Men's volleyball

Playoff chances on line against 49ers

By Ron Ognar
Assistant Sports Editor

If it wins, it is in.
It's that simple for the No. 14 USC men's volleyball team, as it controls its own playoff destiny heading into its final regular season matchup at No. 7 Long Beach State at 7:30 p.m. tonight.
A win, and the Trojans earn the right to travel to No. 1 UCLA for the first round of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoffs.
A loss, and USC will need Cal State Northridge to pull off an upset against No. 13 UC Santa Barbara tonight to qualify.
The Trojans have not qualified for the postseason since 1995.
The 49ers also have a lot on the line in tonight's matchup, as they will try to avoid traveling to No. 3 Pepperdine in the first round of the playoffs.
If Long Beach State wins, it will host No. 5 BYU.
However, if the 49ers happen to lose, they'll have to take a trip to Malibu to take on the Waves.
Looking at the entire MPSF playoffs picture, UCLA secured the top seed with a 3-1 victory against Pepperdine on Friday.
The Bruins swept through the season series with Pepperdine and secured themselves another MPSF Mountain Division title.
UCLA, Pepperdine, BYU, Hawaii, Stanford and Long Beach State have all secured playoff berths. Along with USC and UCSB, No. 12 Loyola Marymount is looking to secure an at-large playoff berth.
In the first Trojans-49ers match on Jan. 17, the 49ers (20-6 overall, 12-6 in the MPSF) dominated play. Senior middle blocker Gaby Amar hit .682 and had 17 kills as he led the 49ers to a three-set victory.
USC (11-14, 7-11) will need to find a way to contain Amar if it wants to avoid losing its eighth match in nine meetings to Long Beach State.
For the season, the 6-foot-7 Amar leads the 49ers in kills (364) and blocks (143) and is hitting .388.
Six-foot-6 freshman outside hitter Jim Polster also created havoc for the Trojans in the January matchup.
Polster registered 14 kills against USC and hit .409. He has 324 kills and a team-leading 690 kills on the season while hitting .242.
"Jim Polster is probably the best freshman in the country," USC Head Coach Pat Powers said.
Sophomore setter Chris Seiffert, 6-foot-4, is dishing out 16.3 sets a game for the 49ers.
He is also second on the team with 143 digs.
Defending the Long Beach State service game will be another key in the match, Powers said.
"We need to handle the jump serve pretty well," Powers said. "They really have some tenacious jump servers."
Long Beach State has won its last nine matches, including upsets at No. 3 Pepperdine and No. 6 Stanford.
The 49ers also handily defeated both UC San Diego and San Diego State, 3-0, last week.
Meanwhile, the Trojans are coming off a San Diego road trip in which they split their matches.
USC lost a five-game match to San Diego State on Wednesday before defeating UCSD, 15-10, 15-7, 15-5.
Powers said several players were battling minor injuries during the San Diego trip, adding that the team is nearly healthy.
In recent matches freshman Eli Fairfield has been called upon to shoulder much of the offensive load for USC.
Fairfield leads the team in attempts (847) and is hitting .240.
Senior middle blocker Szilard Kovacs leads the team in kills (380) and blocks (145).
Sophomore setter Donald Suxho averages 15.2 assists per game and leads the team with 25 aces and 207 digs.
Powers said freshman outside hitter Craig Dennis has been playing well recently. Dennis hit .600 and had seven kills against UC San Diego on Thursday.
For the Trojans to pull off the upset, Powers said a team effort will be key.
"They all are going to have to play well at the same time," he said.