LOS ANGELES — Jen-Kai Liu, the MVP of Southern California's 1988 NCAA volleyball championship team, has died. He was 42.

Liu died of heart failure on June 1 in Shanghai. He had been in a coma for 1½ months as the result of a viral infection that caused seizures, the university said Thursday.

As a sophomore in 1988, Liu led the Trojans in digs and aces. He was forced to redshirt because of a knee injury the following year, and was limited to four matches in 1990 and 16 matches in 1991.

The Trojans won the 1990 NCAA tournament and were runners-up the following year.

Nicknamed "The Hammer" because of his hard hitting, Liu came to USC from Taiwan, where he was a member of that country's national team in 1986 and 1987.

After graduating from USC in 1992, Liu worked in real estate. In 2002, he and his wife Karen moved to Beijing to start an after-school program that focused on science. They moved to Shanghai in 2005 to expand the business.

Besides his wife, Liu is survived by two young children.