TROJANS' TITLE RUN HALTED MINNESOTA STOPS USC IN FOUR IN SEMIS MINN. 3, USC 1.

Byline: Jill Painter Staff Writer

LONG BEACH - USC's impressive run is over.

Keao Burdine, Emily Adams and Alicia Robinson hugged and cried while Minnesota celebrated its rare victory over USC.

The USC women's volleyball quest for a three-peat was stopped by Minnesota Thursday in the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament. Minnesota dominated in a 30-25, 29-31, 30-26, 30-20 victory in front of 8,339 on Thursday at the Long Beach Arena.

Minnesota's offense was clicking and USC (23-6) had several errors and never seemed to get going. Minnesota (33-4) will play Stanford (29-6) in Saturday's final. The Cardinal beat Washington in four games in Thursday's other semifinal.

USC coach Mick Haley was trying to win his fourth title this weekend. He guided USC to the last two championships and also won an NCAA title with Texas in 1988. But he won't become just the second coach to win four titles, at least not this year.

Haley usually sits in his chair on the sideline but USC was playing so uncharacteristically poorly that Haley crouched near the court for a good part of the second game.

USC exhibited poor passing early and had several hitting errors. The Gophers led by four points five times in the opening game.

USC didn't have a lead in the second game until a Staci Venski kill that put the Trojans up 28-27. USC stole the match and closed it out on a kill by Burdine.

Minnesota won a close third game but USC was never even in the final game. The Gophers took an 18-10 lead and won by 10.

Burdine, a senior, had 18 kills and three other Trojans were in double figures in kills. But the Trojans' hitting percentage was a paltry .132 and Minnesota outblocked USC 17-5.

Minnesota's Trisha Bratford, a Taft High of Woodland Hills product, had 13 kills, including three big ones at the end of the first game. She put the Gophers up 28-25 on a cross-court kill and had another for a 29-25 lead. USC was finished in the first game after a bad pass from the back row. The Trojans didn't even get the ball over the net on the final point of the first game.

Bratford, a senior, was a big part of Minnesota's offense as she had had at least 10 kills in 27 matches this year. She had six by the end of the first game and 12 after three. Minnesota, which brought a large contingent for the NCAA Final Four, loved it.

The Gophers were smiling and laughing on the court. Minnesota certainly looked like the team that was defending its national title, not USC.

The second game didn't start any better for USC but it won. Erin Martin recorded a kill on the first point and the Gophers rattled off four consecutive points after that for a 5-0 lead. USC rallied and won.

It was so bad that at one point, Burdine was just trying to get the ball over the net, giving Minnesota a free ball, and she hit it into the net.

USC beat Minnesota earlier this year although it went five games and that was in August. USC also beat Minnesota in three games in the semifinals last season.

Jill Painter, [phone]

jill.painter(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

USC's Staci Venski, right, hits the ball as two Minnesota players defend during Thursday night's NCAA semifinal match.

Steven Georges/Staff Photographer