University Southern California Trojans
Men's Volleyball Preps for First Round of MPSF
June 21, 1999 | Men's Volleyball
April 19, 1999
LOS ANGELES - The No. 9 USC men's volleyball team (22-11 overall, 15-10 NCAA, 11-8 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation for a second place tie in the Pacific Division) makes its first appearance in the MPSF tournament after a 3-year drought when it visits No. 4 Pepperdine (20-4, 15-4 for second place in the Mountain Division) for a first round match this Saturday (April 24) at 7 p.m. The winner plays the UC Irvine/Long Beach State winner in the tourney's second round on April 29, with the championship set for May 1.
RANKINGS--USC is ranked ninth both in the USA Today/AVCA Coaches poll and the Volleyball magazine poll. Pepperdine is fourth in both polls.
OPPONENT--Pepperdine, led by 1998 national Player of the Year George Roumain, closed its regular season with a pair of wins after dropping its previous 3. Before that, the Waves had won 18 of their first 19, including a 15-4, 16-14, 15-6 victory at USC. Pepperdine, which leads the series with Troy, 36-29, and has won the last 11 meetings dating to 1991, is one of only two schools to hold an advantage in its series with the Trojans (USC is the other).
LAST MATCHES--USC split its regular season-ending matches at No. 7 Hawaii, dropping the first, 11-15, 15-8, 15-12, 15-12, then winning the second, 15-8, 8-15, 15-13, 5-15, 15-13. The victory broke USC's 9-match losing streak to the Rainbows and was Troy's first win over Hawaii in Honolulu since 1991. It was also Hawaii's first home loss in 12 matches. In the first match, Brook Billings had 24 kills and Eli Fairfield added 20, while Donald Suxho had a match-best 13 digs. Hawaii outblocked USC, 22.5 to 12.0. In the second match, Billings had a career-best and match-high 37 kills while hitting .357 (he also had a match-high 14 digs) and Fairfield added 29 kills, 10 digs and 6 blocks. Beau Rawi had 16 kills, while brother Omar Rawi had 13 kills, 12 digs and 8 blocks and Trevor Julian had 12 kills. Hawaii outhit (.321 to .282) and outblocked (29.5 to 17.5) the Trojans.
USC IN MPSF TOURNEY--USC, which last appeared in the MPSF tournament in 1995 losing in the first round to UCLA), has a 16-18 record in the tourney and its regional predecessors (1-3 in the MPSF Championships which started in 1993). The Trojans are 2-2 versus Pepperdine in these regionals, but haven't met in the actual MPSF tournament. 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 mens volleyball head coach and help bring the Trojans back to national prominence. His 3-year career mark is 57-42. 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 Americas 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 57), digs (172) and assists (1,618) leader, he tops the MPSF in ace average (6.58) and is averaging 17.0 assists per game in 1999. He made 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 and BYU. 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 (430). 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 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 magazines 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 tops USC in kills (528) 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). 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.
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 (138) 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. Freshman Beau, who has started 16 times, is second on USC in 1999 in blocks (96). 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. 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).
