TOURNEY--USC, which last appeared in the MPSF tournament in 1995, has a 17-18 record in the tourney and its regional predecessors (2-3 in the MPSF Championships which started in 1993). The Trojans are 1-3 versus Long Beach State in these regionals, but haven't met the 49ers in the actual MPSF tournament. Troy is 0-1 against BYU (a second round loss in 1994) and 1-0 versus Hawaii (in 1982) in the regionals. USC has gained 6 of its 11 NCAA Final Four berths by winning the regional.
COACH PAT POWERS--Legendary Olympic gold medalist, collegiate All-American and pro beach star Pat Powers returned in 1997 to his alma mater--which he led to the 1980 NCAA title as a player--to become the USC men's volleyball head coach and help bring the Trojans back to national prominence. His 3-year career mark is 58-42. In 1997, his first season, Powers put USC back on track, with its first winning season since 1994 at 18-14. Last year, his Trojans went 17-17 and missed the MPSF Tournament by just one win. The 6-foot-5 Powers is regarded as one of the greatest players in international volleyball history. He was a member of the U.S. National Team for nine years (1978-86) and started at outside hitter on a squad that won America's first-ever "Triple Crown": the 1984 Olympics, the 1985 World Cup and the 1986 World Championships.
DONALD SUXHO--Setter Donald Suxho, an All-American candidate starting for his third season, is USC's veteran. USC's leader in aces (a USC season record 61), digs (177) and assists (1,697) leader, he tops the MPSF in ace average (6.58) and is averaging 17.1 assists per game in 1999. He made the 1999 All-MPSF second team and the All-Tournament team at the 1999 UC Santa Barbara Collegiate Invitational. He had 5 aces at UC San Diego and 4 aces against San Diego State, UC Irvine, Pacific, UCLA, BYU and Pepperdine. He had 18 digs versus Stanford and 16 versus UCLA. He was named MPSF Player of the Week (Week 4) with 13 blocks, 27 digs and 9 aces against UC Irvine, Pacific and Stanford. At the IPFW Spring Fling, he had 12 digs against Ball State and hit .700 versus IPFW with 11 blocks. He had 8 blocks and 8 digs at Long Beach State. He converted all 10 of his hitting attempts into kills (and had 4 aces and 6 digs) at San Diego State. He had a match-high 13 digs at Hawaii and then 11 the next night against the Rainbows. The 6-5 junior from Albania was an All-MPSF third teamer in 1998 when set a since-broken NCAA record for most assists in a match (129 versus Ohio State in 1997).
ELI FAIRFIELD--Another All-American candidate is 6-7 sophomore outside hitter Eli Fairfield, a Freshman All-American in 1998. This season, he is second on USC in kills (444). He led USC in kills (15) and blocks (5) at Cal Baptist. In a 3-match streak in early February, he had a match-high 33 kills with 6 blocks and 6 digs against UC Irvine, another match-best 16 kills while hitting .652 versus Pacific and a team-high 21 kills against Stanford. He had 13 kills against UCLA, then hit .444 and had a match-best 22 kills versus Loyola Marymount. He missed the Long Beach State match (flu). He had a match-best 23 kills at Pacific. His 18 kills versus BYU tied for match-high honors. He posted 25 kills against Loyola (Chicago) and 19 at UC Santa Barbara (hitting .412). At the IPFW Spring Fling, he had 19 kills and 10 digs against Ball State. He had a match-high 20 kills while hitting .312 against La Verne. At Long Beach State, he had 15 kills. In a 3-match span over 5 days, he had 21 kills while hitting .486 at UC San Diego, had a match-high 24 kills and 7 digs to go along with 3 aces at San Diego State, and then had match-highs of 22 kills and 9 digs (along with 7 blocks) at Cal State Northridge. At Hawaii, he had 20 kills in the first match and 29 (with 10 digs) in the second. He had 14 kills at Pepperdine in the MPSF tourney first round. He played for the USA Volleyball Junior National team in the summer of 1998.
BROOK BILLINGS--Highly-regarded 6-5 freshman Brook Billings, who was the MVP of Volleyball magazine's 1998 Fab 50 prep list, has started all season at outside hitter and is a strong candidate for All-American and national Freshman of the Year honors. He was named the 1999 MPSF Freshman of the Year and made All-MPSF honorable mention. He tops USC in kills (564) in 1999. In his first match as a Trojan, he posted a match-high 23 kills and added 6 digs against Alberta. A slight ankle sprain sidelined him for the Cal Baptist match and some of the UC Santa Barbara Collegiate Invitational. He then led USC in kills against UC San Diego (16) and San Diego State (17). In a 3-match stretch in early February, he had 28 kills against UC Irvine, 14 kills against Pacific and a team-high 19 versus Stanford (with 6 blocks). Against UCLA he led USC with 15 kills and then added 17 kills versus Loyola Marymount. He had a match-best 25 kills against Long Beach State, then added 17 at Stanford while hitting .538 and 16 at Pacific. He led USC in kills (20) versus Pepperdine and tied for match-high kill honors (18) against BYU. He had a then-career-best 29 kills with 8 digs and 7 blocks against Loyola (Chicago) and, in the following match at UC Santa Barbara, he had career bests for kills (32) and hitting percentage (.553) as he earned AVCA National Player of the Week and MPSF Player of the Week honors. At the IPFW Spring Fling, he had 28 kills and a career-best 15 digs against Ball State and then he tied a career best for kills (32) and had 11 digs versus IPFW. He hit .720 (7 kills, 0 errors, 11 attempts) against La Verne. He had a match-bests in kills at Long Beach State (29) and UC San Diego (22 while hitting .581, with 8 digs). He had 22 kills (hitting .417) and 6 digs at San Diego State, then 20 kills at Cal State Northridge. At Hawaii, he had 24 kills in the first match and then followed the next night with a career-best and match-high 37 kills while hitting .357 (he also had a match-high 14 digs). At Pepperdine in the MPSF tourney's first round, he had 36 kills, hit .526 and had 11 digs, all match highs. He played for the USA Volleyball Junior National team in the summer of 1998 after making the 1998 All-CIF Division II first team as a senior at San Marcos High in Santa Barbara, Calif.
TREVOR JULIAN--Trevor Julian, a 6-5 sophomore, is in his second year as a starting outside hitter. He was named to the All-Tournament team at the 1999 UC Santa Barbara Collegiate Invitational, hitting .375 against Long Beach State in the final. He had double figures in kills in 3 consecutive matches: 14 versus UC Irvine while hitting .400, 10 versus Pacific and 12 against Stanford while hitting .556. Against Long Beach State, he had 10 blocks and 13 kills. He hit .538 at Stanford and .462 versus Loyola (Chicago). At Long Beach State, he had 11 kills while hitting .381. He had 16 kills, 7 blocks and 7 digs at UC San Diego, then added 10 kills at San Diego State. He had 15 kills and 8 digs in the first match at Hawaii, then 12 kills the next night. he had 14 kills at Pepperdine in the MPSF tourney's first round.
MIDDLE BLOCKERS--USC sports a brother act at middle blocker with 6-5 siblings Omar and Beau Rawi. Junior Omar is starting at middle blocker for his second season and is a candidate for All-American honors. He leads USC in total blocks (143) in 1999. This year, he had 9 blocks against UC San Diego, then 8 blocks versus San Diego State and 9 blocks against UC Irvine (with 15 kills and 9 digs). He had 13 kills while hitting .545 against Pepperdine, then had 11 kills, 7 digs and 8 blocks versus BYU. He hit .571 versus Loyola (Chicago) and .500 at UC Santa Barbara (with 11 kills, 9 digs and 6 blocks). At the IPFW Spring Classic, he had 19 kills (hitting .640) and 9 blocks against Ball State. He had a match-high 11 blocks at Long Beach State. He hit .500 with 10 kills at UC San Diego. He had 6 blocks at San Diego State and 10 at Cal State Northridge. In the second match at Hawaii, he had 13 kills (hitting .357), 12 digs and 8 blocks. He had 11 kills and hit .381 at Pepperdine in the MPSF tourney's first round. Freshman Beau, who has started 17 times, is second on USC in 1999 in blocks (99). He started his first match against San Diego State and hit .538 with 9 kills (after hitting .667 with 9 kills versus UC San Diego). He hit .435 with 14 kills and 8 digs versus UC Irvine. He added 12 kills against Loyola Marymount. Against Long Beach State, he hit .545 with 15 kills and a team-high 12 blocks. He hit .429 at Stanford and had 14 kills at Pacific. Against BYU, he had 13 kills (hitting .429) and 6 blocks. He had a career-best 21 kills (while hitting .552) with 6 blocks and 4 aces against Loyola (Chicago). In the second match at Hawaii, he had 16 kills, 9 digs and 5 blocks. He had 10 kills and hit .438 at Pepperdine in the MSPF tourney's first round. Handling the other 11 starts has been 6-7 soph Tony Knopp. He hit .412 with 10 kills against Long Beach State in the finals of the UC Santa Barbara Collegiate Invitational. He added 8 kills and 8 blocks against UC Santa Cruz. At Pacific, he had 12 kills (hitting .529) and 7 blocks. He had 9 kills and 9 blocks at UC San Diego.
CRAIG DENNIS--With the emergence of Brook Billings, 1998 co-starter Craig Dennis, a 6-3 sophomore, provides USC with experienced depth coming off the bench (he has even started 7 times in 1999). He had a match-high 10 kills against UC Santa Cruz and a career-high 25 kills against Long Beach State in 1999. Against UCLA, he came off the bench and had 11 kills. He started for a sick Eli Fairfield against Long Beach State and had 19 kills. Against BYU, he tied for match-high kill honors (18).
NOTES--Here's a rarity in the world of men's athletics. One of USC's assistant coaches is a woman, Laura Ames, who was the women's head coach at both Aurora (1993-95) and Benedictine (1996-97)...Junior outside hitter David Grimm has performed the national anthem on his electric guitar before USC home matches...Freshman middle blocker Cam Land is majoring in biochemical engineering...Ryan Thurlow's father, Toby, lettered for USC's 1962 national championship football team and his grandfather, Leavitt, lettered in football from 1934 to 1936...Trojan greats Dusty Dvorak and Steve Timmons (along with ex-USC women's star Paula Weishoff) were inducted into the U.S. Volleyball Hall of Fame in 1998.
