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The USC Trojans nearly got derailed on the way to the NCAA men's volleyball championship.

The top-ranked Trojans had to wait for an at-large bid in the four-team field after they were defeated by UC Irvine in the semifinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament.

Good thing they got in, too, because the Trojans are hosting the event, which opens Thursday with the semifinals at the Galen Center.

After downing USC, the Anteaters defeated Stanford for the MPSF tournament championship to earn an automatic berth. Top-seeded Irvine (24-5) will face No. 4 seed Penn State (23-5) in the first semi, followed by the second-seeded Trojans (23-5) versus No. 3 seed Lewis (26-6) in the second.

The championship match is Saturday night.

Led by senior outside hitter Tony Ciarelli, the Trojans took the regular-season MPSF title. But after the loss to Irvine -- which snapped an 18-match winning streak -- there were some questions whether USC would be passed over for the at-large spot in favor of Stanford or even BYU by the NCAA selection committee.

"We kind of felt good about it," USC coach Bill Ferguson said. "They hadn't in any recent history not taken the regular season champion of the MPSF."

Ciarelli, recently named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association All-American first team, was the MPSF player of the year and has 59 aces this season to lead the nation with an average of .63 per set.

Southern California has won four national championships, its last in 1990.

Lewis, a private Catholic college of about 6,800 students located in Romeoville, Ill., is making its first trip to the semifinals since 2004. The Flyers got an automatic bid with a five-set victory over defending NCAA champion Ohio State 3-2 in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament.

Seventh-ranked Lewis has more wins than any other team in the nation and went a perfect 16-0 at home. The Flyers are making their fifth Final Four appearance since the volleyball program started in 1994.

"We're excited to be here with the opportunity that's in front of us. The guys have worked very hard this year to put us in a position to compete for a national championship," Lewis coach Dan Friend said. "It's the culmination not only of these guys' hard work, but the hard work we've been putting in in the eight years I've been here rebuilding the program. I'm not sure I can express with words how excited we are to be here and have the chance to compete."

The Anteaters, ranked No. 2, won a hard-fought five-set match over the Cardinal for its conference tournament title. Kevin Tillie had 24 kills, a career best, as well as 13 digs and 5 blocks to lead Irvine.

"I was impressed to see how strong we were in that moment and I looked out on the court and I saw the same thing that I saw against USC," Irvine coach John Speraw said. "That it was just business. We didn't look flustered or in a position that we were worried about the outcome. I was incredibly gratified to see our team compete like that."

The Nittany Lions defeated George Mason 3-1 in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association for the automatic berth.

Irvine lost to Penn State in the 2006 NCAA semifinals, but beat them the next year for the Anteaters' first national title. Irvine also won in 2009.

The Nittany Lions, who won the national championship in 2008, are playing in their 14th straight Final Four.