Team: Rutgers-Newark

Nickname: Red Raiders

Coach: Bob Bertucci

Record: 24-8

National Rank: 8th

Tournament Seed: 1st

How they got here: Recieved first and second round byes.

Against Penn State in 1992: 2-0

Strengths: At the outset of the season, the smart money would not have been on Rutgers-Newark to threaten the Lions' defense of their EIVA title.

But at that point, the smart money did not know about two particular Ukrainians, Igor Akinshyn and Grennady Schevchenko, who had come to Newark in the Fall.

Volleyball Magazine reported in its 1992 NCAA preview that only eight Red Raider players were eligible for the roster. There was mention of the two Ukrainians, but their talents at that point were unknown.

"For us to be competitive at all, we needed two more quality players in our lineup," Bertucci said.

In the three months since, Shevchenko has become the team's starting setter while Akinshyn is the team's leading outside hitter.

And Penn State Coach Tom Peterson is very direct in his appraisal of just how good Akinshyn is and how he helped lead the Red Raiders to two regular season five-game wins over Penn State.

"(Akinshyn) is probably the best player in our league and maybe the best player in the country," Peterson said. "And he probably has more experience than anyone in our country, so that tends to make their team consistent. And that's why we lost to them, we were inconsistent at the wrong time."

Weaknesses: Strong individual performers -- yes. But strength throughout the entire lineup --no, or at least not to the extent of Penn State.

And if Penn State and Newark do meet in the title game, Peterson said that his team's depth and overall ability will prevail.

"I think we're a better team, we play better team-oriented volleyball," he said. "If we make sure that we're playing well, I don't think that a team with just a few very good individuals can beat us."