Southern California, UC Irvine, Penn State and Ohio State will play this week for the NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship this week at Provo, Utah.

The Trojans (23-11) won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament with a 30-23, 30-25, 20-30, 26-30, 21-19 victory over Pepperdine last night to earn an automatic berth.

Also earning automatic berths were Ohio State (17-10), winner of the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association and Penn State (27-3), winner of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association.

UC Irvine (25-5), which was selected as an at-large team, is the top seed for the NCAA Tournament. The Anteaters, were ranked No. 1 in the country before losing to USC in the MPSF semifinals.

Thursday's semifinals will pit second-seeded Penn State against third-seeded USC, while UC Irvine will face fourth-seeded Ohio State. The championship is on Saturday.

Hawai'i players in the tournament include UC Irvine libero Brent Asuka ('Iolani) and USC setter Riley McKibbin (Punahou) and outside hitter Tri Bourne (Academy of the Pacific).