Game of year punctuated by players of year

Friday, May 3, 1996

UCLA’s Metzger, Hawaii’s Katz headline Saturday’s battle for
national titleBy Ruben Gutierrez

Daily Bruin Staff

UCLA setter Stein Metzger and Hawaii opposite hitter Yuval Katz
may be different players on the volleyball court, but they both
share the distinction of being considered the best in the country
by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA).

Katz and Metzger garnered AVCA Co-Player of the Year honors
Tuesday.

It was not the first time this season the two have been
considered for Player of the Year accolades. Two weeks ago,
Metzger, the UCLA career assists leader with 5,072 was named the
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Year over Katz,
who led the nation in kills average with almost eight per game.

Metzger’s selection over Katz hardly went unnoticed and was a
matter of some controversy, especially when the Bruins traveled to
Honolulu last week for the MPSF Championships.

"We heard some grumbling in Hawaii about Metzger getting the
Player of the Year over Katz," Cal State Northridge head coach John
Price said.

When questioned about the situation, both Hawaii head coach Mike
Wilton and UCLA head coach Al Scates were at the same time vague
and absolute, attributing the choice to the voting process.

"Well, each coach gets a vote and when they added them all up in
the end, I guess Stein had more of them," Scates said.

Wilton’s reply was even shorter.

"The coaches have spoken," Wilton said. On Saturday night in
Pauley Pavilion, the players will speak, this time for the NCAA
title.

The NCAA championship match will mark the fourth time this
season that the two squads will engage each other. Hawaii owns a
2-1 edge in the series, but UCLA won the most recent match 3-2 on
March 2 after losing in four on the previous evening.

Thus, the stage is set for a volleyball clash of the Titans.
Hawaii has been ranked No. 1 in the country for most of the season,
while UCLA, the defending national champions, are vying for their
16th NCAA crown. The play of the two undisputed floor generals will
be paramount in the final outcome.

Katz bombed No. 3 seed Penn State with a match-high 27 kills to
vault the ‘Bows into the title match, and with over 4,000 Hawaii
fans expected, Katz will have plenty of vocal support.

Katz has already shown his stuff against UCLA, overshadowing a
then school-record 39 kills by UCLA junior opposite Paul Nihipali
with 43 put aways of his own back in March.

"I think that the University of Hawaii is the best team in
collegiate volleyball," Penn State’s Kevin Hourican said. "They’re
very fortunate to have Yuval Katz, who is the best collegiate
volleyball player in the world."

Apparently, the MPSF coaches disagreed with Hourican.

According to Price, Metzger was the difference for the Bruins
this season and is the main reason they will have the opportunity
to defend their NCAA title this season.

"I think he was the difference on that team," Price said. "I
think he would have been the difference on a lot of teams. If he
were on Stanford, Northridge, Pepperdine, USC, then I bet they’re
in the final four."

Saturday the most important hardware of all will be up for
grabs.

One player will go home with a ring, the other will just go
home.