‘Eaters aim to keep it neutral

COLUMBUS, Ohio — When the Ohio State men’s volleyball team was upset by Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne in the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn. tournament final, it effectively made St. John Arena, the site of the NCAA Championship, a neutral court for the Final Four participants.

This was particularly good news for UC Irvine, which improved to 5-0 on a neutral court this season with its 30-25, 30-22, 26-30, 30-23 semifinal victory over Penn State Thursday on the Ohio State campus.

Since last season, UCI has won its last seven matches on neutral courts.

The lack of a neutral court helped Penn State upset the then-top-seeded Anteaters, 32-30, 30-23, 31-33, 27-30, 15-13, in last year’s NCAA semifinal, before nearly 5,000 Nittany Lions rooters at Penn State.

“We wouldn’t have liked going up against Ohio State at Ohio State,” UCI senior opposite Matt Webber said. “We did that last year [facing Penn State at Penn State] and it wasn’t fun.”

Pepperdine featured 6-foot-7 sophomore opposite Paul Carroll, a first-team All-American from Forster, Australia.

Penn State was aided by 6-4 senior outside hitter Alex Gutor from Kiev, Ukraine, and Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne features two foreign starters.

The Mastodons’ C.J. Macias, a 6-4 junior outside hitter and second-team All-American, is from Caxias Do Sul, Brazil, while 6-3 senior setter Colin Lundeen is from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

UCI, in fact, has only two players not from California: sophomore libero Brent Asuka from Aiea, Hawaii, and junior backup setter Ryan Ammerman from Parker, Colo.

Pepperdine and Penn State each have an Irvine resident.

Pepperdine, of course, was led by 6-8 junior setter Jonathan Winder, the MPSF and National Player of the Year. Penn State’s roster included senior libero Ryan Walthall.

Both Winder and Walthall played together at Woodbridge High, which is in the Irvine School District.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at [email protected].