In the big-time college volleyball family, everyone playing for a school east of Utah often feels like a poor relation.
And no wonder.
Loyola may have a 28-1 record, with victories over 2013 NCAA tournament champion UC Irvine and 2014 tourney second-seed Brigham Young, but the UC Irvine and BYU coaches both voted the Ramblers fifth in the most recent American Volleyball Coaches Association poll.
That gives Saturday night’s title match between Loyola and Stanford at Gentile Arena a little extra significance as the Ramblers could become just the second school from the Central time zone to win the title.
The other was Lewis, stripped of its 2003 triumph because of recruiting and player eligibility violations.
That Lewis received one of the two at-large bids to this year’s six-team tournament clearly galled western coaches who believe — with considerable justification — that Pepperdine deserved that spot.
“Historically we always like to think we have a chip on our shoulder, something to prove,” Loyola sophomore Nick Olson said.
The Ramblers recently have begun to prove it, making the tournament for the first time last season and earning the No. 1 seed this year.
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The program’s first victory over Stanford would solidify Loyola’s place at the adults’ table.
“I hope it puts us on the map for younger kids to start looking at our school and not just the historically dominant West Coast teams,” said Loyola senior Peter Jasaitis, from Manhattan Beach, Calif.
The Cardinal, also an at-large pick, have beaten the Ramblers three times, most recently in 2012. Two-time NCAA champion Stanford has an 11-match winning streak against teams from the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, which includes Loyola and Lewis.
Loyola and Stanford both had five-set victories in Thursday’s semifinals — the Cardinal over BYU and the Ramblers over Penn State.
The Nittany Lions (twice) and Ohio State (once) are the only official champions east of the Rockies. California schools have won 36 of the other 42 titles.
Twitter @olyphil