MCKIENZIE PROVING FAMILY WAS RIGHT.

Byline: KAREN CROUSE

What kind of parents would let their teen-age son move to a land where temptations are as bountiful as palm trees?

That was the question more than a few neighbors were asking in Littleton, Colo., when Dave McKienzie came to Southern California to live with his sister so he could finish his final two years of high school and pursue his love for volleyball.

Joy was barely out of college herself - and just how could William and Elvira McKienzie let a capricious kid like Dave out of their sight?

It was like mixing a Molotov cocktail, heaping that much freedom on someone so young and undirected. That's what the community pretty much concluded, anyway.

It was 1994, five years before parental responsibility would literally explode as a topic of conversation in Littleton.

``A lot of people were saying a lot of things about us when we let David go live with Joy,'' Elvira McKienzie said during a recent visit to Southern California. ``I heard a lot of people say, `What are you doing?' I said to my husband, `This is between us. It's going to be nobody's fault if something happens.' ''

Sure enough, something has happened. Something stupendous.

David McKienzie has blossomed as a volleyball player and a person. The sophomore outside hitter will lead Long Beach State (22-3) against Indiana-Purdue at Fort Wayne on Thursday in an NCAA Final Four semifinal at Pauley Pavilion.

Last month McKienzie set an NCAA record with 58 kills in a five-game upset of previously unbeaten BYU in Provo. He has been on a tear since the beginning of March, averaging one-third of his team's kills in the last 13 matches.

If the NCAA tournament seedings hold, the 49ers would play the top-seeded Cougars again on Saturday for the national title. If that happens, more records could be endangered along with a few Cougars caught in the crossfire. It's a sickening thought for BYU fans, but McKienzie wasn't close to full strength in that March 19 match.

The night before, the 6-3 McKienzie drew the short straw and had to sleep on a sofa-bed while teammate Corey Peters slept on a queen-sized bed. He didn't sleep much and, to top it off, he awoke the day of the match with a fever and the chills. He wasn't sure he'd be able to play until after the pregame warmups.

Powered by Advil, McKienzie lowered the anvil on the Cougars. In the deciding game he accounted for all but two of his team's kills.

Even before he realized he had just done something special (he was unaware of the record at first), McKienzie grasped a much greater truth. What little pep he had, he put into each point. There was no beating himself up after every little mistake. He simply didn't have the energy to waste.

``I was just going hard,'' McKienzie said. ``I wasn't thinking too much.''

In a game that relies on reaction and reflexes, thinking can trip you up faster than untied shoelaces. Of course, life also can punish those hooked on reasoning.

When McKienzie broached the subject of living with Joy, a setter on the 1993 national champion Long Beach State women's team, there were plenty of reasons for his parents to say no. There also was one very compelling reason to say yes.

William McKienzie was battling cancer and it was hard for his family to see the illness slowly eating away at him. A former volleyball player who once played for the U.S. in the Pan American Games, William was the one who introduced his children to the sport.

Once the family decided it would be a good thing for David to go live with Joy, William was the one who sent him off with a book of inspirational stories and messages.

``My husband was like the FBI,'' Elvira said, chuckling. ``He'd call David and Joy and I'd listen to how he'd interrogate them. He was a very principled person and he raised his children to be that way.''

William McKienzie died in 1997, the same year his son graduated All-Everything from Huntington Beach High.

The father continues to counsel the son, by way of the handmade book that is like a Bible to David.

When McKienzie lost his starting job to Neil Mason early in the season because of poor practice habits, he turned to the book and read a story about Larry Bird. The Boston Hall of Fame basketball player was quoted as saying he always tried to work harder than the next guy because somewhere there was someone else taking one more shot before heading to the showers.

That struck a chord in McKienzie. He started bringing his game face to practice and the Cougars saw the results. After his record-setting performance, McKienzie phoned his mother in Colorado.

He sounded so giddy, Elvira found herself smiling into the receiver. She told him, ``I bet your dad is bragging about you, David,'' then hung up, secure in the knowledge that she and her late husband had done right by their son, no matter what anybody said.